Two weeks into the season and already I’ve seen the summer movie of the year. Hell, the movie of the year in general until something comes along to challenge the throne.

Any fan of Alias or Lost knows that Star Trek director J.J. Abrams is a master of genre storytelling. It never fails when I’m watching those shows that I check the clock and realize there’s only five minutes left, usually when I assume I’m at the halfway point. He has a gift for pacing that makes even the dialogue scenes fly by at warp speed.

And now he has brought that gift to a high-risk, high-profile reboot of a beloved sci-fi series, and he hasn’t missed a beat. Star Trek is as fast, funny, thoughtful and exciting as any of Abrams’ TV successes, with eye-popping big-screen special effects to boot.

Of course it doesn’t hurt that the source material provides characters as wonderful as Kirk, Spock and the rest of the Enterprise’s colorful crew. Far from turning its back on the original series, this film embraces the conventions even as it reimagines them.

Screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman’s first stroke of genius is to make this alternate Star Trek universe a literal alternate universe. A rift in the space/time continuum sends a vengeful Romulan (played by Eric Bana) back in time where he encounters Starfleet captain George Kirk. A battle ensues, and the outmatched Kirk goes down with the ship, but not before safely evacuating his wife and newborn baby… James T. Kirk.

Jumping ahead, the adult Kirk, having grown up fatherless and with a grudge against Starfleet, is a darker and edgier character than William Shatner’s incarnation. And he clashes mightily with Spock, the half-human/half-Vulcan who will eventually become his greatest friend.

Much of the film covers the assembly of the characters we know will eventually make up the Enterprise’s crew. Bones, Sulu, Chekov and Uhura have roles on the ship already and Scotty is picked up along the way. The film is perfectly cast, with Chris Pine’s Kirk, Zachary Quinto’s Spock and Simon Pegg’s Scotty the standouts. Quinto is particularly strong, portraying the submerged passion within Spock — he makes him sexy and dangerous.

Along the way we get fistfights, space battles, snow creatures, imploding planets, a little bit of slapstick humor and a green chick in a bikini. And Leonard Nimoy as the future Spock, as wryly logical as ever, passing the baton to Quinto and Abrams. They’re boldly going where many have gone before, but making it feel like a revelation.