J.J. Abrams Debuts ‘Star Trek’ Footage in NYC

Last night, after hundreds of cell phones were slipped into envelopes and people made their way into an AMC theater in Manhattan, a star was born. It was there that director J.J. Abrams debuted four exclusive scenes of his upcoming Star Trek reboot, and it was there, in those four scenes, that Chris Pine -- filling in for William Shatner as a young Captain Kirk -- showed that this is his film, and it'll be his franchise. Sorry George Lucas, but you cast the wrong dude in your Star Wars prequels.

From the moment we meet Kirk in 23rd century Iowa as a bar-brawling, responsibility-flipping rebel, to the final scene where he’s taken control of the Enterprise and his destiny, and is free-falling 5,000 feet in the air to land on a small platform (you have to see it), Pine plays Kirk with a cocksure cynicism reminiscent of Indiana Jones in his heyday. He’s funny, likable, and still manages to seem badass while his face is getting bashed to a pulp. A natural leader. When Lucas sees this film, he should jab a lightsaber through his ear, because not only is this how Anakin Skywalker should have been written, but it’s probably who should have played him, too.