I didn't like the movie, and I'm baffled as to why most people like it so much.
- To be honest, it didn't feel much like a Star Trek film. Generally speaking, Star Trek films have a slower pace than what you generally associate with a lot of Sci-Fi films. This can be really bad at times, but if you look at films like Wrath of Khan, The Undiscovered Country, and First Contact, they use the pacing to their advantage to build things up. The pace of this film just felt off to me; like they were trying to fit so much stuff in rather than make the best use of what they already had. They could have slowed down and cut some of the action for some quieter, character-establishing moments.
- It also goes against what the good Star Trek films did; make the story about the people, not about the events. Sure, there are big things happening, but The Undiscovered Country isn't about peace with the Klingons as much as it's about Kirk reconciling with his son's death, and First Contact is much more about Picard's struggles against the Borg and the concept of humanity more than it is about eliminating the human race. What was the underlying concept here? I mean, it's a nice action movie... but beneath all the scenes, I didn't feel a heart, and that disappointed me.
- On the action, it was hit or miss for me. I liked the orbital rig fight (Though someone needs to explain to J.J. Abrams what the hell fencing actually is...), but I hated the snow beast and the ending action sequence. Especially the latter; most of it just felt out of place. And how the villains are finally dispatched came off as just stupid to me, even disregarding how wrong they had their science. Another example: I liked the scene where Kirk steals the car, up until he OMG JUMPS OUT JUST BEFORE IT GOES OVER THE CLIFF. It felt like they were trying too hard to establish Kirk as an action hero, and it made me groan.
- On the acting, I liked a lot of it. I felt most of the characters were interesting, and I'd like to see more focus on them in upcoming movies. I loved the Kobayashi Maru scene with Kirk, and a lot of the interplay amongst the cast. The comedy also worked well enough.
- On the other side of the coin, though, the villains were absolutely horrible. Their design just screamed stupid (What sort of space ship forces you to jump from platform to platform to get around. And why the hell do some rooms look like futuristic sewers?) and they were just so generic. You could see that Abrams looked at Khan and tried to make a modern update of him (Similar motivation, similar obsession, similar access to a world-destroying weapon...). Boy, did he fail. Eric Bana didn't help much, but I'm not sure I can credit him with failing as a villain when it was designed so poorly.
- Overall, it's not a bad movie, but it really rubs me the wrong way. The action works sometimes, and the actors are quite good. But in the end, it feels a lot more like a fan-fiction story than a real movie plot. Abrams loves the characters, but he never does anything beyond showing how much he loves the character. Next time, I'm hoping he puts together an interesting plot.