Meh- We could have tried harder.

Rating: 6/10 (9 May 2009)

I'd like to say it was awesome. At moments, it was. It was like...Star Trek, meets Star Wars, meets Sliders. One thing was clear to me as the action progressed and and Starfleet was described as a "Peacekeeping Armada" and thousands of photon torpedoes crashed about in confusing but dazzling collisions...Gene Roddenberry's vision of a peaceful future involving the exploration of strange new worlds as explorers...not conquerors, has been flushed; along with Planet Vulcan, Spock's mom, and my hope for the future of the franchise. This seemed more like what NBC originally wanted Trek to be, but Gene fought tooth and nail to keep it from becoming, a special effects slug-fest with very little in the way of substance.
I'd like to say it was well directed. But,I saw Kirk duck behind the same piece of scenery twice. I saw him with the wrong prop gun once. I saw Jim Kirk get smacked around by Spock and several Romulans(who have the strength of 10 men when angered)and barely get knocked back five feet. And,while I have no problem with Uhura kissing Spock...I have a HUGE problem with Spock kissing Uhura back(He only fell in love once, and it nearly killed him - but you'd have to hire a director who was FAMILIAR with the franchise to know better(no offense to you JJ - I would have taken the job sight unseen as well, I suppose). The action scenes were nearly indiscernible (between the rapid, confusing, cutting and the camera shake).
Look, I love Sci-Fi. I have no problem with changing time-lines, alternate realities, or time-travel Paradox changing the way things "are," some of those changes were NOT caused by a temporal paradox, but caused, clearly, by some kind of studio paradox. Watch the series before you make a movie about it. Cite: Checkov joined the Enterprise crew fresh out of the Acadamy...second season of the series. He never attended her maiden voyage, even in a paradox...he hadn't joined Starfleet yet(and his accent was painful). "Bones" was called Bones because he was so skinny. Hello? Did we watch the series we were making a movie about? Oh, right. We didn't. The mistake shines throughout the entire picture. Every time I started to get captivated (and I did) Some serious dogmatic hole would be there to puncture my experience. This is not about cheesing off old fans...it's about doing your homework as a filmmaker.
What, exactly did the Romulans DO for 25 years, waiting for spock? Contemplate the enormous plot-hole they were leaving?
The film was not a sore disappointment, but not a triumph either; Certainly not an appropriate "resurrection" More like a confused Zombie trying to figure out where to go next.
I'll say this much, they DID boldly go where no one has gone before...to the space opera. Good luck, guys.