Good but not great

Rating: 8/10 (16 May 2009)

I hate to be all negative but I do agree with most people's assertions about what makes this movie good. However I think it's worth saying what makes it less than perfect:
The way I can describe this movie best is like a small, fancy dinner. The flavours (script, cinematography, casting, acting) were fantastic but when I was done, I didn't feel full. All that character development was great, and the slow pacing was appropriate until the movie just petered off. It felt to me like the script was for a 2.5 hour movie but they were forced to amend it and remove the last hour.
I say this because Nero wasn't terribly compelling as a villain. Not because Eric Bana isn't awesome but because he had very little to work with. I wanted to know more about his mind and his madness (think about what made Dark Knight so good and you'll see what I'm getting at). I was really hoping for that next "act" in the movie where they are about to destroy Nero only to have him get away and cause them some grief (ie. take a crew member hostage or really mess up the ship). Something to ramp up the movie so that when Nero dies the stakes are higher and we've gotten to know him a bit more (heck we could sympathize with or despise him, but neither option was developed).
It was the start of something great but the movie itself was not "great". I can see the sequel truly being amazing as this has the energy of the original with a solid execution.