One word: disrespect.

Rating: 2/10 (2 January 2015)

With this new reboot, J.J. Abrams has completely destroyed the spirit of the Star Trek franchise, under the excuse that it's 'a prequel set in an alternate universe'. Roddenberry's Star Trek was a series of moral tales and social commentaries, and Abrams has dumbed this down to a glitzy sci-fi action flick. He has stated that it was meant to reach out to non-Trekkies as well, but that is no excuse for a bad script.
The pros:
Bones and Sulu were written decently, I guess. But Bones, who was an important member of the original triumvirate, seems to be relegated to a minor character.
The cons:
Oh boy.
The plot is unbelievable. Sure, it's sci-fi, and I'm supposed to suspend my disbelief, but Nero's implausible motivations, combined with an overused vengeance plot, creates a movie that is just so incredibly grating. I'm not even going to mention physics, or the laws of warp travel set in the Original Series.
The main problem is the writing of the characters. The actors did the best they could, but even they can't work miracles.
Kirk is overly cavalier and arrogant, to the point where I was continually irritated by his very presence. Why Pike would choose such an unreliable, cocky idiot as his First Officer is incomprehensible.
The deliberate mischaracterisation of Spock (when he dumps Kirk on Delta Vega) is done only to antagonise him, and, more importantly, alienates him and Kirk. Then, they're suddenly friends at the end of the movie when Spock defers to Kirk and asks to serve as his First Officer. Such rushed character development is unrealistic.
Uhura has been reduced a love-interest who kicks ass. Writers these days don't seem to realise that strong female character does not equate to perfect female character. She is also unnecessarily sexualised (when Kirk watches her take off her clothes), like so many women in films these days.
All of these one-dimensional characters simply heighten the unrealism of the film. In science fiction, where setting and physics are outlandish, relatable characters are needed to ground the viewer. "Star Trek" fails in this regard.
This movie seems also to be one of those action-for-the-sake-of- action movies. There is an overload of explosions, destruction and laser beams. If you like this sort of stuff, you're in for a treat, but this overuse of action is an insult to the intellectual puzzles and peacekeeping missions of the Original Series.
Star Trek is an unrealistic, overly fast-paced movie that lacks substance and is disrespectful to the Original Series. Both the characters and the plot lack gravitas, and in the end, I just didn't care for any of it.