Numerous plot holes, clichés, reads like an episode, not a movie

Rating: 3/10 (1 January 2012)

In his commentary to the 1990's series "Babylon 5," screenplay author J. Michael Straczynski often pointed out flaws in the competing but wealthier "Star Trek" franchise. One complaint was the self-enclosed Star Trek format (as opposed to B5's plot arcs) led to the writers creating a major species or element to use in an episode without any presaging of that element. It is discovered, used, and forgotten about all within an episode.
In this film, the main offender is "red matter" which can apparently create a black hole at will. Where it comes from (the future) and how it works has no history in the Star Trek canon, and I doubt it will ever show up again. A traditional deus ex machina comes in at the end to save the day; in this film, it gets the day going, keeps the suspense up, then saves it. More to the point, it makes little sense. The writers ask us to believe that sometime in the future an aging Spock is sent out alone in a ship alone to save the universe (this is not a spoiler: Leonard Nimoy appears in the opening credits of this prequel). This when the future has fleets, a strong population, and, presumably an abundance of red matter. The only convenience of such a device is to get Nimoy into the film. Sending a crew along (the "logical" thing) would wreck the casting budget.
In creating a prequel, writers always face a certain amount of plot contortion, especially in such a canonical series as the Star Trek franchise. Here, they have perhaps broken a few too many rules, the chief one being this film ends with a time-travel plot causing major changes in the time-line that do not match the rest of the Star Trek series. It is OK to go against formula in a movie, but with time-travel plots (which are already a bit too hackneyed in the Star Trek universe) one goal is to end with everything working out exactly the way we have seen it in the series. Part of the viewer's interest in these plots is how it will manage to turn everything the way it should go. We saw it in Star Trek IV, in Generations, in Nemesis. By not setting things right, the movie is a major letdown.
Numerous other inconsistencies abound. In this movie, when all the major Star Trek characters are shown in their academy days (a la Starship Troopers) we see student Spock programming a test. Is he a student or a teacher? Both, apparently. And the film breaks so many military protocols that you wonder how the human race advanced enough to build starships. The cadets go into battle because the fleet is all grouped elsewhere and away from their flagship. Navies learned to avoid that mistake at the battle of Midway. The writers could have used a line from the 2011 Muppet movie, "Hmm, this sounds like it could be a important plot device." Time for more red matter.