Decent film, amazing potential.

Rating: 7/10 (14 May 2009)

In short: slightly disappointed. Good film, with much potential providing they ditch the awful hacks (Orci/Kurtzman) who wrote the script.
In detail:
Here starts a nerdy deconstruction. Bear with me :)
I'm a long standing Trek fan but not a Trekkie/Trekker (I'd never visit a convention). TNG/DS9 was the peak of ST in my mind. The original films I held in high regard (until the last two). I also thought TOS were decent too, Voyager/ENT were bad, however. My boss, who was a big fan, convinced me the new film was amazing. So last night I went with my bro, and a mate.
What's good:
1. Good introductions to all the characters. 2. Decent villain - Chopper aka Bana 3. Fast-ish pacing, but not up to The Dark Knight's level. 4. Good jokes. Much more than an average ST film. 5. Above average fight sequences. 6. The potential to go somewhere with future sequels, this only scraped the surface.
Characters:
1. Spock, both old and new were great, nay, amazing. Quinto and Nimoy stole the show. 2. Scotty aka Pegg. Stood out like a saw thumb, but nailed all his lines. Perfect new Scotty. Spaced in Star Trek, who'da though it? 3. Sulu and Uhura were both good, and hot - in that order. 4. Pike (Greenwood) was a good Captain. Hope he turns up again in the sequels. 5. McCoy. Urban ripped off Kelly's performance to an adequate level. Amusing, but not amazing.
and then..
6. Kirk. Ugh. I couldn't suspend disbelief that Pine was Kirk. Yeah he fought, acted with bravado and arrogance, was courageous. But against Older Spock, the quality of acting between the two was discernible. Nowhere near as good as Quinto. 7. Chekov. Yelchin was a comedic foil with his V's pronounced as W's. Oh, ho ho ho, how I did not laugh. Cheap jokes. For some reason he was as good as Scotty using the transporter, why? 8. Spock's mother. Ryder? Seriously, what the? She's only nine years old than Quinto, and it showed - the make up alone was not enough.
What's no-so-good:
1. Plot holes you can fly a ship through. Due to the pacing, this isn't such a big issue. But you know the script writers behind Transformers were writing it, because the "logic" was loose, in the loosest sense (and as a computer programmer this bugs me, more than the dirge from a bad Voyager EP).
2. It felt like Star Trek: The Younger Years. Everyone was far too fresh faced. People were promoted far to quickly and without good reason. The were playing off the previous films/alternative universe theory to get around this, but it didn't make sense.
3. Didn't leave me feeling awestruck. Definitely should not be in the IMDb top 100, where it currently resides.
4. Shaky cam/lense flare. Ditch them, the normal rig mounted cam shots were a cut above the hand-held sequences.
Conclusion:
Abrams could really make something with the sequels, but a new script writer who can balance the action with logic and reason would be essential. Orci/Kurtzman who I keep mentioning are only good at writing Sunday matinée scripts, with cute dialog and cheap jokes. They need to be kicked to the kirb ASAP. They wont, because the sales figures from this and Transformers will keep their sorry arses in a job.
All in all, a decent film. Not amazing, but with much potential.