The Black Hole in the Plot

Rating: 8/10 (24 May 2009)

A thoroughly enjoyable movie. Yes, I know the trekkies are seething mad about the violation of many obscure details that no one else really cares about. IT'S A MOVIE, PEOPLE. Nice, brainless entertainment. It was fun to see the beginnings of the crew and their relationships, and the plot device of an "alternate Trek universe" allowed Abrams to wipe the slate clean and be able to have lots of new adventures, and any inconsistencies with the Star Trek "canon" could be explained by Doc Emmett Brown's theory of messing with the space-time continuum.
The big problem I had with the plot was: if the Romulan Nero goes back in time, captures Spock's ship with the magical "red matter," why on earth (or why on Romulus, rather) doesn't he just shoot some of the stuff into the star that was going to explode, destroying Romulus in the distant future? It really doesn't make much sense, particularly since he had 25 years to figure that one out while he was waiting for Spock to show up.