boldly going forward but keeping the past in mind

Rating: 9/10 (17 May 2013)

I saw this last night in Derby and I'm sure glad I went to the cinema for this one.
Remember those special effect moments from Star Wars in the 70s/80s that blew your socks off? This movie bought back some of those moments for me and as a result this film is always going to be special to me from now on. There was this sequence when the Enterprise fell through the clouds and.... Well go see for yourself.
In terms of story there were plenty of references to plots past whilst keeping everything in the new styling. I can't really mention the "The Wrath of Khan" without breaking the no spoilers rule on this post - suffice to say it is well used in it's new modern setting (which ironically due to the new time-line happens before the original happenings in "the Wrath of Khan").
I kind of felt sorry for the Enterprise crew whose only job appears to be getting sucked out in to space or dying horribly! In fact the Odeon cinema in Derby has dreadful tinny and overly loud sound, and that meant the constant sound of breaking bones and impacts genuinely made me wince (even if that was because my eardrums were bleeding).
If there was one negative, I found the overly emotional characters a little irritating. Practically everyone ends up crying their eyes out and by the forth set of tears I was thinking "oh come on, this isn't fat camp". I mean this with respect to my American cousins, but they are an emotional lot sometimes.
I suppose you could argue that Klingons are glossed over, and the 'big baddie ship' looks non-descript too; but none of that really matters. I found myself whispering to my wife every few minutes about the references to old Star Trek lore. Sadly, she is not geeky like me so she couldn't enjoy it on that level - but because this movie is very accessible she enjoyed nevertheless.
Do yourself a favour; go and see this in a cinema. Don't wait for Blu-ray, and don't you dare think of downloading some awful cam recording. If you do you will ruin something quite special.
Ignoring the foolish 'Sheldon like' purists who have gotten their knickers in a twist over some nonsense or other, this is a classic piece of entertainment and it deserves success. It may well have cemented Star Trek's popularity and ensured the franchises long term future.
9/10