A thrilling adventure!

Rating: 9/10 (12 May 2013)

STID is a great Trek film which will please new fans and old. Perhaps not the purists though but I will get to them. I watched it a second time today (in 3D) and enjoyed it as much as the first time. Again, I benchmark the use of 3D against Dredd 3D and in this effort I would say it is not quite up to par. It's not bad, but it is just used the way it is in most 3D films these days, to add image depth and immersion.
On the film itself. I like JJ's handling of the franchise. He also has a budget to make this incarnation which the previous films could only have dreamed of. So you do get to see stuff you always wanted to see in the previous trek film franchises. So again you get mind bending special effects and settings never before seen such as Earth (at ground level), Kronos (never really fully explored much since ST:TNG/DS9) and the use of ships within planet atmosphere's (and under an ocean!).
Well versed trekkies will note many of the changes to the original timeline again in this film and those changes influence the story to a large degree, particularly where the antagonist is concerned.
JJ has also appeased long time fans be getting in a lot of character development and the actors seem to pull it off very well. I note it only because this is an essential element to a trek film, particularly where these characters are concerned and a failure by a cast to meld properly (excuse the pun) has caused problems in syndication (NX-01 crew!). The character arcs and intense story work extremely hard to 'fit' into a movie sized meal though and the intensity is maintained from start to finish. You don't get the audience fatigue like you may have gotten from The Dark Knight, but it was close for me. There are some elements to the film which don't take themselves to seriously though and the hat tipping to the original timeline is included. Not sure I like that, but it's not a distraction for me........ except for......you guessed it.......the purists......who have been quite vocal since the film debut.
An open letter to anti-JJ Star Trek purists.
Dear fellow Nerds,
FFS let it go. This is not your father's Star Trek. This franchise had to change to survive, and while I agree with you that the Rodenberry legacy has been de-emphasised to some degree, it is not totally lost. Surely you must realise that today almost two decades on from when Star Trek on the big and little screen peaked, that any Trek is good Trek. Stop being a bunch of whiney andorians and bring back the love. Or continue bitching....it doesn't matter.......you know you'll be going to the cinema to see it anyway
Yours Faithfully,
King Nerd.
Overall though I rate the film a solid 9/10. Good character development thanks to competent actors, awesome special effects and never-before- seen sequences and a great story which compliments the entire history of the franchise.