Mostly good character, bad plot, bad science

Rating: 6/10 (25 May 2013)

Halfway into STID, the main antagonist is sitting quietly in the sick bay. He just sits timidly, doing nothing.
In the original TV series, the episode Space Seed, a similar antagonist is sitting in the sick bay, while greatly weakened. The character talks charmingly with everyone that comes near, while reading all the manuals for the Enterprise. He uses RTFM as a weapon, but has already gained the loyalties of several crewmembers, just by talking. By the time he can walk around, he's ready to take over the ship with the ferocity of a lion.
In Wrath of Khan, Shatner and Nimoy had a touching scene at the end, after representing Kirk and Spock for 25 years. Pine and Quinto were forced to try their own touching homage after being in one movie together. It cannot work -- we're not invested in the characters enough, and the resolution is too obvious.
Spock, Scotty, Uhura, Bones -- I thought the actors here did a fine job (except for the Spock-Uhura squabble, Scotty pushing a particular button, and Spock screaming). I did not like this Kirk. Shatner's Kirk always had some intelligence and rules first, and knew when he was bending or breaking them. And he cared about his crew. Here, he acts as if he knows nothing -- just one gut feeling after another.
In this movie, many unnamed characters die. No-one cares about them. In the Star Trek I know, the officers would care more. When a city suffers a major attack, the citizens still alive don't react at all. More realistically, a perpetrator fleeing a scene of massive devastation would have needed to fight thousands of enraged citizens. When Kirk grabs a scroll at the very start of the film (why?), it gets far more reaction from the local natives than does the destruction of a city at the end of the movie.
What the heck is the plan of the main villains? To start a war with the poor-fighting Klingons? Revenge? Many of the set pieces are like poor quality chocolate, entertaining for the moment, but with a lousy aftertaste.
No part of this movie holds up well, except for Scotty following the rules, and Kirk making a deduction early in the movie. In these two cases, they were acting like intelligent Star Fleet officers.