Disappointing when there was so much possibility...

Rating: 7/10 (8 May 2013)

(no spoilers)
OK, well I was a big fan of J.J. Abrams first reboot of the Star Trek brand and have been looking forward to this installment for a long time. I'll admit that one of the things which I liked most about the first film was the nostalgia, casting decisions and new time line plot which left this movie open to any possibility. In fact that's mostly what I was hoping for with this one - a new direction. We got the background/reintroduction of the characters last time so perfect to start pushing the boundaries. The first half an hour or so didn't disappoint, visually great although I'm not sure the 3D was necessarily needed, feeling like an afterthought, which in fact it was (shot in 2D and converted in post production).
As the plot starts to develop it feels interesting and I started to hope that my expectations were going to materialise. HOWEVER...
Don't get me wrong I understand the die hard Trekkies want the references to the past films/series but sometimes it felt forced like certain characters (Scottie, Bones) were turning into caricatures of themselves and the dialogue/banter certainly wasn't as good as the first installment in my opinion. Sentimental scenes were just TOO sentimental and the Leonard Nimoy appearance superfluous. If action is your thing you won't be disappointed and Benedict Cumberbatch is an AWESOME movie villain I'll give him that.
Anyone new to ST just won't understand the relevance of some of the plot, any old timers like myself might be disappointed with the lack of imagination when they had so much there to work with.
All in all 7/10