I´m a decade long Star Trek fan and I promised myself never to watch this. I kept that promise for eight years and then someone got me the BluRays as a gift. So I break my promise.
I can understand why so many old Star Trek fans hate this and why a lot of people who never saw Trek love it. It has all the incredients of a modern blockbuster and if you have no previous knowledge of the Trek mythology you´ll be fine. But here is the thing - they could have done all of this without alienating the loyal Trek fan and, in my opinion, would have come up with a better movie.
[spoiler] Now I understand a Star Trek movie has to apeal to a broader audience. I even understand, althought not liking it, the reasons behind the alternate timeline plot. Continuity is a b***h. I must say after seeing the movie I even can see some appeal in the new timeline. What I don´t understand, and don´t like is the way the characters are treated. There are some scenes in the movie that I´m sure Trek fans wanted to see for a long time f.e. Kirk cheating the Kobayashi Maru. This should have been a gift to the fanbase. What did they do ? They make a mockery out of it. We see Kirk eating and apple and behaving like a pre-schooler. Alltogether there is too much of the stupid sort of humor going on. And of course today every movie needs a romance so we take the most logical choice - Spock. Of all characters. Brilliant idea.
The science in the movie is crap. Star Trek allways prided itself on getting the science right. It really isn´t nessessary to put that much stupid stuff in any movie. [/spoiler]
As for the technical part: I will only say lens flare. That was the most nerving thing in the whole movie. This has nothing to do with making it look more real. The CGI thought looked really good. The design is inconsistent. You have that modern looking bridge with all those screens and stuff and an engine room with boilers, tubing and water cooling (?!).
I could write probably another 1000 words or so but I guess I made my point. I know it´s the Trek fan speaking inside but I really could have liked this movie a lot more. Come to think of it, the whole movie reminds me a lot of fan-made Trek movies and episodes I´ve seen. It´s the vision of what a certain Star Trek fan thinks it should be. Unfortunately the fan who made this was 12 years old.
Since I now own the set I will go on and watch the sequels hoping to see improvement. Please note this is only my personal opionion. Star Trek was always about tolerance - if you liked the movie that´s fine with me. I know a lot of people did which lead to more and ultimately even a new TV series. And that alone might be worth it.