"Nero is one of the best Trek villains of all time, ranking alongside Khan and the Borg Queen in attractiveness and sheer nastiness. He's an Ax Crazy, hammy, Woobie Destroyer Of Worlds. What more can I say? "
I'm sorry; Nero was a whiny pansy man-child. He was in no way threatening or intimidating, even when he was strangling Kirk. It looked like Eric Bana was going to start crying on the bridge when he said, "I want Spock dead NOW!"
I agree with Korval. Plus Nero was one of the worst motivated villains of all time: (I paraphrase) "I want to kill Spock because he unsuccessfully saved my homeworld. I'll use this here time machine now, not to go back in time to warn the people of my homeworld of their impending doom, but to carry out a vendetta against the one guy who was actually trying to help."
I might point out, Star Trek is well known for portraying the senslessness and ill logic of Revenge. I think that Nero's gone just a little bit crazy from the DESTRUCTION OF HIS HOMEWORLD and probably isn't thinking too straight, or at all.
Destruction of my home, my family, my families family, my friends, my friends' families, the senate, the military, the EVERYTHING I KNEW. Seriously people. They guy has every freaking right to be utterly NUTS. And even if his blaming spock is flawed logic, him blaming the vulcans on the whole... isn't. The Vulcan's DID delay Spock in saving romulus. If earth were destroyed, and I and my crew of people on a seriously BADASS ship were the only ones left, and I learend that someoen COULD have saved earth, but DIDN'T. I'd at least give them a 'spanking', at worst, I'd do exactly what Nero did.
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A very good action film but a not-so-good Trek film
What makes a great Trek film? I own the first ten, and the winning formula seems to be:
1. An awesome villain
2. An intelligent, engaging plot
3. Even handling of the characters
4. Memorable one-liners
Kudos to Mister Cloverfield for resurrecting a franchise that was killed off at the start of the millennium. Let's run through the checklist:
1. Nero is one of the best Trek villains of all time, ranking alongside Khan and the Borg Queen in attractiveness and sheer nastiness. He's an Ax Crazy, hammy, Woobie Destroyer Of Worlds. What more can I say?
2. The plot of J.J. Trek is ambitious, to say the least. Any real examination of the characters' youths is tainted by the plot twist, but we still get a satisfying peek at the origins of Kirk and Spock. The first act is paced nicely, but the second gets bogged down in rampant Scenery Porn and character introductions. The third act feels like an instalment of Star Wars, with lots of shooting and Enterprise money shots taking the place of actual character development or plot resolution. Warp speed looks like hyperspeed, and the phasers even go "pew-pew" like Han Solo's blaster. Let's not discuss the Spock/Uhura relationship, which explodes into the plot like Nero's ship, with no explanation.
3. An all-new cast nails the characters perfectly, with the notable exception of Kirk. Afraid of doing a bad Shatner impression, Chris Pine goes too far the other way, creating a Tall Dark And Snarky Jerk Ass Kirk that I didn't recognize. The aforementioned Spuhura romance is jarring, Scotty is forced to be funny and Chekov feels a bit like The Wesley, but I suppose that's nitpicking.
4. And how.
So what's to dislike about this movie? It was thrilling, it was suspenseful, it was emotional. I loved every minute of it (except perhaps the blatant Fanservice bedroom scene). But it wasn't Star Trek. Typical Trek climaxes involve modifying a torpedo, or taking advantage of the surroundings or out-and-out Technobabble. The new crewmembers just... shoot things. As an action film, I give it 5/5 stars. As a Trek film: 3/5.