I felt a little discomfortable when Kirk ordered fire all weapons on Nero

That unjustified bloodlust felt completely out of character for Kirk

Nero was already defeated, his ship disabled and falling into a singularity. He would die anyways at that point.

The expected Kirk behaviour would be something "lower your shields we will transport you out of there" and the expected villain to refuse the offer, then Kirk resignatedly watch him being destroyed by his own hate

Kirk offered help to the Romulan commander in Balance of Terror, the TOS episode

Kirk offered a hand to Kruge in Star Trek III

Just something that bothered me in 2009 and I never took the time to write down.

 

I wasn't a huge fan of it either. And Spock is all in too.
Just having Nero turn down help would have been enough.

 

This KIrk is still basically just a cadet and has anger issues. Spock does as well after Nero killed his mom and his planet. They did offer to help. Nero refused. The only difference is they didn't feel bad that they had to kill him.

 

I thought it was a reasonable reaction, but there could've been an extra line explaining it, something like, "Fire everything we've got, we can't risk them coming out again somewhere else and doing even more damage."

It's not the only place ST09 could've used a little extra TLC on the dialog. The Federation (rather than Starfleet) being described as an "armada," saying Spock "resigned commission" when they meant "has been relieved of duty," a few others.

 

He offered help.

It was slapped down.

Kirk ended the threat.

Almost like ST III: "I have had enough of you."

 

It's an action movie. Of course the hero has to blow the villain up. This is the way.

 

To add further,

one, this ignores the existential threat that Nero presented. He had completed ended a Federation member world, resulting in a huge loss of life and then attempted to do the same with Earth. Kirk offers aid, Nero says "Screw you." and Kirk responds with a measured "You got it." and makes sure that Nero cannot pose a threat, even a slight one, ever again.

But, somehow Nero is deserving of grace from Kirk in the moment?

 

Eh Fuck Nero.

 

Also he almost had the Enterprise fall down into the black hole too.

Kirk Prime wouldn't take the ship so close for no reason at all.

Also Kirk Prime sounds like he is a Transformer

 

what

 

I can understand your objection on Kirk's behaviour. Except this isn't Kirk. But it is.

You need to understand that this Kirk had a whole different upbringing than the Kirk you know from TOS and the TOS movies. His entire background is different. By definition, he is NOT the same character that you know. Same goes for Spock. Even if we assume that Nero's incursion did not directly affect him, the destruction of one starship and the death of a great many people could have very well changed things for him as well. Not to mention that the Spock we met during TOS and the movies did NOT suffer the tragic loss of his mother and homeworld. So yeah, these characters aren't the same people.

 

So, let me see if I follow this argument correctly: Kelvin Kirk, who did not have the same experience or upbringing as Prime Kirk (as acknowledged by the film) should respond the same way as a fully experienced officer? That there is no room for error or a Kirk to make a mistake?

Tender loving care. The ST 09 script needed a little punching up in some areas, other areas to let them breath a little more.

Indeed.

 

Tender Love and Care

 

Don't go chasing waterfalls.

Stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to.

 

If Nero accepted Kirk's offer of help then he opened fire, it would have been bad. But they made sure the genocidal maniac couldn't possibly commit genocide twice.

 

Kirk offered help to Nero in STXI.

 

It's curious that in my experience Kirk tends to get flak for having opened fire on Narada but rarely gets recognition for the fact that he first offered to beam aboard the crew, and that Spock somehow doesn't get criticized for having opposed even offering aid.

I can't tell whether such critics are just forgetting that Kirk first offered assistance to Nero...assistance which was refused...or whether they're intentionally omitting the fact because it weakens the case that Kelvin-timeline Kirk is somehow inferior to Prime-timeline Kirk.

 

I want to think that it's the first just due to time, but I suspect it's a mix of both.

 

The fact Kirk offers assistance at all is somewhat surprising, given Nero’s role in his father’s death.