Finally got to see it and thoroughly enjoyed it. Glad I went early and ignored the negative because it was a lot of fun. The trailers do not do it justice, save for the one that starts with Kirk and Bones reminiscing.
The good:
-The characters. The film opens up with a long entry and gives Kirk the great speech of finding his way. It's so interesting, well pace, and just sets the tone for Kirk to have his introspective moment before the action starts. And it builds from there, as each character has moments of nuance and failure and frustration and success.
I also enjoy the fact that each character gets their moment to shine. Chekov is Kirk's right hand man through part of it, and really takes on the role with gusto and support, even in the middle of crazy situations.
Even the secondary cast gets some interesting moments, save for Krall's right hand man (more on him in a minute). The alien captain who leads them to Krall actually had some enjoyable moments. Really liked the translator device that was used as well.
-I really enjoyed the opening, and all the little details that was shown about what a mission entails, and the archives and wear and tear on the crew.
-I liked the pacing of this film a whole lot more, and the introspective moments that it allows.
-Graphics are great, for the most part. I think the montage of the Ent-A construction at the end was excellent.
-Great acknowledgement of Nimoy's passing, as well as a moment of silence at the end for both Nimoy and Anton Yelchin. The moments acknowledging Ambassador Spock's death have a poignancy to them that are allowed to linger.
-Yorktown base is amazing.
-Lots of little details that are great acknowledgement of Star Trek's past, their present, and future. Several lines are from other Trek media, but work completely in context.
-The use of Sabotage and other "classic rock" pieces was surprisingly well done.
The bad
-Krall's backstory was too thin. It would have been more interesting if he had absorbed some of Edison's memories as a byproduct of the life absorption process.
-Krall's second-in-command, Manas (terrible name-couldn't understand it in the theater) feels very underwhelming. He has a big moment against Jaylah and that's it.
-The score was a little underwhelming though it had its moments. I kept expecting a big build up and larger pieces but it was more of a slow burn. The final battle was well scored though, so not bad, so much as a mixed bag.
-Keesner has acid snot?
Conclusion: A- The villain's motivation annoys me so much that it takes a way from and otherwise great film. Not sure why all the hate. This felt the most like an episode of TOS, and even a little bit of TNG. It had great humor, a good pace, and excellent action scenes.
I guess I'll never get what is being looked for in a Trek film.
