I personally loved the film, am not a basher, and happily let all the scruples fly by without spoiling my enjoyment of the film (Kirk's promotion, the redmatter McGuffin) and I also thought without exception all of the performances were terrific, everyone gave it their all. But I do have some issues with how the Characters were portrayed, sometimes out of character or in some cases way off: Kirk: Is exempt from this exorcise because the time-line change fundamentally altered his life from the start. Sarek: Since when was Sarek a supportive, warm pointy eared Atticus Finch? All this guff about choosing you own life and stuff? No, he's supposed to disappointed by Spock's decisions! It's fundamental to Spock's quiet rebelliousness. Spock: "Angry teen" was never a term I assosicated with Spock, a character whose cool, logic and calm was always what made him him. This Spock is bitchy to the Vulcan Council and thoroughly pissed off when Kirk cheats his programme (which displays a very human pettiness) Spock is all emotion throughout the beginning of the film. After his planet is destroyed his out of characterness is justifiably a result of the timeline change. But still having him smirk as he suggests they kill someone is not spock...sorry it isn't. Uhura: in relation to Spock I found irritating. I don't mind them getting smoochy, it's part and parcel of Doctor Who style makeover, but the inference that spock would assign her to the Enterprise because they were having it off when he was her teacher is a bit...cheap. It makes her look like a slutty careerist and him look like a dirty old man. The unnecessary "bj" reference didn't help.
I thought Spock showed a lot of class before the Vulcan Council. He simply thanked them and then went his own way. They were the snotty ones, implying that his human side was a huge handicap. Also, I don't mind seeing Spock go through a process of emotional maturity which, given his choice to follow the Vulcan way, involves experiencing little emotional "slips" now and then. The Uhura affair I'm still having some trouble with, but this again could be part of the process of maturation, dealing with his human half, and finding his own way. As for Spock's dad being too warm and fuzzy, well, truth be told I think I preferred the estrangement featured in TOS, but this was an artistic decision that I guess I can live with.
Scotty: Too comeidic in a way. I know Scotty's always been humourous but I thought they'd temper the casting of Comedian Simon Pegg with a bit of seriousness and respect for his character. Also, why the hell does he get to run the engine room? Pike: Is turned from the conflicted, weight of the world's of his shoulers guy from the series to affable Dad #2, with nothing but syrupy words about destiny. Now I didn't mind this so much, it could be perfectly in character, the little of Pike we actually know about. Also it grates less than Sarek's doing it.
Keep in mind, Sarek-prime never escaped an imploding Vulcan by the seat of his pants and never lost his beloved wife in the process. Prime Trek shows a couple of different times that Sarek deeply loved both of his wifes. With the loss of almost everything, I find it believable that Sarek might choose to go a different direction in his relationship with Spock in this timeline.
Originally, after Spock decided to join Starfleet, they'd had no reason/desire to communicate, not in many many years, up to the time of "Journey to Babel". This timeline put both of them into a situation they hadn't been in, in the original timeline. It's long been admitted that Vulcan's do NOT lack emotion, but rather are VERY passionate, which is what got them into trouble in the first place. They suppress their feelings, but don't lack them. Looking at Sarek in "Journey to Babel", the moment he and Amanda touch fingers, you can see there's strong love on both sides. Spock's struggle with his emotions has never really been due to his being a human hybrid. The Vulcans have emotions they supress by way of training. That training would have worked as well on a human, or in this case, a half-human. Spock's problem was that after a long day at school where emotional control was the norm, day after day he'd come home to a mother who, while she tried to respect Vulcan customs, hadn't had the same training, and certainly let her emotions leak out. THAT would be a serious source of influence too. (Plus, there's no telling what telepathic link there might have been between a half-Vulcan child and his mother.)
Warm and fuzzy? The speech Sarek gives to the 11-year old Spock is not much different from the one delivered in Yesteryear. To tell you the truth, I felt Cross's delivery of the character was more wooden than anything I had seen Mark Lenard do. Mark was skilled in using the slightest movements to convey emotion-- Cross seemed to have one note!
Was it really? Damn, if so that's going to go down as one of the most ill-chosen phrases in recent times. Pun not intended.
Spock: Totally worked for me. He had a lot to work through, and was still working through it. Uhuru/Spock: Again, totally worked for me. It gave this movie a warmth I haven't seen in the other films. I liked that it was mostly downplayed -- not a lot of speeches, no noble crap like him telling her "because of what's happened, I now have to leave Starfleet and blah blah blah...." Kirk's double-take was cute. (Also, in response to the poster, Spock didn't put her on the Enterprise out of favoritism. Originally, he chose to put her elsewhere even though she should have been posted to Enterprise, because he was worried about the favoritism.) McCoy: My hands-down, absolute favorite character in the movie. Scotty: Didn't work as well. I think Paul McGillion should have been cast in this part. At the very least, I wish it was slightly toned down. Kirk: I found it to be fun. Although I do consider what he did cheating. Sulu: Worked well for me. Chekov: Worked pretty well, and was funny, but the accent thing can get old fast, and I also thought he didn't physically match Koenig, unlike most of the other actors. Fun fun fun movie!
Frankly, McCoy was the only one that felt off to me. Can't really put my finger on why. Seems like he was the only one really trying to pay homage to the original actor, whilst the others seemed to strike their own paths. Even Quinto's spock was quite different from Nimoys (which I liked by the way...)
They all took a minor element to reproduce. Spock had the posture, Kirk the attitude, Chekov the speech pattern and McCoy the lines. I agree McCoy what the MOST off based on looks and feel, but he is so well written and lines does the job well enough to end up one of the best character.
They guy playing McCoy completely blew me away. He is channeling Kelley. I believe this. His character, I feel, is probably the closest in personality to the original, and the delivery is excellent. I was not a fan of the Spock/Uhura match up at all. I feel part of Spock's appeal was his attempt to estrange himself from emotion. It's really hard to do that if you're dating a human woman, or anyone really. I was also surprised by how much I disliked this Chekov. Yeah, the accent is cute, but his wonderboy like personality feature reminds me too much of Wesley Crusher for my tastes.
I actually didn't have that big a problem with the Spock/Uhura aspect of the story. I mean, yeah, there's that whole issue of pon farr and that which has already been established in Amok Time doesn't seem compatible with the notion of any kind of intimate relationship between the two - timeline change or no timeline change. However...a good case can be made that when Spock and Uhura share that intimate moment in the turbolift, it was more previously unrequited feelings coming out in a time of great stress. I mean you gotta remember that the poor guy just lost his home planet! (Not to mention that at this point in the Star Trek timeline Spock probably hasn't met Christine Chapel yet. Although that is just a guess...) You'll also surely remember how the two did seem to rather casually familiar with each other in the very first televised episode, The Man Trap! Not to mention that in Who Mourns For Adonais?, Spock is very quick to offer words of support and encouragement to her.