Now it makes sense to have cut Nero's back story...

[God Magnus]

I agree that adding in the Klingons decloaking and taking the Narada would have killed the flow of the opening sequence. It worked very well having the camera pan away and give us the strong opening credits music etc.

The only spot I think Nero's "25 year gap" could have been explained away is his scene with Pike. He could have worked a few sentences in explaining the quickie flashback to the Klingon prison. While I would not have minded, it would have definitely been disruptive to the flow of the movie since all of a sudden this subplot would get pulled out of thin air.

 

[DevilEyes]

Nero just wasn't very interesting. Revenge as a motive is too generic - doesn't say anything about him as a character - and certainly not as a Romulan (the whole Rommie vs Vulcans thing was entirely absent). I didn't really want to see more of his backstory, and I hope the next Romulan character they write has a story that would not be just as possible if he were a Klingon or a frakkin' Ferengi.

The Rommie vs Vulcans thing would be more present if only they had included more of Nero's backstory from Countdown to Star Trek, which would also have made Nero more interesting. That's IMO the movie's biggest weakness.

 

[Jeri]

I think Nero was fine; I loved the guy. I bought his action figure. Hunky.