Major spoilers to follow ...
One of the things that disappointed me about the new film was the loosey goosey portrayal of Starfleet. What we saw was an organization with a flimsy organizational structure and a total lack of the military-esque discipline we have seen in every other incarnation of the show.
It's one thing to have commanders simply replacing their bridge officers at will. But look at that scene at the Academy that leads to the mission to Vulcan.
First, we get Kirk being totally called out for a disciplinary action in front of the whole academy. WTF. Is there any way this isn't handled privately?
Then, the whole idea that the fleet is away on exercises and can't go to Vulcan. Huh? The whole fleet of ships tasked with exploring the galaxy are all exploring one specific sector of it at the same time? Except for the seven or so ships that happen to be in Earth orbit. But these ships don't have an actual crew and need the friggin' cadets to staff them? WTF? Why would Starfleet keep ships in orbit and no one around to staff them, especially the new flagship of the fleet?
And then six of the ships are wiped out in the first minutes of the battle, killing how many cadets? That should lead to some lawsuits from some angry parents.
Then we get acting captains tossing people off their ship on a whim, which is just bad form.
And on top of that, one of the cadets disobeys orders several times and ends up saving the day. And for this he not only gets to graduate the academy early, but gets to skip the general rank structure to become Captain of the friggin flagship? WTF?
Not to mention that the guy who was actually acting captain of the ship did as much to save Earth, and he just kind of gets passed over, especially after his planet is blown up. His only real lapse is when the other guy goaded him into an outburst. I'd say under the circumstances Spock acted beautifully.
Pathetic, pathetic, pathetic.