...SPOILERS FOLLOW, but am hoping enough time has passed since it came out on home video...
What I liked:
* feels like ST2TWOK style plot condensed into a standalone but done right
* Scotty
* Bones vs Spock
* Destroying the ship early on
* exploring the crashed, dead Enterprise
* hiding the plot maguffin inside the crewmember's head
* the bad guy and his history
* the f/x
* Beastie Boys and Public Enemy music felt germane to the plot as opposed to being nonsense
* Bonus for the alien referring to how "ancient" the music was - loved this stuff and how it was set up!!
* ditto for the motorbikes, it really was a good chase scene
* Leonard Nimoy tribute to the Prime universe, which still exists
* the philosophical exploration was really nicely done
* the whole crew taking turns saying the Trek mission statement
* Reminder that, in this universe, Kirk enlisted as a dare
* once the alien lady says she needs a ship to get into the nebula, the story really ramps up and keeps a viewer's attention (IMHO)
* the other Federation starship discovered, I forgot its name, that was crucial to the plot. Aagin, this stuff was pretty nicely written.
What I disliked:
* right off the bat, Kirk is shown to fail a big mission with the alien species
* which not entirely related to the destruction of the Enterprise, which may have happened too early in the film and with little emotional attachment to the proceedings (a second viewing makes the scene far stronger)
* more plot regurgitation from all the other Treks
* more countless pointless, utterly stupid nods to past Treks to try to ironically appease fanboys despite fanboys loathing JJ's era since 2009 while not understanding why fanboys aren't liking it
* Scotty felt too much like a 1st grade English teacher to the hot alien chick (who looks like the species in "Into Darkness" so I do like that there may be a tie-in)
* incidental music with chorus singing "aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh" and "uuuuuuuuuummmm" was trite years ago yet the industry feels as if more of it is necessary? I'll pass
* How was Bones' line about "full head of hair" not a dig at William Shatner's history of wearing hairpieces, if not Gene Roddenberry's abhorrence to any captain of any era being bald since he didn't want Patrick Stewart unless he wore a wig...?
* turbolift deck lights didn't flash in proper sync
What I'm apathetic over:
* Sulu's love life is shown, briefly. The writers meant well, George Takei wasn't keen on it (though he's referring to the Prime Universe version, so I wonder how much of the Kelvin timeline/alternate timeline changes he's even liked FWIW), but it wasn't overly done or treated as a soapbox issue taking up 100 minutes of screen time while putting the rest of the story to the side in the way some sci-fi feels is somehow necessary. The issue wasn't the sort of overt politicized fantasy that people were making it out to be that I was expecting. Interesting side note: as Gene himself told around 1979 ("The Motion Picture" soundtrack has bonus materials with a convention Q&A session) that he wanted to treat both genders as (sex) objects (which got the audience in thunderous applause). Obviously the media industry wouldn't allow much of that regardless of form and I wonder how he himself would have added to JJ-Trek and, indeed, modern TV shows like "Lost Girl" had he lived to see these all made.
As brunt as Simon Pegg was at the time, he certainly and very rightly had a very valid point about criticizing the movie BEFORE actually seeing it. I didn't damn the movie prior to seeing it, but also wasn't giving the movie much of a thought thanks to how bad ST2009 was and how mediocre STID was (especially for the typical JJ'isms that remind me of "The Brady Bunch Movie"'s theatrical format from 1995). The promos for Beyond did somewhat intrigue me... A good friend told me that I would like the movie for its philosophical bent. He was right. I wish I had seen it sooner. Pegg and company did the franchise justice and even took the same trope of Trek 6 (and First Contact) and made it their own with introducing a new baddie we could love to hate as the movie progressed, leading to a great climax and denouement.
The movie is closest in feel to Prime universe Trek, where it needs to the most. While adapting to modern day audiences. People who slagged it off in hating it outright probably should see it and see if the hate still exists. I was merely apathetic, but it really is a worthy Trek script, well acted and well made.
I'll give it an 8/10 with ease.
