Finally got to watch the movie.
My only complaint? The aliens. Except for Rachel Nichols, because DAMN. But most of the aliens we saw in the movies looked like something out of Star Wars (at least my father thought so). A lot of them were humans with warped faces. I mean, couldn't they have shown Denobulans, Rigellians, Tellarites, or something? But that's like three seconds of the movie. The little guy with Scotty was cute.
Visual FX: Ossum. I loved the little details. The new warp effect is perfect, as it illustrates that space is warping around the ship, not the ship moving at FTL velocities. The detail when engaging warp is epic as the deflector actually modifies itself to account for the new speeds (it seriously actually changes form) and the impulse engines disengage right before warp. Seeing phaser turrets in action was really neat.
The viewscreen: Actually has a frigging purpose now! I mean, it displays data for the first time...since EVER.
Phasers: I love how the hand phasers cycle after each shot. Much more satisfying than the remote controls with the lame recoilless laser beams.
Transporter: I thought the effect was a little overdone. That same effect with smaller discharges would have been better. It does look the nicest out of all the beams at it kind of illustrates how the process works.
Humor: Spot on, although a little was overdone. But it fit in well with the jovial nature of the Original Series.
Uniforms: Amazing. I loved the Admiral's uniform that Pike was sporting at the end of the movie...exact same style Kirk would wear in TMP.
Rachel Nichols: Damn!
Character performances: My dad and I really liked Kirk. Spock was fairly decent. Karl Urban nailed McCoy perfectly, if you didn't notice. Uhura was ok. Sulu was very good. Scotty was fairly good (as good as it gets). Chekhov? Kind of meh but they really devoted like no time to the character. Pike was a good figure. Nero was nice although that "Hi Christopher, I'm Nero" line I kinda thought out of place with the character. I mean, it sounded more like answering the telephone than demanding surrender.
All in all I give the movie a 9/10. Which aside from WoK is the best movie in the Trek series. It's definitely the most favorably reviewed movie of the year so far (which I doubt will be surpassed). It's a shame that Potter is going to murder it in sales. Everyone I know who's seen it (most of which non-Trekkie) very much enjoyed it, even those who had to be dragged to the theater to watch a sci-fi movie.
And God I love Rachel Nichols.
