I was certainly pleasantly surprised by it. I knew they were going to abandon canon and I wasn't looking forward to it, but...
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They were extremely clever about it. In typical Star Trek fashion they used a loophole for them to create an alternate Star Trek universe. When Vulcan was destroyed I just sat there shocked for like 10 minutes.
The biggest complaints I had were that the villian was completely two dimensional and boring, but the focus of the film really wasn't on him I suppose. The other would be when...
Spoiler: (Highlight to read)
Spock launched Kirk onto that ice planet after his attempted mutany. I'm sorry, but that is completely not Starfleet protocol. Regardless of how emotionally distraught Spock was at the time, there's no way a real crew of Starfleet officers would support that decision. And Spock himself wouldn't support it either. So I felt that was a bit out of character for all of Star Trek. But it seems like that whole part of the movie wasn't thought out well. Why would Kirk land on the same planet as old Spock and... apparently also Scotty? It was just an all too convienent way for them to move the plot along.
Anyway, I liked the film and I wouldn't mind seeing a TV series following it.
