@ragingloli one of JJ Abrams “things” is starting the story midpoint, or at the end, then going back to the beginning. See: The pilot episode of “Alias”, “Mission Impossible 3”, etc. The beginning was excellent in that it drew people in, was fast-paced, and created an emotional touchstone for the movie. But who says movies have to start out slow? half of the reviews i read from major critics or anyone start with “The movie started slow, but…”.
yes, there was too much lens flare, and Abrams has stated as much.
as regards social critique, yes, it didn’t have some heavy-handed moral (the environment, democracy, etc.). But, again, half of the time, people panned the moral part of the story. Especially at this time, people don’t want to be beat over the head with a life lesson. They want movies as a means of escape. That’s probably why Transformers 2, despite all it’s flaws, is the highest grossing movie this year. It’s escapism, which is what movies are supposed to be. You want someone dropping life lessons, go see a documentary or watch Lifetime Network.
It seems to me that you wanted another cliched star trek movie. my guess is you didn’t like the James Bond reboot, nor the Batman movies.
This movie was great, because you totally don’t have to be a Star Trek fan to enjoy it, even more so than the previous films, and it provides a totally new foundation to reboot the entire franchise.