I knew Bingowings would sense my presence and come here. ^_^
Anyway, I'm only about an hour in (not watching it all at once, as I have other things to get done), and I'm remembering exactly what I don't like about this movie but exactly what I did. I do like the conflict between Kirk and Decker. But the first half of the movie isn't a story (neither is the second half really, but I'm not there yet), it's a Technical Manual for the Enterprise. And as a nerd I find that interesting. When I first saw this movie I had seen the other films first, and I never felt I got to see or know the refitted Enterprise like the one I knew from television. This was the one film that actually tried to do that, and I do appreciate that. BUT a movie just doesn't have time for all of that. It's cool to see every doodad come on, have a close-up on every panel, get to see how the training simulations work, see how every single bloody type of transport docks with the Enterprise, and experience every single step to leaving drydock (complete with turning all the running lights off only to immediately turn them back on again), but showing all of that is at the expense of telling the story. Granted, in this case there was so little story I guess they really did have time for that, but that's the main problem.
So don't get me wrong. As a hardcore Trekkie, I'm, you know, enjoying myself for all the minutiae and just poking a bit of fun at its expense on occasion, but watching with a critical eye that's just out to enjoy a story... it still doesn't work. It does get a bit more enjoyable (or at least watchable) every time, but I'll never forget the first time I saw the film. I was a senior in college and had rented it from Blockbuster. I sat down that evening to watch and, to my surprise, one of my three roommates, the one who was least likely to give a shit about Trek, decided for some reason he wanted to sit down and watch this with me. And I just felt so fucking embarrassed the entire time what with the overture, the four minutes of docking, the unexplained oath of celibacy line (seriously, he would not stop asking me what the hell that meant, and he's right. It's just said!) and just the non-stop tedium and boredom and long, long, long shots of everything. I just wanted to jump up and say, "No, really, Carl! Star Trek isn't normally this boring and pointless. Please don't judge it on this!"
To be honest, I do see this film and the reboots as almost exactly the same thing. They both have really shallow plots and are filled to the brim with special effects. The only difference is that TMP's special effects are slow and the reboot's special effects... have lens flares.