Here is the big problem with Abram's Trek,they are not exploring and Kirk is a selfish lying jerk who doesn't care about anyone but himself. i was fine with that in the first movie. I figured the first film needed to be an action film so the studio would back it and Kirk's character arc was that of a selfish person learning to look beyond himself and think of the greater good. They did a pretty good job showing Kirk going from selfish and spoiled to hero and showing him bonding with Spock. It's the second movie that ruined it. It showed and Abrams and these writers have one trick up their sleeve,so it's another action movie and Kirk is an even bigger jerk and he is on the exact same character arc,except this time it doesn't feel right and we can't root for him. Since we saw him learn his lesson last time now it doesn't feel like growth it feels like he is being a jerk on purpose and just doesn't give two figs about his crew or his friends. I tell you the reason I didn't feel anything when he died wasn't because it was a cheap rip off of one of the best death scenes in the history of film,and it had nothing to do with the fact that I knew he would be alive again in the next scene. No,I didn't care because I was rooting for him to die and I truly believe Khan would make the better hero.
Here is what the writers of the new trek just don't understand. The reasons we love Kirk and he has become a timeless character have nothing to do with internet memes about how awesome Kirk is. We don't love Kirk because he beds green alien woman,we don't love Kirk because he kicks everyone's asses in fistfights,and we don't love him because he refuses to obey the rules. No we love him because he has a strong moral core in addition to those things and without that moral core he is nothing. remember the framing device for Star trek is that these are entries from kirk's official logs that go to starfleet so every time he breaks the rules he is putting it in the ship's log,that is how much his word means to him. He know it could cost him his job but he is not about to lie or put his crew in the position of having to cover up for him when he breaks the rules. If he breaks them it's for a good moral reason and his only defense he explaining why he felt the rules had to be broken that is one reason we love him.
If you really want to understand Kirk and why he is so popular watch Amok Time and really pay attention to what is going on. It's fifty-two minutes of showing the type of man Kirk is and why he is a hero. Here like in ITD he violates orders to save Spock but he doesn't for a moment cover it up. Also he could have told Star fleet why he needed to go to Vulcan so he wouldn't get in trouble but he gave Spock his word that he wouldn't talk to anyone about the situation so when asked point blank what does he do? He doesn't answer the question but he also doesn't lie. Kirk will not do that unless there is no other choice because he is a man of his word and he knows that his crew and commanding officers need to be able to trust his word,so he just refuses to answer and he knows there is a good chance he will lose his command over this but he gave his word and he would rather lose his command then break his word or lie and that to me explains completely how he keeps his command because his commanding officers know he has good judgement and he will always tell them the whole truth,so they know if he says there is a good reason for violating orders it's true. That is also at the core of how he is able to defuse situations that could lead to war,he has a reputation as a man of his word and that is what is not covered by internet memes and it has more to do with why we love Kirk then anything they mention. The Kirk from the original series is a fully fledged heroic character. The Kirk in these movies is an internet meme come to life.
I wouldn't have a problem with the movies being all action if there was a TV show on with exploring but since there isn't these movies are painful to sit through in that way to,because they are the only Star trek out there and it seems unlikely Star trek will ever return to the small screen. So for the rest of time and in most people's minds Star Trek is now just another big dumb summer action movie franchise and that is just sad:(