Yep, that's the most spoiler-free summary I can provide.
Having just re-watched the 2009 Star Trek last night, I'm amazed at how consistent this one is. The tone is still there. The direction is the same (although with considerably fewer, and more restrained lens flares) and most importantly, the characters feel like they're just as we left them. Everyone gets a bit of development. Even Scotty, even though he's out of the action for a big chunk of the picture, his few scenes get to develop him wonderfully.
The villain is much more interesting than Nero was in the first one. They both have legitimate reasons to be angry. But In this case, I feel like this one has much more reason to be unhappy. I almost with that the plot were tweaked, and a clearer focus made on his role as a villain. Instead, his villainy gets to be shared with a co-villain.
I have a few reservations about the movie, but I don't think they're anything I'll hold onto. There's a strange feeling of there being too many big-excitement ending sequences in a row, but that might go away with repeated viewings. There's a pleasure I get out of seeing stronger action in a Star Trek picture - notably Spock's big fight. This is pleasing, but there's something that feels like they're dumbing the franchise down for a broader audience. On the other hand, anything that sinks more people into accepting the Trek franchise is something that encourages more people to understand the Trek ideals, and hopefully, become better people.
Which brings me to one of the core ideas behind this movie. Earlier in the movie, Kirk makes a good decision - that he plans on capturing the villain and returning him to Earth to answer for his crimes. We see Kirk praised for making this decision. Later in the movie, as we learn more about the villain's overall plan, it becomes apparent that Kirk's decision wasn't just the moral decision, it avoided a much worse situation. This message - that justice doesn't involve unilaterally killing people deemed threats - is remarkably unpopular in America right now. There's a trend toward buying into peace through aggression. As is stated near the end -
"There will always be those who mean to do us harm. To stop them, we risk awakening the same evil within ourselves. Our first instinct is to seek revenge when those we love are taken from us. But that's not who we are... When Christopher Pike first gave me his ship, he had me recite the Captain's Oath. Words I didn't appreciate at the time. But now I see them as a call for us to remember who we once were and who we must be again."
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