What's good and what's bad about ST:B
+ Characters and the interactions between the crew are well portrayed
- The premise that Kirk and his crew are bored of their mission which has become routine is hard to swallow!
+ The film sets up an interesting dilemma which is that Kirk joined Starfleet for the wrong reasons (on whim, to prove he could live up to his father's legacy) and is now having second thoughts about whether he made the right choice and if this is really the life he wants.
- Unfortunately, the film didn't explore this further, choosing instead to plunge us from one life or death situation into another, which didn't allow for any further reflection on his part.
- Yorktown is ridiculously OTT considering the UFP tech level of the Enterprise
+ A nice homage to Spock/Nimoy given his recent death
- Kirk is in line for promotion to Vice Admiral only 3 years into his 5 year mission!?
+ Good use of humour to maintain a light hearted tone
- Yorktown probes/sensors are much too short range. They should be able to detect approaching ships etc. from much further away
- Starfleet made no attempt to identify or explain who the alien (Kalara) was, which planet or ship she came from or what it was doing in uncharted space. Before launching a rescue mission which risks the ship and crew of the Enterprise you'd expect them to ask more questions to determine who they're looking for and why...
- Starfleet ONLY sends the Enterprise, the fleets most advanced starship, into the uncharted space of the nebula where they know communications with Starfleet will be disabled. Kirk openly states they will be "on their own" yet there are plenty of ships docked at Yorktown which could accompany them. This is terribad planning!
- Once the Enterprise encounters the drone ship and assumes it is hostile it continues to approach and engage rather than immediately reversing and leaving. This allows the drones to destroy the nacelles preventing warp drive.
- Multiple hull breaches in space would be fatal!
- Why does Krall speak a different language? Even worse he sometimes mixes it with English!
- Why is Uhura skilled enough in unarmed combat to take down armed soldiers?
- Why does Krall keep Uhura alive and tell her all his secrets (like a Bond villain)?
- The saucer has nobody onboard piloting it yet doesn't burn up in the atmosphere and still manages to crash land in one piece.
- Scotty miraculously survives falling from a cliff top but how does he pull himself back up?
- Kirk uncovers the Kalara's lie about the S.O.S. yet believes she telling the truth about Krall threatening her crew... WTF?
- Why does Jaylah speak English?
- Terrible exposition about unity vs conflict....
- Why does She give up the artifact so easily? Of course, she must pay for this with her life...
- To destroy the superweapon, the race which created it broke it into two pieces and blasted them into outer space! WTF?!
- Nice scene where Kirk tricks Kalara into revealing Krall's location but the coordinates serendipitously take them via the Franklin. Why?
- They're able to transport up to 20 crew at a time onto the Franklin when just a little earlier Scotty was worried about transporting Spock and McCoy together...
- ...And even Jim and Jaylah, who are transported while still moving using a single a beacon, arrive just fine.
- Spock says that if Krall takes over the Yorktown he can use it to attack Federation worlds. WTF? Firstly, why would the space station be so armed? Secondly, why does he need it given that he already has the ancient bioweapon?
- They need to kick-start the Franklin before igniting the engines so it's conveniently crashed at the top of a very steep ravine.
- How does accelerating downwards help them escape the planet's gravity if they eventually need to use the ship's thrusters to move upwards?
+ Disrupting the swarm is a good idea but...
- ...The pseudoscientific gobbledegook they use to do it doesn't make sense. VHF radio isn't high frequency (EM waves) and there is no reason to assume the drones would use radio to communicate anyway...
- McCoy needlessly points out Spock is injured when he volunteers to go aboard a drone ship. DUH!
- How is Bones able to pilot a drone ship without any training? Indeed, why are these ships even usable by humans?
+ The Enterprise having to get in close to disrupt the swarm makes sense given that swarm dynamics are locally governed but...
- ...There's no reason why the drones wouldn't collide with the Enterprise itself as well as each other!
- Of course, it has to be The Enterprise which stops Krall's ship reaching it's destination.
- Why does Krall continue to record his intentions in his Captain's Log long after he's given up on The Federation? Presumably so they can be later found by someone else who can then stop him!
- Why doesn't Kirk stun Krall and relieve him of the superweapon instead of chatting to him while risking the lives of everyone on the Yorktown?
- Why does the bioweapon take minutes to activate and why does it ignore Kirk despite him coming within a few feet of it, thereby allowing him time to eject it into space...
- McCoy voices concern about Kirk's life being in danger while blissfully ignoring the fact that if Krall/Edison isn't stopped they're all dead anyway...