Great Star Trek Fan Service, Not Great Cinephile Service
This movie is fine entertainment and if you're familiar with Star Trek, you'll be satisfied, if not very pleased with the result. It hits all the right notes for an action flick/sci-fi extravaganza, but is undeniably thin. The acting is solid, the roles (again, if you already know them) are unmistakable, and the story is airtight, using the tried and true "time travel and its repercussions" gimmick from the sci-fi playbook to explain the variations from the established mythos, even having key characters outright explain certain plot contrivances as if they were speaking directly to the audience. All of these relatively masterful tricks make it a very difficult movie to pick apart plotwise, but I can see how some die-hard trekkies might quibble with decisions that were made in that department. I can't give it a "must go" because little was done to serve those unfamiliar with the franchise, specifically there were far too many 5 second explanations of characters' place in the story.