Abrams' Star Trek trailer

My friend Ben L. mentioned this on his blog, so I thought I'd offer my (wordy) take on it here. Click the title for full details. In brief? I'm excited but I fear that the villain is going to be REALLY LAME. Click here for the trailer, and then read on! :)

DISCLAIMER: I have read no spoilers. Any perceived spoilers mentioned here were all inferred from the trailer I just linked you to, the first I've seen of the film besides the teaser trailer ages ago.

Perceived Pros (from best to least good):

1. I love the snow scene where the powerful deep voice says, "You are capable of deciding your own destiny. The question is, which path will you choose?" I wonder if it's supposed to be Sarek talking to Spock? or Kirk's dad talking to Kirk? He seems to have a slight hint of a British accent, whoever he is.
   
2. I like how the presentation of StarFleet is much more similar to our own armed forces than is traditional Star Trek's. Like, how some army-voiced guy is shouting "GO, GO, GO!" to the young men as they dive out of the ship and pull their parachutes. It has the same feel as real military training in the movies does, which is good. (Although from the looks of it, this may not be a training scene. Looks like it's towards the end of the film, considering this rusty platform appears to be part of the planetary destruction device shown earlier in the trailer.) Anyway, the military flavor of the look and the dialogue in this scene drives home to the casual viewer (especially the guy who goes in with a closed mind thinking Star Trek is for dweebs) that StarFleet is the freakin' military of the future! Hopefully could get a new generation of Americans interested in Star Trek, particularly a segment of the culture who offer a fresh set of goals and dreams from the typical Trek nerd. And together, maybe both groups could create a better franchise for everyone? (A guy can hope.) I frown upon the NASCAR idiot as much as I do the nerd sociopath. I welcome the ROTC Republican as much as I do the nuclear engineer Libertarian (the latter being the bread and butter of most Trek webforums I've visited). Trek needs a much wider fanbase, and Abrams may be the man to bring it. This scene in particular gives me hope.
   
3. Kirk seems like a good casting pick. Spock seems spot on.
   
4. I like the look of the spaceship.
   
5. I like how the Enterprise is sent on a mission to investigate a distress call from another ship, and when they arrive you see this war-torn ship, because it's a really powerful thing for young Kirk whose own dad died in such a manner.
   
6. I like the score in the trailer. Yeah, it's a little flashy, and towards the end it's too loud for my tastes, but I'm a sucker for haunting, melancholic chamber choir bits and this trailer most definitely provides. :)

Perceived Cons (from worst to least bad):

1. My biggest complaint of all is that the villain of this film appears (based on look and on dialogue) to either be Kirk's father, who was presumed deceased in battle at space, or else an alternate timeline version of Kirk himself. ("James T. Kirk was a great man," he says, "... but that was another life!") Either way, laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame. :\ Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease prove me wrong, Star Trek film! :(
   
2. To make matters even worse, Tattoo-Face (the villain) appears to have the classic Vulcan and Romulan-style pointy ears. Given all the green lighting, he may be with the Romulans (cool!), but I don't see why either Kirk's father or Kirk's alternate timeline self would be accepted by the Romulans, allowed to lead them to battle, etc. I also don't see why they'd genetically or surgically re-engineer him to be one of their own, either in superficial look or in total body. Bizarre.
   
3. I don't know what it is about fight scenes on top of small platforms high above a planet, but I don't like them. I didn't like it in Star Trek VII: First Contact and I'm not liking the look of it here at 1:38, either. It's like ... A, how the hell'd you get up there anyway? (Parachuted onto it? UNBELIEVABLE that even one of you'd make it, never mind two or three!) B, how are you able to lift your legs quickly for kicks and jumps but at the same time you're not being ripped off of the platform by the rushing air? If you've got magnetized boots, you can't kick. If you're strong enough to peel your magnetized boot-feet off of the platform, then your legs are stronger than the planetary winds in the stratosphere. :\
   
4. I don't like how Kirk, in civilian clothes, just assumes the title of captain. It would have been nice if he'd at least been a 2nd or 3rd-in-command gold shirted officer. It's preposterous to assume that (in the real navy) a civilian onboard a maritime vessel at war would be allowed to take command of the ship over the 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc. officers. And if Kirk is an officer (as shown by his StarFleet comm badge), then why the heck isn't he in uniform!? Don't tell me those are his jammies 'cause they're clearly not. :p
   
5. The NCC-1701-A's design isn't suitable for assembly on the ground. This has been explained away for as long as I can remember: spaceships are assembled in outerspace in Star Trek. In fact, it's been shown prominently in every other Star Trek TV show except the original series. I don't really care, to be honest. This is just a very small physics gripe.
   
6. awkward lol @ two things at 1:16 in the trailer. The first is the dark-skinned alien in blue in the back of the bridge. What the hell alien is that? I've never seen something like that in Star Trek before. I'm cool with Abrams inventing new aliens, that ain't my complaint, but still, did he have to make one that looks so bizarre and isn't familiar to the audience? At least have gone with a Vulcan or original series Klingons-like design! The second awkward thing is the red-shirt near her who's grabbing his belt buckle! A, it looks like he's grabbing his own private. B, it then has the appearance of looking like he's trying to hold his pants up from falling down.