rewatched this last night

Hadn't seen it in a few years and forgot just how slow build but expertly paced it is, everything building toward 2 huge ship battles. Fantastic script & pitch perfect totally believable performances from everyone headlined by Shatner and Montalban, SFX still impressive (even some impressive CGI). and lots of R rated violence/horror some which wouldnt be out of place in a 80s Cronenberg scifi chiller or the Alien universe (in fact for years Trek II was rated 15 in the uk on vhs like Blade Runner, T2 etc) of course Horners 'Aliens'esque score 1st used here draws even further comparison. as well as the eerie dark silence of space with the haunting background noises in the spaceship/planet scenes

And the general tone/mood of the movie and a realism in that Trek has never felt completely 'real' (obviously in TOS case) - but here it felt more plausible than other Treks. actually like you're watching something take place 200 years in the future. no bumpy head aliens or time travel or magic evil gods or sinister spaceclouds/probes etc, just advanced astronauts of a naval 'space force' doing battle with an insane genetically engineered 'super-man' from yesteryear, with the fate of the galaxy in the balance due to an entirely plausible superweapon (no doubt inspired by the early concerns of the A-Bomb)

Also works as a direct sequel to TOS far better than TMP (to which it bypasses completely) like heres the TOS crew 15-20y later training the next generation ( Saavik - the new Spock). And noticed that like Trek 2009 it works for people who wouldve never seen Trek before (despite being a direct sequel to an episode) i mean the way it introduces the characters, the various tropes, and equipment: transporters, warp speed, phasers, photons, all the deep science stuff, and vulcan stuff like neck pinch/mind meld, spock/bones banter, kirk flirting with a hot space babe, etc everything 'Trek' seems to get worked in organically and updated at the same time (the only thing was lacking was an end fist fight with ripped shirt Kirk..but he did get to fight his son and pull a couple of classic kirk moves)

one other thing watching the new bluray i alternated between the Theatrical Cut and the Directors Cut and its easy to see why whoever it was wanted those extra scenes gone for theatrical as they dont really fit (i believe Meyer has gone on record saying he prefers the theatrical and the DC is just a gimmick). still those scenes are extra stuff which is interesting to someone so used to watching TWOK theatrical on vhs/dvd over the years