Thank you for sharing your jumbled thoughts. :) The first six Star Trek films all focused a lot of attention on Kirk. This one actually did a good job balancing Kirk and Spock as the center of attention. It does have a lot of action, but I like how it manages to fit in some creative situations and intelligent discussions along the way. Red Matter is just a plot device. Even though it isn't explained well, I think that's forgivable because it's never meant to be the focus of the film.

There's plenty of room in the Star Trek universe for parallel dimensions. I think this actually creates more suspense because a main character can die in this universe without affecting the main timeline, so anything can happen. I didn't like the sexy aspects of it, either, by the way. You're definitely right about that one. That was really unnecessary. Thank you very much for sharing!