Star Trek was ground breaking becuase it was a prime time science fiction series with a racially integrated multi-national team with some strong female roles in a time when the Russians were THE enemy, the race wars were still going on and women stayed at home and had babies. There was still some buzz in the 80's when a woman (Tasha Yar) was the head of security in Next Gen.

So no, the latest installment wasn't faithful as a social commentary like the original series but I thought it a fine movie and tied in to the original characters well. It also can stand on it's own which not all (few?) sequels can. The Blu-ray version is both visually and sonically outstanding. I'd give it a pretty solid 7 out of 10.