Last night, a crowd in Austin surprisingly found themselves at the U.S. premiere of the new Star Trek movie after being duped with promise of a new print of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (and a mere ten minutes of the upcoming film). Of course, this being Aint It Cool territory, there were movie blog people in attendance, and of course these guys have given the reboot glowing reviews. But their praises can’t simply be explained away by the fact that the audience is part of the Trekkie choir, because certainly those fans don’t love every Star Trek movie. Otherwise there wouldn’t be such thing as the “Star Trek movie curse” on the odd-numbered installments.

Maybe they were just positive in their reviews because that’s what these kinds of guys do in situations like this. Think of it this way: if diehard Superman II, Raiders of the Lost Ark or The Empire Strikes Back fans were lured in with the promise of new prints of those films, hosted by Richard Donner or George Lucas or Harrison Ford, and the respective hosts surprised the audience with pre-release screenings of Superman Returns, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull or The Phantom Menace, they would have been disappointed and some would possibly have written negative reviews. But if those fans were the type of movie bloggers who post reviews in between uploading photos of themselves with celebrities on Facebook, then there might be something more to it than simple fan-based bias.

I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with these kinds of bloggers, of course. I actually appreciate that they love movies as much as they do. And certainly anybody who criticizes their positivity is only jealous that they didn’t get to see the movie yet. So consider that when reading the following responses:

• Erik D. Snider at Cinematical doesn’t doubt the movie is good, but wonders why anybody (including himself?) is paying any attention to them:
  

  I think we shouldn’t put too much stock in these early reports from a screening that was designed to elicit positive reaction. The real surprise here would be if they’d done all that — the bait-and-switch, the surprise Nimoy appearance, the unspooling of the film a month early — and the audience had said, “Meh.” That would have been noteworthy. But giddy enthusiasm after an event whose sole purpose was to produce giddy enthusiasm? Not exactly earth-shattering.

• Lane Brown at Vulture points out at least one minor bit of negativity from one of the reviews before also warning against over-inflating the hype:
  

  As you might imagine, nearly all buzz is positive, though one shortchanged viewer had this to say: “Anyone who says it’s better than Wrath of Khan is talking out of their hyperbolic ass though.”

  So, with just a few minor reservations, a theater full of people who’d have been just as excited to see a 27-year-old movie they probably already own on DVD can recommend the new Star Trek, which they saw for free. Temper all excitement accordingly!

• Meredith Woerner at io9 acknowledges a few other minor criticisms amidst the positivity:
  

  The reviews are pouring in with praise for Abrams, but also a few mentions of some rough parts, Bana’s portrayal of the movie’s villain, Nero, being one of them. Also, some cite a lack of character building for the entire cast.

• Vick Holtreman at Screen Rant admits he’s jealous and also highlights some of the negative elements:
  

  Ah, but is it all puppies and rainbows? Common issues I’ve seen mentioned include the fact that Nero is not a strong villain for Kirk to go up against, secondary characters don’t get a lot of screen time (but then, when have they ever in Star Trek?), and that Anton Yelchin’s Russian accent in his portrayal of Chekov does get a bit annoying.

• The Playlist also quotes from the reviews, but thankfully doesn’t mention the Trekkie bias. Intead:
  

  J.J. Abrams “Star Trek” reboot had a surprise screening in Austin last night, so that means all the usual Texas film suspects were in the house.

• Fark commenter Maneck has a good point about the bait-and-switch tactic:
  

  As a bonus, zero piracy from the screening as no ones brining a camcorder to the screening of a movie that’s been out 20 years.

• Alex Billington at First Showing received a reader’s response from the Australian premiere, and it’s slightly on par with the Austin gushing. Quoting Rivee Dylan Tao:
  

  It’s one thing to say you’re going to make a Star Trek movie that is true to the ethos of the original but accessible to a new audience (the tenet of every reboot, re-imagining, remake and revival in recent years), but to actually deliver on that promise is all together another thing and J.J. has done exactly that. It should probably be said that I’m not the biggest Trekkie on the planet, but the few die-hards that I spoke to at the premiere were suitably impressed as well.

• Anne Thompson at Thompson on Hollywood has links to photos and video from the Austin event, in case anyone’s interested.