[pezjohnson]

3 Things to love about this movie:

The aforementioned Kirk Lear moment
The whole crew (except for Spock) goes rogue to rescue a friend.
THEY BLOW UP THE ENTERPRISE TO GET AWAY! Back in the day this was like Optimus Prime dying, or Duke going into a coma because of the bad reaction of Optimus Prime dying, or Spock dying.

Seriously, this movie is like Empire Strikes Back. Only there's no hands getting chopped off (unless you count David's death), and there's no finding out the bad guy is your father. But it's the entire ending where "oh yeah, there's going to be another coming." The three of them (II, III, IV) rule as a whole, like the Back to the Future movies. On top of that, David's death helps fuel the plot for VI.