I saw this movie in cinema when it was released and I can tell you that I haven’t see it since so I haven’t got a clue ^^’
What I can tell you is that I was 13 at the time and I had probably watched most of TOS and seen a few movies with the TOS cast tho I also can’t pinpoint which. Most of the plot of Into Darkness eludes me and I know even 13 year old me thought it felt like a very generic action sci-fi film, almost like Star Wars, and that my dad was disappointed by it for similar reasons.
But I definitely wasn’t as disappointed as him; you can impress a 13 year old with explosions and I think that Leonard Nimoy’s obviously old appearance made me realize just how long ago TOS was filmed, but it also prompted me to research the actors of TOS a bit (I usually don’t care much for actors or celebrities in general).
Seeing Into Darkness in cinema also lead to me believe that Star Trek as a franchise was still alive and well and I only realized later that these movies came seemingly out of nowhere. It’s probably also why my English teacher was so taken aback when I, a 7th grader, could explain a comic with a joke or pun of some kind about William Shatner’s toupee that was printed on one of her outdated worksheets a year prior to the release of Into Darkness (English isn’t my native language, otherwise this might sound pretty normal). But my parents just had their children rather late and my dad is a nerd who grew up with TOS, of course I know Star Trek.
TL;DR: I think for me personally it helped me connect to a fandom I thought was dead; I’d have to see it again to give any actual analysis of the plot.