Better late than never, I guess.
I finally got to see the latest Star Trek movie in the JJ Abrams reboot of the franchise. Star Trek, Into Darkness was a much better movie than the first, in my humble opinion-although I still have BIG issues with how they took and shredded the Star Trek timeline, and in the process destroyed some of the best moments of the Star Trek "history".
If you are not a serious Star Trek fan, which I most definitely am, then its a good two hours of hit tech computer graphics entertainment. But for the serious Star Trek aficionado the rebooted movie series still leaves a few things to be desired.
WARNING NOTICE! PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD!
Things I liked about the movie. For one thing-I am definitely warming to Zachary Quinto as Spock. He brings some depth to the character that Leonard Nimoy also could have done, had not the Original Series script writers not been so stilted.
You will completely understand the Admiral Marcus character better ( a lot of critics evidently complained about it)-if you watch the TV Show Star Trek Enterprise 4th season two part episode "Terra Prime". Basically he is reprising the character he played in those episodes-and Peter Weller is doing it equally as well as he did before. "Terra Prime-forever!"
Simon Pegg as Scotty is awesome.
The whole Spock -Ohura thing is at the same time pretty cool; and kind of creepy. However the actress who plays Ohura is definitely in the "do-ability" window.
I was really digging the chick who played Carol Marcus. She could have my baby. ( But here's a question-how do you have an American father and grow up with a British accent?)
Things I didn't like:
So Star Fleet is victim of a terrorist attack that kills hundreds of people in London. An emergency meeting is called on top of their HQ building and it also gets attacked by Khan the minute it starts. Does it seem believable for you to imagine a helicopter successfully going in front of the oval office to attack the President just after a deadly terrorist attack? It's already incredibly far-fetched and stupid in our time – how are we supposed to describe a similar situation 300 years in the future with an exponentially better technology?
The opening scene was just ridiculous-and also adds nothing to the movie. Sure it sets the stage to show the interplay between Capt Pike and Kirk-but there are much better ways to that. And the Enterprise underwater? Give me a break!
Again, just like in the first film, Midshipmen do not go from being a midshipman to being a Captain. It screws up some of the development of the original CAPT Kirk. Unbelievable-especially when you think that Starfleet is a global organization. Global organization= global bureaucracy.
How did Khan teleport to Kronos? And if he can transport that far-why do you need Starships? That's a big hole they should have thought through better.
They did not explain the background history of the Eugenics Wars at all. This is key to understanding who Khan is and why he is such a dangerous guy. And furthermore-he may have been genetically enhanced, but that surely does not make him immortal. So the whole "super blood thing" is just unbelievable. Even in the new Star Trek Timeline, surely they would have known who Khan was.
And while we are on Khan; He certainly does not look Noonyan Sing like. Khan was from South Asia. ( Nonetheless, the actor who plays him is a great villain) .
The whole juxtaposition of the "Wrath of Khan" and this movie was neat-but the Spock screaming "KHAN!" thing was just too much.
And finally , what's with the Nazi designed Star Trek uniforms? When did Herr Goebbels become a fashion consultant to the movie business?
Summary:
Its a good ride-but it could have been a better movie. AND it could have paid better homage to the series and its history. Makes me wonder how JJ Abrams is going to fuck up Star Wars. ( You think Star Trek fans are geeks-wait till you have literally 1000's of Jedi Knight wannabe's on your case.)
Oh, and speaking of Zachary Quinto, this Audi commercial with him in it is just awesome:
Oh, I HATED the uniforms!!