As I promised, I'm going to do a spoilery review of Star Trek Into Darkness, because most of my qualms with the film involve some spoilers. So, consider yourself warned: There be spoilers ahead.
As I said in my other review, all of the problems with this movie come from the script. The acting is nearly flawless, and the direction is marvelous. You are about to hear be complain a lot about the script, so just remember one thing: I loved this movie. Don't forget that.
Star Trek Into Darkness is a movie that is completely dedicated to fan service. I don't even think that is an apt enough description, but it's the best I can do. The entire film is rife with references to past films (mainly Wrath of Khan, which I will definitely get to later) that don't quite feel right. In the last film, Star Trek, they had plenty of references to old Trek, but the difference was that they were more subtle and the plot was less dependent on them. Let me explain by using a few examples. The first film had an Orion girl, a tribble and the Kobayashi Maru. These things were all little nods to the original series, but other than that, the entirety of the plot was original. The villain was completely original (although, not completely fleshed out, in my opinion), the plot line was original, and all of the actors got to play new versions of the characters that so many people love, but in their own way. It was a completely original idea that was dripping in the essence of Trek, which was absolutely perfect.
Sadly, Into Darkness learned almost nothing from it's predecessor in how to please the fans. I don't think anyone wanted to see a half-assed adaptation of The Wrath of Khan (considered by most to be the best Trek movie ever.) We wanted to see another new adventure of the crew that we re-fell in love with in Star Trek. We wanted to see those cute little nods to episodes and characters that we loved. One positive I can say about this movie was that it did have some of those nods: Carol Marcus, Klingons, Mudd, and the Prime Directive. A bunch of things that were thrown in to make fans smile and still wouldn't confuse newbies.
Where I really draw the line is with the use of such an iconic villain in such a half-assed way. Let me just gloss over the fact that Khan somehow went into a cryotube as a very tan-skinned Sikh and came out as a pasty British dude. I'll just call that a casting mistake. Now, let's get down to the bulk of the issue: Khan just wasn't a well written villain in this. His motivations were okay, trying to protect his "family" but he just didn't seem quite the superhuman he was supposed to be. He never got to show his ridiculous cunning to the degree we got to see in "Space Seed" or Wrath of Khan. In almost every seen we either see him: a) kicking ass, b) brooding, or c) monologuing. Don't get me wrong, the action scenes with him were nice, and his voice is boner-inducing...but come on. He wasn't Khan. And here is the kicker: there was no important reason for it to be him. This could have been any facesless new villain. Like Nero before him. "But they wanted to use the Eugenics story line!" I hear you scream. Then use one of the 72 other characters instead. There is a simple solution to all of these problems. I could really rant about this one point forever, but let me move on.
There were some other throwbacks to Wrath of Khan that seemed out of place. Those were two pieces of dialogue that were pulled straight out of the film: "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" and "KHHHHAAAAAAAAAANNNN!" The first one I can almost give a pass to, but it just felt awkward with it's delivery. It just seemed sudden, like they were trying to force it, but other than that, it fit the situation perfectly. So, let's pass over that. The part where Spock screams "KHAN!" that was horseshit. I understand that this new Trek series is trying to humanize Spock more and is highlighting his "half-human"-ness a lot more, but seriously? That was absolutely bullshit. Give that line to: Scotty, Uhura, Chekov, Sulu, Bones...or even that weird cyborg guy on the bridge. What I'm trying to say is: give it to anyone but Spock. He is the only person that would never have that reaction, I don't care if he is half-human or not: that is absolutely retarded.
One last thing that I absolutely hated, then I'll see if I can muster up a few nice things to say. Old Spock (or Spock Prime) was a completely unnecessary addition to this film. I really don't understand why this was included in the movie. Why did they have to turn Nimoy into a useless character that they just call whenever they need some information about the Prime Timeline? Seriously, it was absolutely pointless. It had no effect on any of the events that followed. It was just a way of saying "hey fans, remember when Spock died? LET'S TALK ABOUT THAT IN STUPIDLY VAGUE TERMS THAT WON'T HAVE ANY WEIGHT ON THE REST OF THE FILM!!" Absolute rubbish. This scene just wreaks of Lindelof. That piece of shit. How is he still getting work? Ugh.
Now let me talk about things that I actually liked.
My favorite throwback to Wrath of Khan was the role reversal at the end of the film. For those of you who don't know, in Wrath of Khan, it was Spock who sacrificed himself in the end to save the rest of the Enterprise. In this film, when we see Kirk sacrifice himself to "protect his family," I thought it was a really smart change, and ended a very well written character arc for Kirk throughout the film. I thought this was a great nod to the original, while drawing on different character development and evoking different emotions/reactions. It was clever and ballsy, and I really respect the writers for making this change.
I realize this post is getting pretty long, so let me end on a high note.
I really enjoyed Peter Weller's character in this movie. He was a really cool, original villain. I liked how maniacal he was. Unlike Khan, his motivations and plot didn't need to be completely convoluted. I'm not saying it made all the sense in the world, but it wasn't nearly as bad as what they did with Khan. I liked that he was just an old fashioned villain out to start a war that he saw as "inevitable."
Now, I realize that from this review it seems like I really hated this movie, but in spite of all of my problems with the script and such, I still loved the movie. I just think that, as a fan of the original material, I have more aspects to the movie to pick apart in my head. Most of my issues with the film seem to derive from my love of Wrath of Khan, but that doesn't mean this was a bad film. It was just...not as good as it's predecessor. Hopefully Star Trek 3 will be more like the first of this franchise.
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