Star Trek Into Darkness

Saw this in 3D theatre in 2013. ReWatched it again recently. Still good entertaining film after 13 years.

This Trek film is made after Cumberbatch is famous for Sherlock. Here, he's true scene stealer, giving powerful performance, unlike his recent big budget films. Script has plot holes & copies from original outdated 1982 Wrath of Khan flick. Those complaining "why Latino not cast as Khan" forget original Khan (Ricardo) & his crew were all costumed BLONDE, his crew all white actors, Ricardo & crew portray whites - not Latino. Khan's full name is Mongloid Asian- not India nor Latino. FOCUS on one's ACTING instead of race in any film. An Asian actor could've played Khan here. There's very good American Asian actors & many overseas accomplished Chinese, Japanese, Korean, ASEAN bilingual actors but NONE are cast in big budget Hollywood films or series, incl animation, ESP ICONIC lead roles, even after w* *ke movement. Michelle Yeoh's recently created "Empress" character in "Discovery" & 2025 "Section 13" TV streaming flicks are low budget & poor script quality; cardboard character & waste of her talent. She's not cast as iconic Trek character nor creating unique memorable one like Borg Queen.

Back to this film - there's solid plot & script, cast chemistry, action, inventive quality sci fi, music & direction - ALL requisite elements for good film. Main Trek cast & guest leads give good performances. Spock transforming into action type mode is a big stretch but excusable bc of previous 2009 Trek film. This film has action throughout but not excessively. To the many Critics despising action in Star Trek, desiring "talkie" film: see MANY DULL NO action low budget "talking" Trek films released, esp 1st 1980 "Star Trek The Motion Picture." View all following "curing insomnia" 1980s-1996 no action talking Trek films. All slow paced, cheap production flicks even @ their release dates. All outdated few yrs after release.

THIS film script has humor that's well delivered. One good character / actor exits but it's key to plot. Ending is bit predictable but with twist.

Remaining fun & entertaining after 13 YEARS is TRUE TEST of ANY film. Enjoy it!

Golly I think my title sums up everything I wanted to say. As far as basic plot goes, there's nothing particularly new here: a psycho super being plans to kill people and blow up things while the Enterprise is, for the millionth time, "the only ship in the quadrant". This movie is very lazily written, sort of like that homework assignment you slapped together on the bus to school but with a multi zillion dollar budget. But before you transport off this page, bear in mind the film's saving grace...

There are a ton of groan-worthy, yet very effective, references to the old Star Trek universe, making this a pretty entertaining watch even though I sound like I'm slamming it harder than a shuttle craft making Emergency Landing Plan B ("B! As in BARRICADE"). That plus a ton of dazzling special effects and nonstop action prompt me to rate this movie a definite WORTHWHILE WATCH, even though my inner Trek nerd is screaming for you to avoid it like that episode "Spock's Brain".

No, this is NOT a remake of the incomparable "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" (1982) although it does feature the characters Khan as well as Dr. Carol Marcus.

No, Khan does not show off his bulging pecs as only the late great Ricardo Montalban could do.

YES, there is a sneaky remake of the famous radiation "you'll flood the chamber" scene which is fun to watch.

YES, Chris Pine does an admirable job of playing Captain Kirk as the charmingly arrogant young captain who doesn't like to lose.

YES, Zachary Quinto does an admirable job of playing the stoic Mr Spock, and YES there is a cameo by Leonard Nimoy as the original Spock.

YES, Dr, McCoy says "Dammit Jim I'm a doctor not a ---!"

and lastly, YES, at a certain point in the movie someone does, in fact, yell: "KHAAaaAaAAAAAaaANNN!!!"

So what more needs to be said. Great popcorn flick. Fun little nods to the old Trek series. It doesn't require too many brain cells. But then again, neither does "Spock's Brain" and we still love it.

If I could give it a zero, I would. The only thing to save this travesty is Zachary Quinto and cool explosions. If it weren't for him, I'd give it a 1.

Really bad acting, coupled with a terrible version of the story of Kahn, and why in the world is everything on the Enterprise glowing like a flashlight?

And then they had the gall to use the original Star Trek theme at the end? I can see why many of the old actors have a serious problem with the new movies.

This is terrible, really terrible. Gene Roddenberry was greedy as can be, but I think he'd have a serious problem with this version. In the original, he wanted to show that humanity had finally overcome most of the things that caused us problems. The only place these things could still be found was in the expansion regions where it was still the wild west.

But in this... everything from the uniforms, the slang, the music, and everything else is EXACTLY as it is now but shinier. Really? This is ridiculous.

Abrams should be ashamed.

Abrams is merely an efficient technician, uninteresting as a man of vision. But we need guys like him, conservative and mechanical in their efficiency, who will hold down the paradigm as others more adventurous fight to shift it, who will remind us by the arbitrary limits they impose that there must be a broader space. It's always the routine and familiar that kindles dreaming.

And this is just so routine. Abrams takes the Spielberg-Lucas model of climax after climax, starting with an Indiana Jones prologue. A few simple moral dilemmas form the backbone, inherited with a wink from the Trek genealogy. The hamfisted 9/11 allegory, enforced by terrorist bombings and a final 'plane crash' in Starfleet hq, is that we may covet revenge but we are dehumanized in the process. Khan as a vengeful mujahedeen, 'trained' by the secret military which is headed by a cowboy admiral hellbent on preemptive war. (Interestingly, everything about Khan's handling here bears Nolan's influence.)

Soulless.

So it is fitting that this guy is spearheading the next generation of established cinematic imagination, taking over from Lucas who is now retired, and Spielberg who is 'respectable'. I'm sure that in 20 years time he will be making his own respectable war movies. That kids growing up on stuff like this will fondly elevate the memory. And that his idea of artistry, Welles' action camera dotted by twinkles of color, lasers and flares, will be elaborated on in essays about his aesthetics, maybe.

All of which is just a natural state of things, nothing to get up in arms about. It just means that the interesting stuff will be defined by contrast to him.

Yes it's just pure fun. Not a Star Trek fan but I loved the action, the acting and the story. Good visuals and great entertainment. Recommended, 8/10