Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

[DeeCee]

You didn't understand Khan's motivation. Seriously? Star fleet found his ship discovered who they were, freed Khan to be used as a black Ops all the while Starfleet held his people's lives over him. Going so far to attached them to weapons.He wants the people in charge exposed then killed, and then he wants the rest of Starfleet to suffer.What's so difficult to understand. Took a kid who's never seen trek, and the only backstory I gave him is that Khan is genetically engineered superman who ruled millions, when he lost power him and 72 of his most loyal lLts. Went unto space.Really what more do you need.

That's not exactly correct.  Marcus woke up Khan and used his intellect and ruthless nature to develop weapons and ships to fight in what Marcus believed would be an inevitable war with the Klingons.  Khan sealed his comrades in the Torpedos in an attempt to smuggle them away from Star Fleet.  Marcus found out and held on to the torpedoes.  However, Khan escaped before Marcus could capture him.

 

Khan believed Marcus would have killed his comrades.  He didn't expect them to still be alive.  The whole impetus of Khan's actions in the film is to seek revenge for Marcus's supposed murder of his comrades.  The attack in London was designed to steal a Stellar Transporter device (yes, I have trouble with this gimmick as well) and gather Marcus and all the Earth System Star Fleet captains in one place.  Khan then tried to kill them all but without total success.  He then transported away to a deserted part of the Klingon home world to escape.  A place Star Fleet would be least likely to follow.  He probably intended to steal a Klingon ship and eventually rebuild his empire.

 

His plan did not involve getting captured.   Marcus new the torpedoes contained Khan's comrades.  He intended for Kirk to fire all the torpedoes at Khan to get rid of all them in one strike.  Khan changed his plan when the Enterprise broadcast to him that they intended to basically kill all of his comrades.  He surrended so that he could once again try and save his comrades.

[Cmasterclay]

I loved it, but I think, in this age of overlong movies, this is one of the few films that absolutely, positively should have been about 15 minutes longer. Smoother ending, and more Cumberkhan would have made it perfect. 

[Crusader]

Even though overall I did like it it does feel like there's no overall story advancing in this one 

 

You have Cumberbatch as your villain who can be menacing only by speaking and then he plays an actual super human with all these strength and intelligence and you resort to this ? 

 

I felt like the only thing STID did totally right in that underwhelming ending was keeping Khan alive so that he can come back in another sequel to wreck havoc the right way 

[lab276]

So it was enjoyable, but it's not perfect. My main problem with it is that two things happen that are apropos of nothing: Kirk being demoted and Kirk dying. The first one of these might have been to some effect if Kirk isn't so easily put back on the crew of the Enterprise. Instead of raising the stakes it brings them down instead and it suffers for it.Then they do it again. Even in this universe, death is not death because Kirk is brought back to life. It aims to be an emotional moment, where Spock loses his inhibition and set out for revenge. But it's ruined because Kirk is brought back to life and it's not even hard. I know Pirates does the same thing, but for some reason I can accept it because it's magic and crazy and, most importantly, attention is drawn to how crazy the world is. Harry Potter is the opposite. I wish more works of fiction respected death in the way that Harry Potter does.Overall I'll give it a B+. But subsequent viewings could lower that.

[lab276]

Actually, even thinking about it now, I'm going to have to drop it to just a B.

[Impact]

Star Trek Into the Darkness3:15PMAbout 85% full. (Mostly older people, though some teens were there also I noticed)Trailers:The Internship: Laughs, mostly at the end.World War Z: Just some whispers.Despicable Me 2: Tons of laughs. Great reaction.Lone Ranger: Great reaction, people always seem to love the ending of it.Esylum: Forgot about this trailer till just now. No reaction.Last Vegas: Ummm...some laughs, looks like the old man Hangover. (Ironically I think Kline is the youngest but he looks older then the rest of the actors)Movie: Very good. Better then the first. The visuals were great as was the makeup. Loved the remix of the score. Pine did seem to channel Shatner at some points which I found amusing. The acting is good and I just really enjoyed it.Best of 2013.A

[Goffe]

heavily disappointed by thisB, possible B-Trek09 was A for me

[Spidey Freak]

Cause he's a great actor. He will be this generations Alan Rickman.

 

He needs to be ten times more captivating before he even wishes of being the next AR. 

[JarJarBinks]

8.5 / B+ for me, which actually makes it my favorite Star Trek film (just over First Contact and ST09).  I haven't been the biggest fan of Star Trek movies in general, but am a much bigger ST TV fan, especially The Next Generation and the original series (though it has been a while now since I've really re-watched much from either series).

 

More than anything, I felt like I was watching a ST TV episode (heh, with a very big budget) instead of a ST movie.  Areas like the pacing, overall tone and feel, character interactions.  And that worked for me.  I also dig the alternate universe route more than something along the lines of a more traditional remake or reboot.

Edited May 17, 2013 by JarJarBinks

[Spidey Freak]

More than anything, I felt like I was watching a ST TV episode (heh, with a very big budget) instead of a ST movie.  Areas like the pacing, overall tone and feel, character interactions. 

 

This, but I think the non-Trekkies are not going to be impressed that all they are getting is an ST special. The movie wasn't even as entertaining as The Simpsons Movie for people to overlook that.

[fishstick]

So it was enjoyable, but it's not perfect. My main problem with it is that two things happen that are apropos of nothing: Kirk being demoted and Kirk dying. The first one of these might have been to some effect if Kirk isn't so easily put back on the crew of the Enterprise. Instead of raising the stakes it brings them down instead and it suffers for it.Then they do it again. Even in this universe, death is not death because Kirk is brought back to life. It aims to be an emotional moment, where Spock loses his inhibition and set out for revenge. But it's ruined because Kirk is brought back to life and it's not even hard. I know Pirates does the same thing, but for some reason I can accept it because it's magic and crazy and, most importantly, attention is drawn to how crazy the world is. Harry Potter is the opposite. I wish more works of fiction respected death in the way that Harry Potter does.Overall I'll give it a B+. But subsequent viewings could lower that.

 

POTC worked because a) Jack death scene was really emotional and they said they`d go back to fetch him (also veyr emtional scene) and Barbossa twist was unexpected. It didn`t work for Will Turner and Angelica and The Claf.

[Spidey Freak]

POTC worked because a) Jack death scene was really emotional and they said they`d go back to fetch him (also veyr emtional scene) and Barbossa twist was unexpected. It didn`t work for Will Turner and Angelica and The Claf.

 

And it didn't even bother for Pepper Potts. 

[fishstick]

And it didn't even bother for Pepper Potts. 

 

Pepper was so little in the movie that it would have been more emotional if they`d offed the kid.

[4815162342]

You know what would have made this film so much better?

 

If instead of being found by Admiral Robocop, the Botany Bay had been found by Klingons in the altered timeline and Khan was being used by the Klingons, under threat of his crew being murdered, to help them design ships and weapons and plan battles. Then at some point he'd break free and decide to use some big-bad Klingon weapon against the Klingon homeworld itself, forcing Kirk and company to decide whether they want to intervene or not since on the one hand, it puts a dagger into the heart of the Klingon Empire and on the other hand you would have a supersoldier with superbrains running amok in the galaxy with an advanced ship and weapons.

 

Plus it would mean we'd actually get a Klingon villain with actual screentime, not just a random patrol leader for about 2 minutes in the film.

[Plain Old Tele]

Just got out of my screening. My initial thoughts are that it's very entertaining with some extremely silly/dubious parts. It's saved by the strength of the characters and a great performance by Cumberbatch; at its worst it feels like SUPERMAN RETURNS-esque fan tribute. I'm in B/B- territory.

[IndustriousAngel]

Just saw this, in 2D (my son saw it in 3D a few days earlier and said it gave him a headache with all the fast action and pans). I'm not impressed, mainly with the script. The acting is ok - Cumberbatch excellent as expected, Chris Pine and Karl Urban stand out among crew; I still don't think Zachary Quinto is the right guy for his iconic role - production values are superb - but the story is weak, forced and full of plotholes I'll not itemise, save that the federation's transporters seems to work (or not work) less on physical principles than on script requirements. The worst thing from my POV was how much of the story depended on pure action, starting with the Bond/Indy-like intro sequence and ending with the ground/air chase on Earth. Gone are the days when Star Trek stood for a type of SF that had intellectual (I use that in a very broad sense, but there it is) appeal. And the Carol Marcus character was underused to a criminal degree, they would not have let that happen in the Original Series.

 

In some review there was mentioned how this film with its potentially sombre tones came a little to early for the yet young crew of the Enterprise, and I tend to agree. A more light-hearted, and maybe more interesting, adventure, with less explosion-action, more inter-action and a straightforward story might have been the better choice.

Edited May 17, 2013 by IndustriousAngel

[Plain Old Tele]

Just saw this, in 2D (my son saw it in 3D a few days earlier and said it gave him a headache with all the fast action and pans). I'm not impressed, mainly with the script. The acting is ok - Cumberbatch excellent as expected, Chris Pine and Karl Urban stand out among crew; I still don't think Zachary Quinto is the right guy for his iconic role - production values are superb - but the story is weak, forced and full of plotholes I'll not itemise, save that the federation's transporters seems to work (or not work) less on physical principles than on script requirements. The worst thing from my POV was how much of the story depended on pure action, starting with the Bond/Indy-like intro sequence and ending with the ground/air chase on Earth. Gone are the days when Star Trek stood for a type of SF that had intellectual (I use that in a very broad sense, but there it is) appeal. And the Carol Marcus character was underused to a criminal degree, they would not have let that happen in the Original Series.

 

In some review there was mentioned how this film with its potentially sombre tones came a little to early for the yet young crew of the Enterprise, and I tend to agree. A more light-hearted, and maybe more interesting, adventure, with less explosion-action, more inter-action and a straightforward story might have been the better choice.

 

I both agree and disagree. I think we (Trek fans) expect Carol Marcus to have a huge role because of her significance in WRATH OF KHAN... but even then, I doubt her screen time was really much more than here, and we'll have to see if they choose to expand her more in future movies.

 

The script is quite silly in places, and I think the end result is that the universe feels a lot smaller than it should. And it suffered from a lost opportunity at tying the opening sequence into a great sense of Kirk's evolution as a character; instead, it was an action sequence to show how impulsive he was (and to generate the plot point of being demoted), there's little beyond that, when there was a great chance in the third act to explore how he's matured.

 

My quibble with Khan as the villain -- which I bitched about years ago when it was first rumored -- is that again this series is tying itself too strongly to the old, traditional series. Break out! Do something different! When you don't, it's almost inevitable that the script will end up playing off classic moments or characters (either inverting, as they did with Kirk/Spock and the reactor core) or just giving a nod to what came before. And frankly, that's basically fan wankdom. It doesn't work dramatically because you step away from the film (as it plays) to analyze and compare with what you know well. 

 

On the positive side, I do think it did an excellent job of giving each crew-member their moment (or moments) in the sun -- it was far better in this respect than practically every other ST movie. And the camaraderie and interaction between all of them was stellar.

Edited May 17, 2013 by Telemachos

[Accursed Arachnid!™]

Why didn't they just call this Star Trek II???

 

It was awesome from beginning to end. I didn't have a chance to breathe and the references just kept coming. Much more respectful to what had come before than ST09. My only issue is Abrams needs to learn how to ...well, dirty things up before tackling Star Wars. The ship is torn apart and the bridge is just humming along with lens flares and neat graphics in the background. Not even a "red alert". Wrath of Khan created a sense of dread by making the bridge look like a death trap. The lights dim to red and the computer screens go blank.  I know we're talking aesthetics here but they(as well as the music) do nearly as much as what is actually happening to create a sense of realism. But that's really my only gripe in an otherwise great and entertaining film.

 

A-

[Jay Beezy]

Things got a bit thrown off at the end when Spock knocks out Khan, then cut to black before seeing Kirk alive and well in the hospital. It felt rather anti-climactic.

[FilmBuff]

Couple questions.

 

Why did Admiral Marcus want to fire the 72 torpedoes containing Khan's people into the Klingon home world? Did he know the torpedoes contained Khan's people?Also, Why not just incinerate Khan's people seeing how dangerous they are?

Edited May 17, 2013 by FilmBuff