Just got home from Star Trek ITD and it was very good. Better than Iron Man, and on par with the first movie. Cumberbatch as the villain was a major step up over Bana/Nero in the last movie which I felt was the only real weak point in the last movie.
Reactions from what I am reading seem somewhat mixed, and a lot of hardcore Trekkies seem to loathe what Abrams is doing to the series: which is especially true with his comments that he never liked Star Trek as a kid. I'm not going to lie, I am pretty much in the same boat with him. While I do enjoy some of the old movies, the show was before my time, and I was never keen on watching a show I felt might seem dated. But as I said some of the movies were good (others not), and this one would rank among the best.
Some parts were a tad predictable, and perhaps there were a few plotholes (nothing too outrageous though). The crowd seemed to enjoy it as well, as they cheered and applauded many of the events that occurred in the movie.
One thing I love about Abrams is that he spends time focusing on each of the characters, and doesn't just have the main leads (Kirk and Spock) hog all the spotlight. Much like with Lost, Abrams and his team does excellent work in developing the entire cast, so Scotty, McCoy, Sulu, Chekov, and Uhura all play intricate roles in the movie in their own way.
Then of course there was Cumberbatch who will become a major star going forward if his role as the villain is any indication.
If you go in looking for flaws you may find a few, and end up being disappointed. However, my only expectations going in were from the last movie, so I was quite happy with the result. Easily superior to Iron Man 3, and sets a high standard for Man of Steel if it wants to pass it.
Overall I'd give it a 4/5 for now, pushing 4.5/5 even. Oh and the 3d was spectacular like Cube says, just the perfect amount really.
I can't wait to see what direction this has for the third move (and past that). I just hope Abrams can work on both this and Star Wars, as Star Trek is probably the better series going forward based on the two movies.
Last edited by trackercowe; 05-15-2013 at 11:42 PM.
Just got back from seeing the film. I can honestly say that out of all the films I have been excited and hyped about seeing over the past year, Into Darkness is the only one that met/exceeded my expectations. Great movie. I enjoyed it as much as the first and perhaps even more.
I simply cannot believe that they kept the villain's identity under wraps. That's completely outstanding in today's information society.
Overall I liked it, lots of fun and focus on character and good action. I think the writing was a little suspect. It was as good as the writing in the first one, but I think having the villain they did really required another level up if they wanted to do it justice. Cumberbatch I think has the chops, but just compare his version to the original, and it's a shadow I think. I just don't think there's enough sympathy for him to give him depth, and look at the writing, not just for the original's dialog, but for the whole plot to give really make him an epic villain. It's just more.. I don't know.. cerebral? This version seems too flat and plain.
So in that respect I'm disappointed, not that it was a bad film, I thought it was a great film, better than the first one. I'm just disappointed that they burned the one of the best villains in Trek if not all sci-fi and I think it could have been a lot better. I guess he's just frozen so he could come back, probably after 4 more movies when the franchise is stagnating again they'll bring him back
A little more consequences would be nice as well, all we get is a speech by Kirk at the end, this kind of thing should be tearing Starfleet in apart with factions and people choosing sides etc. Unless building Dreadnought class ships is something one guy acting alone can hide in a budget I guess.
The whole Spock/Kirk inversion I thought was very cool and enjoyed it, though I can see where harder core Trek fans will be put off by it. I think it plays quite well on the whole parallel universe aspect of the reboot.
I knew they'd use the blood to revive him the instant I saw the clear radiation door when they walked up to it, so I was a bit disappointed they didn't continue on with the next one being a "Search for Kirk", though I guess that could have been over the top. But as Old Spock said, defeating him came at a cost, and this time the cost was just random buildings and civilians, so it didn't feel epic enough.
So overall it was fun, I thought it lacked the gravitas it could have had by putting it in a bigger context (again back to the original, the Klingon threat meant more because it wasn't just a line of dialog, it was key to the plot), and I'm disappointed they used up the best villain in a good but not great role, and I blame the writing. But I still enjoyed it, glad to see good Trek movies and hope they continue on this path and get better.
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Saw it today, liked it even better than the first. One question though, was there anything after the credits? Didn't think about it until we already left
Saw it tonight in 3D. Very well done. One thing I thought was funny was those primitive people in the beginning all looked like Screech from "Saved by the Bell".
Spoiler!
The aspect that bothered me was for most of movie I felt this anticipation that the genetically modified crew would be utilized somehow, but they never were. I thought it would havr made more sense yo unleash those guys onto Kronos and let them kill of the Klingons, like a trojan horse of sorts, as opposed to just killing them.
Why not just kill Khan and use the blood from one of Khan's guys in stasis?
.. And how did they end up back at Earth so quickly? I thought Marcus caught up with them very quickly after the Enterprise tried to flee from Kronos.
Saw it tonight in 3D. Very well done. One thing I thought was funny was those primitive people in the beginning all looked like Screech from "Saved by the Bell".
Spoiler!
The aspect that bothered me was for most of movie I felt this anticipation that the genetically modified crew would be utilized somehow, but they never were. I thought it would havr made more sense yo unleash those guys onto Kronos and let them kill of the Klingons, like a trojan horse of sorts, as opposed to just killing them.
Why not just kill Khan and use the blood from one of Khan's guys in stasis?
.. And how did they end up back at Earth so quickly? I thought Marcus caught up with them very quickly after the Enterprise tried to flee from Kronos.
Screw it anyone who checks this thread should be prepared for spoiler talk by now.
To your first point that seems to be the main "plot hole" many people are bringing up. While it may not be fully explained, it's reasonable to assume that they can't be certain that the rest of Khan's crew will have similar "abilities" as him. So why at all risk Kirk's life when Khan is still at large? They also would have had to unfreeze one of his crew members and keep Kirk frozen for longer, so capturing Khan works there as well. Then of course there is the fact that Vulcan's do not kill, which is something they really could have stated. So even without the cure, it's unlikely Spock would have ended up killing Khan.
As to your second point that was an issue I had as well. It seemed Marcus caught up with them midway to Earth, and the Enterprise didn't go back to warp speed again prior to Khan shooting down the ship. So I agree there was an issue there.
They also didn't bother explaining who or what was sabotaging the Enterprise which caused it to breakdown during their mission to Qo'noS. I knew right off the bat that Marcus was up to no good, but I also expected Alice Eve to have been on his plan, and that she was the reason for that issue, but no dice there.
Last edited by trackercowe; 05-18-2013 at 02:41 AM.
Saw it today, liked it even better than the first. One question though, was there anything after the credits? Didn't think about it until we already left
I stayed till the end of the credits and there was nothing.
Also, you have to remember that in the original series, Khan appeared in an episode of the show itself, (which is why he was stranded on that moon at the beginning of the 2nd movie)
This movie is more in keeping with the tv episode rather than the 2nd movie, so it's all good.
I tended to think that detonating 72 photon torpedoes INSIDE a ship all at once would've completely incinerated it, too. Only real problem I had with it :P
And how was Admiral Marcus able to transport his daughter out if the Enterprise when they still had their shields up?
Just little nerdy semantic things. I still loved it
The Khan in the new movie is a different Khan, though he shouldn't have been effected by the time line shift, he just is different.
I didn't bother to check this, but does new Khan's time line fit with Space Seed? I am not sure if his 300 years old worked out to the time of the Eugenic Wars as specified in Space Seed.
Edit: okay, looks like the age of Khan and the crew fit with the Space Seed time frame. If the current date is 2259, that would make them about 37 yrs old during the Eugenic Wars that ended in 1996.
I didn't bother to check this, but does new Khan's time line fit with Space Seed? I am not sure if his 300 years old worked out to the time of the Eugenic Wars as specified in Space Seed.
Edit: okay, looks like the age of Khan and the crew fit with the Space Seed time frame. If the current date is 2259, that would make them about 37 yrs old during the Eugenic Wars that ended in 1996.
Yeah it does fit, just a different person found him and the Botney Bay
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I simply cannot believe that they kept the villain's identity under wraps. That's completely outstanding in today's information society.
.....
I didn't think they did keep it under wraps. I had known who the villain was going in... maybe I just heard a rumor about it, went along with it and turned out to be right. There was no big surprise or twist for me
Thoroughly entertaining movie from start to end. I am a bit confused about something though now that I've had to think about it. I think I've pieced most of it together except for one thing. I realize there is a spoiler tag on the op title now,11 but I'll cover this in case:
Spoiler!
Why was Khan out and about in the world in the first place? Why not just free his crew and take Marcus on dead on? I didn't quite catch how the falling out between them happened.
