Okay, maybe saved was too heavy a word, but at least Kirk's experience helped, allowing him to play along with Spock both times (the second time especially when Kirk explained to Saavik the plan to escape the Genesis Cave all along).
I suppose if you found stuff you liked in it. I didn't. Going for the unstoppable enemy is a cheap, easy way to create tension. Since, we as the audience, are expected to go "holy shit! how are they going to get out of this one?" Trek played this one way too often. I hated it the most in STIV, where some cigar shaped turd shows up and.....completely fuckin' disables the primary hub of the Federation, and starts causing tremendous havoc on the planet itself. And all this time it wasn't even trying to hurt anyone, it just wanted to talk to some whales And if it weren't for Kirk getting it a pair of whales so it would shut the fuck up, the Earth sector of the Federation would have been toast, completely helpless to do a damn thing. I also hated it in Into Darkness. Why is it that the Enterprise, supposedly the flagship of the Federation, is the weakest ship? The Vengeance just showed up and completely shredded it like it was kibbles and bits. Kirk and crew are about to start crying their eyes out. I'll give Nemesis some points for actually having the Enterprise hanging around and taking some lumps from the uberinvincible fanboy ship without it imploding into some type of confetti explosion. Ugh! Enterprise is the worst culprit for this!! Suliban, Xindi, heavily used species that we will never ever hear from again! Also while I wanted to to know more about Romulus and Remus, a cross between the orcs from LOTR and a bad Ed Wood movie is NOT what I was expecting the Remans to me. Instead of being complex characters (possibly of Romulan descent) they took the "oh look space vampires" route. I hated the Remans, for the reasons stated above. TWOK Khan was this Machiavellian character that was almost Shakespearean in nature, and worked well as a foil to Kirk. I think that's one of the reasons TWOK worked so well. Abramtrek's Khan is just derivative bad guy #37 who just happens to be misunderstood. I didn't hate him, but only because his character fit the rest of the movie (a bunch of throwaway plot meant only to get to the action scenes, and loosely imitate TWOK) My understanding is that Kirk's scream "Khaaaaaann!!" was really a fake scream to trick Khan into thinking he had won, when in reality Kirk had a backup plan with the Enterprise.
You know I hear this all the time, and quite honestly think it's a silly take. Look at Shatner's face. He's not faking anything.
Well, he had to convince not only Khan and his followers, Kirk had to also convince McCoy, Saavik, Carol, and David. One slip from any of them over monitored communications could've toppled Kirk and Spock's plan. He couldn't risk that...besides, I think he figured on Saavik being even quicker on the uptake...but apparently not...which, either way worked to his advantage because of Saavik's discipline. Generally, his big three worries would've been McCoy, Carol, and David. The less they knew about the plan, the safer everyone was.
The fact that Khan couldn't figure out Kirk and Spock's by the book code is why I never believed he was a serious threat. It wasn't complicated... TWOK Khan to me was crazy and not a good foil to Kirk. Abramverse Khan had more depth to him and I could understand his actions.
The only reason Khan is a "challenge" is because his Starfleet opponents are portrayed as utter nimrods. Reliant's crew lands on the wrong effing planet. Kirk disregards SOP when the Reliant approaches and lets his ship get crippled. Kirk stupidly leaves Chekov and Terrell armed even after Chekov admits "He put creatures in our bodies to control our minds," and says nothing about them having been removed, allowing them to kill Jedda and permitting Khan to get his hands on Genesis. Had anyone been on the ball none of the above would have happened.
I will have to agree with Disco and Maurice on the above points. It does not diminish my love for either The Wrath of Khan or Into Darkness, however. But in all cases, I invoke the Martok2112 Law of Storytelling: "Logic and physics will always yield to the needs of dramatic storytelling." It is not so much a philosophy that guides me, personally, when I write (it certainly isn't a law I abide by. When I say "law"...it's more like "the law of gravity" kind of thing, rather than "THIS IS THE LAW")....but it is a philosophy that allows me to sit back, relax, and enjoy other movies, even if they do insult my intelligence a bit. A lot of times, it's not so much the logic of how such moments came to be, but the underlying emotions that give power to such scenes. Personal views only.
For all we know this is the place they originally planned to put Spock's death in. Then they changed their mind. And still kept the scene in because it was so powerful. Anyway I don't think its the case that Kirk was particularly happy and victorious here. His ship had just been hammered. People been killed. His only child (as far as we know) almost killed. And because of bad decisions by Kirk. I still think Kirk has plenty of reasons to be angry here, even if he does have a back up plan.
I've never heard anyone claim Search For Spock or Insurrection were their favorites. That doesn't mean they might not be. I've just never seen it
I've seen a claim of Insurrection as the best. Not me though, and not my place to say who, because that's for them to say.