STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS - Grading & Discussion [SPOILERS]

He crushed a guy's skull with his bare hands.

 

I was simply stating facts, not commenting on them. I like the new look of engineering.

 

I have to know the answer!!

What did they mean by they stunned their ride in the beginning of the movie, were they actually going to RIDE ON that creature?

Do you think it was domesticated by the natives?

 

That was my understanding.

 

Was it tethered? It must have been tethered. And big enough for two.They must have already tested it out to know it would let them ride it. Since they would smell totally different than anything the animal had smellled before.

 

Not tested much. Look at its reaction to Kirk.

 

Maybe they just startle easily..

 

With Evil Villain Rage or just some good ol' superhuman adrenaline. Neither makes Khan particularly menacing, in my view.

In fact, at the moment of crushing Admiral Robocop's skull, Khan revealed himself to be a petty emo kid, and rendered himself momentarily vulnerable to attack. His urge for simplistic recrimination saps the scene of intrigue and power. It's more like Ru'afo killing Admiral Dougherty in ST:Insurrection.

This same kind of vengeful killing method was done far better, in my opinion, in Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner" (a stunning sci-fi tone poem of a film, it must be noted, that predates STID by three decades). There, Roy Batty was truly menacing, with his slow-burn intimidation of Tyrell, and both the lighting and the music conveyed a feeling of raw horror utterly absent from STID's boorish, run-and-gun histrionics.

 

Didn't Roy Batty also crush someone's skull? Or.. something?

 

Their Tauntaun was in the shop. The Nibiru critter was a rental.

 

I like it when people talk about tauntauns.

 

I didn't really like Cumberbatch as Khan. I think he was a much better villain than in the last one. So was Adm Marcus.

The last 30-40 minutes which became a reverse TWOK was much weaker than the first 2 hours which set up a good story between the crew vs Adm Marcus. That was a much more dramatic, and much better story. When Khan killed Adm Marcus he turned from an interesting character to a cartoon villain. And the story kinda fell apart from there. Not saying it was bad. I quite like the movie. But you had more cartoon elements than you did actual elements that were built over the film.

Cumberbatch was a good augment. I think if they just went with him as a counterpart to Khan this story works better because Cumberbatch just didn't have the presence t hat role deserves. He was really good and gave some solid moments though and was a far better villain than in ST09 and probably overall one of the best villains in Star Trek movie history. The only reason that they made his character Khan in this film was to have the scene where Spock yells his name to re-enact TWOK. But even that was flat compared to this one because of how much drama was built into that moment in TWOK.

The stuff between the Enterprise Crew and Adm. Marcus was much more interesting overall. It was all set up over the course of the movie. It was much better framed. The last 30-40 minutes Khan pretty much became a cartoon villain and little more. You didn't see any real motives for doing what he was doing for the most part. Which is pretty much all you got in TWOK.

 

I found the "war-crazed admiral" storyline by itself silly and cliche.

 

Yeah I'm sure that's the reason. They made that whole scripe just for that one word.

Yes, but well done, imo.

 

Cryogenic, reference your critique, there is some I agree with, and much I don't, but I won't go point by point. The one thing I will take issue with is your doubt in the ability for Kirk to directly contact Scott. I have a phone in my pocket right now which I could use to call an individual in Shanghi, China, (or send him a text message) if I so desire. I'm sure by the 23rd century, such communications technology will have advanced to cover even greater distances person to person.

 

Well it wasn't comm-to-comm call. Kirk's communicator used the ship's system which in turn used subspace relays and such.

 

Seems like the communicators also used text messaging. Pike was called to the meeting reading something. They are more or less cell phones at this point. But then again the cell phone was inspired by the communicators from TOS.

 

I've waited to comment on the movie. I've read the various threads on here as well as other sites. I just can't get that worked up over some of the things others have. That's not to say valid points haven't been high-lighted.
I went into the movie expecting to be entertained and I was. I enjoyed the nods to past Trek canon, as well as the way the actors have taken to their respective roles. All in all, I thought the latest Trek movie was an A effort.

 

And yet greatly superior. Rewatch The Cage and check out how the camera focuses on Pike's communicator at the beginning like it's some amazing piece of tech. Kinda funny now.

 

At least Marcus wasn't going around saying Klingons were trying to pollute our precious bodily fluids.

I didn't have a problem with Marcus, either, even though he was over the top, son. In reality, Marcus struck me as grossly exaggerated and totally amoral versions of Curtis LeMay and Douglas MacArthur who somehow avoided any checks on his power or ambitions.

After all:
-- LeMay told anyone who would listen (even in public) that nuclear war with the Soviet Union was inevitable and major U.S. cities would be wiped out. In 1961 he told JFK he had a plan for a surprise attack on the USSR to beat them while the U.S. still held the nuclear advantage. Kennedy didn't even listen to the plan.
-- In October 1962, when Kennedy said no to LeMay's plan to bomb the missile sites in Cuba and went with a blockade instead, Ted Sorenson said LeMay likened that to Chamberlain at Munich and said the American people would never go for it.
--Think of how badly MacArthur wanted to escalate the Korean War to use it as an excuse to invade China.

So, is it that much of a stretch to create a grossly audacious character with an itch for war with the Klingons that has to be scratched?