The problem is, when they used premise of the crew being promoted quickly and serving with each other for only a year, it was bound to have that reaction with at least some fans. Everything was thrown in all at once, so it has the summer movie feel to it, with all the gimmicks. Kirk the hero and main character dying and then being brought back (probably) didn't really surprise anyone. Scenes like that are usually intended surprise viewers. I suspect that it was made for people who aren't as familiar with Trek or basically the summer movie goer crowd. There's pretty much a template for making and writing those types of movies.
At the end of part one of The Best of Both World, where Picard was Borg'fied and Riker ordered the ship to fire, there was a rumor (or actual) that Patrick Steward might be leaving the show, or was in contract negotiations. So the fans had a reasonable belief that Picard just might be killed and stay that way. Someone who is even a casual fan of Star Trek knew that Chris Pine signed a three movie contract, there wasn't the smallest chance that nuKirk was going to stay dead. The only question was was he coming back later in Darkness, or at some point in the next movie? Kirk's death was meaningless.
What one was that? Abandoning all logic, ridiculously screams Khan, and rashly pursuing Khan by jumping from flying car to flying car in the skies of Coruscant, er I mean, San Francisco, then proceeding to get the shit kicked out of him, until Uhura saved his ass by stunning Khan, and allow Spock to finally get the upper hand, and then TOTALLY loose it and nearly pummel Khan to death with his bare hands? No, I don't like this version of Spock, at all. Quinto is an awesome actor, and was great as Spock in Star Trek 2009, but ID totally took a bad turn for me.
NuTrek has backed itself into a corner now, since no one can die (or at least stay dead) then there are no longer any stakes. At least in TWOK with Spock's death it really did seem as though that was the end of him.
Why should Kirk be humble? He returned from the dead, and his body is now full of "super blood." Starfleet has several dozen super-people in freezers, remember how little of Khan's blood it took to save the life of that cute young girl at the beginning of the movie?
Rewatched both on Bluray today, and thoroughly enjoyed both. Yeoman Randi preferred Wrath of Khan, and I preferred Into Darkness. She choked up at Spock's funeral, I choked up at Kirk's death.
I have to say that that never got to me, because not long before it McCoy had said about the great healing properties of Khan's blood, I found it obvious what was going to happen so his death lacked any dramatic impact for me.
Just watched Wrath of Khan again tonight, I hadn't watched it in years. I had forgotten about half the stuff that happened in it. I have to say I very much prefer TWOK to STID. I mean, STID was flashier, better effects, and all that, but I don't think it has the impact that TWOK does. This is why that scene, in STID, had no impact at all on me. (On the other hand, since I just watched TWOK, I'm slightly teary-eyed at the moment.) I mean, I found STID enjoyable enough to watch, but I love TWOK. Nothing compares to TWOK.
"I'm scared Spock!" Sorry, I had the exact opposite reaction. Abrams, et al, had FULL LICENSE to take Star Trek into new and unseen territory. But instead, totally lifts scenes from TWOK, and calls it a homage.
I love to see different versions of characters and new spins on classic events. Superman II, Smallville and Man of Steel all had different versions of General Zod. Sherlock, Elementary and Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows all had different Moriarty's. Space Seed/Wrath of Khan and Into Darkness have different versions of Khan. IMO they all explored new territory.
I feel the same way. Had STID been totally new then I'd have enjoyed it far more, rehashing TWOK was a poor call.
So if The Wrath of Khan had never happened, Into Darkness would've been a good movie? That really makes no sense. Most of the audience either hadn't seen TWOK in thirty years or hadn't seen it at all. So it was new to them.
Wrath of Khan over STID every day and twice on Sunday. Call it nostalgia or rose colored glasses but it is what motivates me to rewatch that movie a couple times a year. That being said, I really enjoyed STID. Simply pointing at the screen and yelling "hey, that's been done before" is not enough to turn me off to what I thought was a pretty fun couple of hours.
Nonsense. That's like saying Star Wars would be new to the audiences that will go to see the next movie just because the original Star Wars came out over 35 years ago.
Believe it or not, not everyone is as obsessed with Star Trek as we are. My mother-in-law has seen The Wrath of Khan exactly once about a decade ago and loved Star Trek Into Darkness. In my extended family, most have either a passing or no interest in Trek at all. From what I read on these boards, many people are in the same boat.
It's also that the execution of Spock's death scene is far superior to the execution of Kirk's death scene. When Kirk runs down the corridors, and it's intercut with the creation of the Genesis planet. The theme of life, death and rebirth is a major part of the story, and it all climaxed beautifully in that scene. The script of STD is all over the place.
Oh no doubt but it's not really fair to compare those two scenes alone. We are talking about one of the most iconic scenes in the history of the franchise so STID didn't really have a chance to one up TWOK in that regard. I do think that they were able to suceed in putting a clever twist on that concept though. I had a small smirk on my face when I realized their roles were flipped. I don't really think the script for STID was all over the place either. It seemed to flow nicely.