STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS: SPOILER REVIEW
In brief: a mixed bag. More than a few letdowns, a few flashes of brilliance.
Just wanted to say that while I had a much more positive reaction to the movie (probably, because it gets better on repeated viewings) I thoroughly enjoyed your detailed and thoughtful review.
On to specifics: what I disliked, what I liked, then a wrap-up.
1. KHAN.
I think this is probably where I diverge from many other fans. I'm not sure why, but I never expected this Khan to be a carryover from the original. I expected it to be a reinterpretation, the same as all the other characters.
So once BC was announced as the villain (whom I assumed could very well turn out to be Khan) I was just fascinated to see what he would do with it. What he gave us was, as you say, a mesmerising, reptilian, contained performance. I loved how everything he did had such economy -- of speech, of movement. While Montalban's Khan was expansive and exaggerated and larger than life, Cumberbatch's Khan was just... still. Like a snake under a rock...coiled and ready to strike. Truly, I enjoyed both performances and have no issue with "whitewashing" or whatever other disappointments are consuming fandom.
I will concede that this Khan didn't need to be Khan. He could have been any other superhuman character with a grudge. But the Khan aspect seems to have been driven by the need to hook an audience's interest and expectation. Movies, unlike TV episodes, are often sold to the GP based on their similarity to something else that the potential audience can identify with. In this, Khan did his job before Cumberbatch ever walked into a scene, by cranking up the hype ahead of the film. I accept the commercial reality of that choice.
2. PACING. I found the frenetic pace a tad disconcerting.
I actually thought this was an extraordinarily well-paced movie. It was densely-packed with character and action sequences, and we didn't rest for long before heading off again, but I was surprised at how consistently engrossing it was.
To give another example: I don’t have the faintest idea, for example, of the logic of how cooperating with a bunch of Augments prepared Starfleet for a coming war with the Klingons. Augments may be physically powerful, but their spacefaring technology was 200 years out of date. It’s hard to see what they offer Starfleet in way of military technology.
But if you listen, it's not Khan's technology Marcus wants to exploit, it's his intellect combined with his savagery. Marcus thinks this kind of strategic aggression has effectively been bred right out of Starfleet. He's concerned about the active aggressions of the Klingons and thinks the Federation can only counter with benign diplomats and ships of exploration. He's after a warrior brain.
Even so, it beggers belief that Khan could come up to speed with modern technology enough to be useful -- but that was an attribute posited in "Space Seed". Khan awoke from sleep, ran through the Enterprise's computer banks in a day and then knew enough to take over the entire ship. Imagine what he could do in 365 days.
Enough with the negative, for now. On to what I thought the movie did well.
1. PIKE-KIRK RELATIONSHIP.
2. KIRK’S DEATH SCENE.
3. OTHER ENTERPRISE CREW.
4. THE MARCUS CLAN.
Completely agreed with all your other insights, especially the character notes that were "fixed" from the '09 outing and the fact that these actors/characters are really starting to forge their own destiny and are growing to be a fitting (and endearing) echo of their original counterparts. And because I think I am primarily a fan of Star Trek because of the characters, overlaid with a positive future and the mythical "hero's journey", I think that's why I came away so satisfied.