Poll Thoughts on Ben Cumcumbers as Khan?

I thought Cumberbatch knocked it out of the park.

 

In the show Sherlock he really shows off the kind of qualities that I associate strongly with Khan on an intellectual level and I believe that's why he got the part. Despite that, I don't think he really nailed his role in STID but that's largely because of the writing he had to work with.

That said, I thought his character was just a lousy mustache twirling cliche. I never feel anything of that character beyond some growling Brit.

 

His performance was excellent. The character was well done. Did I think it was a good idea to have a white British guy as Khan? Not really. But that has more to do with the overall issue than the specific case. However, I do think they could have thrown in a line about changing his face.

 

My answer to his changing appearance: The Kelvinverse was a parallel universe all along rather than a branch off from Nero's arrival, so this version of Khan always looked like Cumberbatch.

Thus he really is just a Brit with an Indian name much like we had a Mexican doing it last.

 

So he was Khan?

 

If that's how you view TOS Khan, sure. There's a reason they refer to him as "the best" of tyrants. There's more to him.

At least they cut out a line Khanberbatch said in the trailer "DARKNESS IS COMING", or something to that effect, which made me wonder where the hell he was supposed to say that in the movie.

 

I was thinking more of TWOK Khan. TOS Khan has more nuance, as does STID Khan.

 

TWOK Khan had been singlemindedly seething and mad with vengeance for fifteen years, so it makes sense that he lost some of the level-headed nuance of his younger self.

Kor

 

Pretty much. There's a legitimate reason TWOK Khan is such a broken man with so little to live, whereas STID Khan is already murder happy at the drop of a hat, jumping to conclusions and falling for so many traps that make me question his intellect.

That's why it would be cleaner if he were just John Harrison, a former Section 31 agent that already did horrible deeds for the Federation and is driven mad. Making him Khan just for kind of muddys that up. Then there's Marcus, who's even worse.

But at least they're not hams like Nero, who ties with Picard Clone as the worst for me.

 

True, in STID Kirk was not his obsession, Admiral Marcus was.

 

This bit of dialogue is all one needs for an "in-universe" explanation* for the change in Khan's appearance (if having one is important):

KIRK: I looked up John Harrison. Until a year ago, he didn't exist.
HARRISON: John Harrison was a fiction created the moment I was awoken by your Admiral Marcus to help him advance his cause. A smokescreen to conceal my true identity. My name is Khan.

It's not necessary (especially to anyone who has watched Trek and has seen examples of characters being surgically altered to look like someone else) to Spell. It. Out. Viewers should be free to interpret any number of plausible "in-universe" reasons to explain the difference--if it seems necessary.

*I have no interest in re-hashing a years' old argument about "whitewashing the role".

 

That dialogue was probably sufficient for fans of this film, but it doesn't mean much to me beyond "Marcus gave me a new identity".

I'm not asking for things being spelled out. There's millions of other ways to convey a change in his physical appearance beyond clunky exposition. That's why the easiest and cleanest is to just regard these films as a hard reboot rather than a branch off with a connection to TOS.

 

He was OK but also very overshadowed by and even terrible compared to Montalban. The writing of the new character was even more underwhelming.

 

I enjoyed cumberbatch's performance, even if some of it was a bit OTT, I loved 'captain are you going to punch me over and over until your arm weakens' etc and the 'walk over your cold corpses' scene but for every one of those there was a 'no ship should go down without their captaaaain'.

I guess ultimately I can't complain too much, montalbans performance was way more outlandish. He was missing his charisma I think is my main issue, he was too much like a cold ninja assassin in STID. His casting took me out of the movie a bit really, but the balls out nature of the film wins the day in the end.

 

I found him to be very pragmatic, pushed to the limits of his options by Marcus and his manipulations. While not broken like TWOK Khan, he had to draw upon his ruthless nature to get it done. I think he was mad to begin with.

 

He had to be mad, trying to smuggle his "family" through torpedoes. I do love how Cumbatch contorts his face. It's more a real homage to Shatner's scream face than Quinto's.

 

Really made the film for me. That and Kirk's development and Marcus as a villain.

 

I like the concept of Kirk's arc, just wish it wasn't sped (like everything else Abrams speeds up). Like having Scotty leave because of his ethics over the use of torpedoes, only for Kirk to then change his mind anyway after going off to warp five minutes later (though I do like the Kirk/Spock exchange on the bridge after his intercom call).

 

I thought Cumberbatch was excellent and the STID potrayal of Khan was much more believable as a 'superhuman' than the terribly over acted TWOK Khan.