Abrams: Star Trek Into Darkness Problems
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I just watched both ST2009 and Into Darkness to prepare for my viewing of ST Beyond. I like both films but between both of them, I like Into Darkness more. I'm still trying to figure out my thoughts on ST2009 as I do like the film but my recent viewing I liked it less. I think a lot of has to do with Nero and the plot. It just feels messy and incomplete. Granted I didn't read the Countdown comic so that would probably help fill in some blanks for me but a lot of the problems I had with ST2009 were fixed in Into Darkness.The villains and their plight was better. And I think the chracters were done better in Into Darkness sans Bones because he was stuck to metaphor duty. I like him better in ST2009. Into Darkness for me is just wayyyy too fast paced. It's like Quantum of Solace in a way. A good film hampered by it's breakneck pace. I would have preferred they not go the Khan route so soon but I thought he was handled well and Cumberbatch does a great job as Khan. Both films are flawed yes, but there is a lot to enjoy out of Both. Looking forward to Beyond. 
Bought the DVD of STID last night - and I'm very glad I now own a copy!
I rewatched Into Darkness the other night, and I think the Cumberbatch/Admiral RoboCop teamup puts Into Darkness over Star Trek 09 for me. Don't get me wrong, I like Eric Bana as Nero, but Cumberbatch and Weller are more fun to watch.
I'm seriously tempted to pick up an Ultra HD Blu-Ray player to watch Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness in 4K before Beyond comes out
I'm seriously tempted to pick up an Ultra HD Blu-Ray player to watch Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness in 4K before Beyond comes out
My thoughts on STID is that Khan never needed to be in it. Cumberbatch should have been one of Khan's lieutenants who is trying to free Kahn and the rest of them (but we don't know that it is him throughout the movie). He fails because of Kirk, and then at the end where they show the them all frozen, the camera pans over one of the tubes and it is revealed to be Kahn. Now you have yourself set up for a "wrath of Kahn" type movie without losing what JJ was trying to do with STID.
My whole ussue is JJ altered the timeline to make anything possible then reuses TWO episodes (space seed n WOK) rehashinh old things just like TFA is essentially the same movie as ST a new hope..... forces Khan into a movie as he was the best villian in ST lore but gad zero idea why
No set up ala space seed etc. Just forced Khan in to get him in. New universe blank slate so let's use two ideas already used
Don't get me started on a 3 minute warp trip from edge of neutral zone to Earth n using a communicator to talk w Scotty from neutral zone while on Earth etc.
That said it was enjoyable but missing some magic
Cumberbatch should have been an augment from Cold Station 12.
.... and I don't think that the biggest problem with STiD was JJ, I think it was the writers.
Critics AND fan reviews were overwhelmingly positive for this, and the first movie. You may disagree, but about 9/10 of both groups are against your view
Actually not totally true. The majority of reviews of STID stated that it was good with about the ending and other concerns. Which pretty much echoes my view and the poster above
That's as much the fact that Khan has been the go to bad guy and TWOK has cast a long shadow that Trek films can't seem to escape.
Kirk's communicator was probably being relayed through Enterprise's systems - like how cell phones work
I like this idea but you'd miss out on three of my favorite scenes in the movie: Cumberbatch saying his name is Khan, Spock screaming Khan, and old Spock saying Khan is dangerous.
Ok, so leave Khan in there and when nu-Spock is getting advice from old Spock and he asks what happened, old Spock should have said, "I died" in Spock's dead pan way. That would have made that scene much more poignant and maybe powerful for nu-Spock. That way his emotion when Kirk dies would be tied to that where he thinks he should have been the one to die.
Also, I think when Cumberbatch revealed himself as Kahn was lame. Only because unless you are familiar with TOS and TWOK, it falls extremely flat on every one else.
If Janeway wouldn't have stopped every 5 minutes to stick her nose in somebody else's business, they would have made it back much faster.
It worked well enough for me, as Kirk was left with a "Who?" moment and it shows Khan's sense of self-importance in his name. Often times, in fiction, the reclaiming of a former name shows a sense of power and control.
It actually works on a number of levels.
I can see the reveal working better off screen. To new fans we know Khan is serious business, to old fans, we know what Spock was saying next - and seeing Spock lay down the plot of TWOK would remove an element of tension and be extremely contrived.
Thats why I liked it. It obviously couldn't be played on to the extreme, but that - and a sense of relief at being able to say the name - was what I got from it.
Thinking about it now, after rewawtching it a couple of times, I really feel like it's Khan reasserting himself and becoming more dominant. His reference to Marcus letting him "sleep" is as much a comment on him being in statsis, as it was the awakening of Khan's more savage nature.
His saying his name was that moment of waking up and reasserting his identity, taking back control. It's far more common in fantasy literature, but I certainly see it working here as a fictional trope.
"The name is the thing, and the true name is the true thing. To speak the name is to control the thing."
— Ursula K. Le Guin, The Rule of Names
I agree. C'batch's delivery is very powerful. Also, "Khan" basically means king, which speaks to the character's ego issues.
Agreed.
J. J. is a fine action director, he's one of the better parts of the reboot films. It's his sloppy writers that are the source of most problems in ST09 and STID.
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