No far from it. Star Trek 2009 is a very brilliant and excellent film. I will put it as high as the original trilogy mainly episode 4 and 5. It also had better acting than all the 6 star wars films.
Star Trek Into Darkness is like episode 6 or episode 3. Not bad but not great.
Star Trek 2009 and Wrath of Khan are the best Trek films and are equivalent to what Episode 4 and 5 are in the Star Wars fandom.
I wouldn't go as far as saying nuTrek is on par with the original trilogy. When it comes to space opera, I think only SERENITY managed to capture the spirit of the original STAR WARS trilogy better. One thing I do think the prequels should have had was the energy that nuTrek had.
Well for me, I am putting it that high. I don't like this thing in pop culture where people mostly male fans hold some films in such high extent that they are convinced that no other new films can touch or deserves to be put on in that same high extent.
Why?
The new films like the old films are still made by human beings.
Trek 2009 is brilliant and as good a the original trilogy. Rottentomatoes agrees with me on this one. Last I checked Trek 2009 and Episode 5 made their best ever science fiction films of all time.
As far as I am concerned they are on the same level.
I once suffered from this as well. Sheepishly following the public's opinion on films and even books. I was convinced that Lord of the rings was better than Harry Potter because that was what popculture fans mostly males kept on saying. So I accepted it without even watching the films and reading the books on my own.
When I took the time to read both series. I discovered how LOTR despite been so brilliant is still quite outdated with a pretty much black and white straight forward story and Harry Potter was far more complex with a lot of great plot twists and brilliant foreshadowings. The HP series was also more brutal and more realistic for the fantasy genre . Harry Potter also had wider social and political themes and had much more three dimensional characters than LOTR ever did.
LOTR is still the best medieval fantasy series for all time. however am not sure I will call it the best fantasy series overall because of other good modern fantasy series and its different time settings.
The same could be said for The Dark Knight. I once accepted it was the best superhero film ever made because everyone was saying so. However when I re-watched X-Men 2. I realised how far better it was to the Dark Knight with much more complex villains like Magneto and General Striker unlike The Joker in TDK who was a Gary Stu villain, quite one dimensional and lacking any depth as a character.
So yeah, I don't follow the large public opinion when it comes to films. a lot of films and series the public, which is made up of the male gender rate so high and worship so much tend to be very overrated or truly be among one of the best films but not necessary the best film.
You feel star trek 2009 should not be placed as high as the original trilogy. why?
Where exactly does it say so. You can only judge both films on the critical reception and acclaim. Star Trek 2009 matches episode 4 and 5 in this areas so to me that makes it as good.
The original trilogy are classics because they have been out longer and the star wars fan base is insane when it comes to popularity.
However I would argue that Trek 2009 is now a modern classic. SFX did name it the best scifi film of the last decade.That carries a lot of weight.
Fun Trivia
Did you know that episode 5 received mixed reviews when it was first released but over the years it became a fan and critics favourite.