Controversial Opinion:
Star Trek Into Darkness.
A very good movie.
I can understand why critics and others think it's a good movie.
BUT...
I don't think it's a good
Star Trek movie.
I understand the movie (and the Kelvin Timeline as a whole) was an attempt to bring in new fans and get a general audience to watch
Star Trek again. So as a science-fiction big-budget action movie, I can understand how people can like it and find value in it.
But I remember going in to
Into Darkness hyped because I genuinely enjoyed (2009), thought they would build on that, and I remember wanting to like it but leaving the theater thinking "this didn't really make me want to watch a third film." Because, to me as someone who has lived with
Wrath of Khan for 3 decades before
Into Darkness, everything felt like it was inferior and sat in the shadow of the original.
And in the places where it doesn't sit in comparison to
Wrath of Khan, I don't think
Into Darkness does itself any favors by doubling-down on the same plot threads from (2009). Spock and Kirk still aren't on the same page, where they understand the worth of their friendship ... after that being a major part of the first movie. Once again, Kirk has to be motivated by daddy issues to find Khan, by killing Pike. And, once again, the villain's motivations are vengeance for a slight done by someone with no connection to the main characters (i.e., at least in
Wrath of Khan, Khan's quest to kill Kirk and destroy the Enterprise are motivated by actions connected to Kirk's decision to put them on Ceti Alpha V). The Kelvin Universe has 3 movies of villains seeking vengeance for slights where the main characters are like: "who the hell is this guy?"
I don't think it's a coincidence JJ Abrams made 2
Star Trek and
Star Wars movies, and in both 2nd films they tried to use and bring back legacy villains that a significant number of fans felt didn't work. I also think that's seen in how it didn't ultimately sustain a fandom and caused Paramount not to continue the Kelvin Timeline stories in any way after
Star Trek Beyond under-performed when it was released (even though an argument can be made it's the best movie storywise of three Kelvin films). The excitement for the property had fallen.
If people want to be honest as to why there hasn't been anymore Kelvin Timeline stuff (either movies or TV shows), Paramount can read a spreadsheet. They could see a dropoff in the numbers and realized it made no sense to spend $300 million on a film, where you would have to give the returning cast raises to resign them, when both the movie industry is changing (to more streaming) and the interest in that particular IP had fallen.
