ST into
D (Star Trek into Darkness).
Perhaps the acronym is strong foreboding?
***Warning: Spoilers Ahead***
Based on reviews, I expected this film to be a very good, yet rather complex and therefore misunderstood film.
Positives:
1. the main characters are far more familiar than in the 'first': the writers are 'truer' to the original this time 'round
2. To wit, Zachary Quinto's Spock is probably the best thing about this film. The radical, revisionist spock we were re-introduced to in the 'first' film (brooding, angry, even openly violent), is replaced by a far more familiar version who is unfailingly principled, superbly intelligent, and honest to the point of incivility (in an endearing way
).
3. there is an emotional weight to this film which informs many of the scenes, although it's unclear how they managed this, as the script is unwieldy, unduly complex and simply....too long.
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Negatives:
1. the principal characters are far TOO familiar. It seems the majority of scenes are saddled with endless cliches ("dammit jim, I'm a doctor, not a door to door shoe salesman!").
2. even more offensive is the total theft and plagiarization of key scenes from the first ST films.
3. the khan character is very poorly developed. We're only told who he is in the very late stages of the game, and given bio info on a piecemeal basis, imo, far too late in the game. Why should we even care about this character one way or the other if we have no idea what his motive is, or furthermore,
who he is in the first place?!?
4. I am saddened by the ridiculous, almost pro forma inclusion of the "terrorist" + "urban destruction" theme in another sci-fi film (IM3, Superman, ST into D) Come on. The trauma-inducing mind control programming could not be any more obvious.
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tl, dr: despite the long list of negatives one could produce, the film still manages to be entertaining. It's almost endearing: it tries so hard to please: to be familiar, yet original: traditional yet innovative.
A lot of effort was put into this film, as the writers clearly struggled to create an innovative yet familiar storyline. I almost want to give the writers a separate "A for effort grade."
Overall: B or B-. Worth watching, but highly flawed and disappointing.