So the wife and I took in Star Trek: Into Darkness today. I apologize in advance if I've covered other peoples points, but I haven't been following the thread closely as to avoid the majority of spoilers.
From the very opening scene of this movie, it grabs you by the neck and doesn't let you go until the credits are rolling. There are moments when you get to breath, but they're very short sequences and generally are there simply to allow you some time to catch your breath before the roller coaster starts back up again.
Let me just say that ultimately I found this a good Star Trek movie. Star Trek (2009) was a good film, but Into Darkness is probably the first Star Trek movie we've had since The Undiscovered Country. What do I mean by that? I mean this film has meat on its bones beyond the action slugfests we normally have. And while it is buried underneath the action, the film does have a actual narrative to it.
Specifically, it's addressing a long standing issue with the Trek franchise as a whole - Is - and Should - Starfleet be militarized? This is a obvious callback to the dialogue in Star Trek II (as are a lot of things in the film), but it's given more prominence and the weight of the subject isn't merely glossed over.
Admiral Marcus believed war with the Klingon Empire was inevitable, so he and Section 31 took steps to be ready for that war - even if it meant violating every rule on the books to do so. In addition to this, we get two fold growth from both Spock and Kirk. Kirk in the film gets a firsthand and very visceral lesson of what can result when you ignore orders and regulations you don't agree with, and Spock gets growth in his confrontation with Khan in that in some instances, Cold Logic isn't enough.
I really liked the themes and elements of the movie. Khan himself seemed like a side show, the low hanging fruit of the franchise to serve as the antagonist that drives forward the plot and then ultimately the final foil (Though I'd say Admiral Marcus is the film's true menace since everything in the movie was done to cover up the fact Section 31 unthawed Khan). As to Khan, I have to say I'm glad Cumberbatch wasn't forced to emulate Montiban and instead allowed to do Khan in his own way. It really helped the story that Khan wasn't a simple carbon copy. I also liked that he was less an adversary for most of the film and more a unwilling ally. It helps build the eventual conflict all the more, specifically because Kirk was the one who initially betrays Khan when he orders Scotty to drop him. Khan didn't have to save Kirk during the ship jump, after all.
All in all, I am tremendously satisfied with Into Darkness. It's by no means the "Best Trek Movie ever" but it's a triumphant return to the franchise's movie "roots" of being an action movie with more meat on the bones. The fact Cumberbatch's Khan is probably the least Khan-like villain we've had since The Undiscovered Country also helps immensely too.
Some other random bits of the movie I liked:
- The Dress Uniforms. Given the movie's undertone about whether Starfleet was or wasn't a military organization, I loved the new Dress outfits. It gives an air of professionalism that the multi-colored jumpers sorely lacked, while at the same time not being a full on Dress Uniform like a Military would have. They honestly looked like Cops...which is what they are, if Starfleet is ultimately a peacekeeping organization.
- The Admirals Uniforms. They took about the only good looking outfit from Star Trek: The Motion Picture and adapted it. Bravo.
- The Klingons. I was bracing myself for this, and almost immediately I desperately wanted to see more of them. I love everything about them. Their merging of TOS and TNG styling, the Helmets (Which also saves the extras from being forced into 2+ hour makeup sessions simply to be on screen for thirty seconds). The new forehead ridges, the redesigned Bat'leths, the atmospheric Birds of Prey (Which looked like ungainly lumps of nothing in stills but are amazing in motion)...More! More! More! More! MORE!
- The violation of the Prime Directive. I know this scene caused some stink because the Enterprise is under water (Which is a tad odd. Even if they can't use transporters due to magnetic interference, why send the entire ship down?), but I liked it because it gave us an alien species that had more effort put into it then simply slap a forehead on them. Great use of body paint to give them a dried out, parched skin look.
- Spock and Khan's knuckleduster. Not only is it a culmination of Khan's original comment to Spock about "breaking bones" but logically (heh) Spock is the only one of the main cast that is comparable to Khan in strength. If they were going to have a slobberknocker, Spock was the one to do it.
- Sulu in the Captain's chair. Obvious foreshadowing may be obvious, but it's nice to see the new Trek acknowledge that Sulu has it in him to be a good Captain. "Lieutenant, remind me never to piss you off."
- The "TOS Feel" is still alive and well from the previous movie. It just "feels" right.