I had some mixed reactions. Yes, I agree that have someone so white playing a Sikh is a bit absurd and something TOS didn’t do, but I think Abrams made the decision because he wanted it to be a big shock when Cumberbatch was revealed as Khan and had he had say Naveen Andrews or Sendhil Ramamurthy(both of whom he has used) people would have guessed “Khan” right away.
I don’t think he expected the leaks.
Beyond that, I did have a problem with the idea that once Khan reveals himself Spock and Kirk don’t seem to know who this rather infamous figure of 20th Century history is. In fact, the phrase “the Eugenics Wars” isn’t even mentioned.
I liked it. But I’ve got problems with one of the loose ends. So they have a way to resurrect people. Why isn’t Bones back at Star Fleet Med Section working on synthesizing Khan’s blood? Why aren’t there calls to use this new resurrection power on other people?
My memory of it was that when they find out who he was, while they’re not thrilled, except for Spock, the Enterprise crew don’t seem to have really negative feelings about him, seemingly seeing him more like Napoleon than Hitler and in the episode he doesn’t come across as a huge mustache-twirling villain.
Who’s to say there isn’t? The first movie introduced as a throwaway plot point some paradigm changing technology in the transwarp transporter, and I was convinced they would just ignore the implications of that, but it turned out to be a major element of the second film.
Not Quinto’s choice. That is the director’s choice. Quinto clearly gets the character enough to have not had an emotional outburst. J.J. is clueless about Spock’s character. And yes, they got Nimoy to sign, but that exchange was useless.
I just saw it in 3D and really liked it, and this from someone who didn’t much like the previous film. I thought it did a good job of using the CGI to further the story, vs the abortion it so often ends up being.
I now really have faith that Abrams will do Star Wars justice.
As to the lens flares, I know people joke about it with his movies, but man, there was a ton! Very distracting! There were scenes on the bridge where it seemed they tried to reflect background glare from the control screens back at the viewer. Maybe it was the 3D, but it was quite annoying.
I agree with you here. Cumberbatch has a good gravitas on screen, but he made for a terrible Khan. Yeah, it was a bit weird having Khan (supposedly an Indian) played by a Mexican guy in the 60s, but given the way the times were they can get away with it. But having a white guy play an Indian character in 2013? He also doesn’t look or act anything like Montalban, despite the fact it’s supposed to be the same exact guy, which is actually more egregious in my opinion. They get a lot of people who look like and can copy the mannerisms of the originals - I think Quinto/Spock and Urban/Bones are good examples - but then they completely throw it out the window with Khan.
Aside from that issue, I’ve seen people compare Cumberbatch’s role as similar to Javier Bardem in Skyfall, and I can see the similarities - including the negatives. He might have some good gravitas when the camera is up in his face giving him the chance to snarl and something intimidating, but he’s completely unimposing in a fight scene.
Just came back from seeing this. I enjoyed it, for what it was, but my GF and I walked out of it with the exact same thought: shouldn’t it have been a bigger deal that they essentially discovered the cure for death?
I enjoyed it, while my wife thought that it was too much of a “boy’s” film (too many explosions, not enough decent dialog). Huge plot holes everywhere, most of which I can overlook, but a communicator call from Kronos to Earth? Ugh.
Also, I really didn’t like the “rogue Admiral” story line. I can accept Starfleet section 31, but this guy is willing (eager?) to destroy a starship and it’s entire crew? Who needs Kahn when you have that?
Just got home from seeing this. Somehow I had missed the leak about Harrison/Khan, but I wasn’t surprised much by the twist. After the movie, my comment was, “Well, that was upside-down world” regarding the Kirk/Spock radiation stuff (and the yell. Good Grief!) I will note, however, that my daughter (who has never seen WoK), did not find it confusing and appreciated it as it was.
I love Cumberbatch as an actor, but part of the time I felt it was like Khan Holmes. Maybe not the best casting.
I enjoyed it; I didn’t think it was a waste of money, but I definitely liked the first one better.
On Scotty’s desk/work tables at the snow planet base.
No one ever said tribbles didn’t exist before Carnival Jones or whatever his name was ran into the Enterprise crew. They were obviously discovered by a different branching of exploration in the Trek2 universe.
And they must have done a hell of a coverup at the end. Huge black starship? Entire crew hears Marcus is a bad guy? And is the rest of the world just sitting around saying “So what ever happened with that terrorist guy? Did we ever get him?”
Given that the death toll in San Fran had to be at least 50k (given the number of large buildings and blocks completely obliterated), I can’t see that there could possibly be any cover-up.
I love Star Trek, but am mostly familiar with Next Gen and DS9 (sigh…and Voyager.) I am not super familiar with the original Star Trek so I didn’t have any fangirl expectations or preconceptions going into the film.
I enjoyed it so much that I’d say it’s battling **X-Men 2 **for Best Action Movie Ever. The casting is pitch-perfect.
I loved the action scene where the Enterprise was spinning out of control and the center of gravity kept shifting. Also when Spock was chasing Khan and did a running jump off of that transport vehicle to land on the one passing beneath him. Total blind jump.
I just thought it was beautifully choreographed and managed to hit all the right notes in character development.
I also watched The Wrath of Khan for the first time today - the only original cast Star Trek movie I’ve seen. I had no idea Spock died. How I lived to be 30 years old without having that spoiled for me, I will never know, but it came as a complete surprise. WoK held up pretty well though for being three decades old.
And I like how they reversed the roles for the reboot.
