Star Trek Into Darkness Seen it thread. Spoilers to follow

Cafe Society
121

I saw it last night and enjoyed it in a style-over-substance way, which basically means I never intend to see it again (as opposed to Wrath of Khan, which I’ll watch whenever I happen across it). Overall, this story had fewer logical inconsistencies and plotholes than the last movie, but that isn’t saying much. The strength of the film is the likability of the main cast.

I was pretty lost on the whole torpedo thing, and why Khan put his people in them, etc.

Why in these movies does Starfleet have no presence at all around Earth? There ought to be hundreds of ships in the area–hell, maybe even thousands. But two Federation ships slug it out on Earth’s doorstep and no one seems to know?

Is everyone on Earth basically invincible now, since Khan’s blood can cure almost anything? Is that being kept a secret? Is it only Khan’s blood, or do all the enhanced humans have magic blood (if so, they wouldn’t have needed to take Khan alive)?

Scotty getting aboard the Vengeance bugged me. He just flies straight at a group of shuttles that appear out of nowhere and then joins them, and no one says anything. Could the other pilots not see him as he swooped into position from a direction contrary to where the rest of the shuttle fleet was coming from?

Star Trek communicators are pretty powerful now, if Scotty in a bar on Earth could talk to Kirk on the Enterprise over by the Klingon home world.

Oh well, it’s always fun to nitpick. The real storytelling cliches are things like having Spock and Khan end up in an old-fashioned fistfight on top of a flying platform. One of the high points of Wrath of Khan is that Kirk and Khan are never even on screen together during the whole movie. It’s just a smarter movie by far.

I think it’d be more interesting if the Klingons had shown up–seemingly about to start the war Admiral Marcus wanted–and instead whisked Khan away, having been so impressed with his fighting abilities they now want to subscribe to his newsletter. Let the third movie pick up from there.

122

I think I agree with pretty much everything montag01 said. Abrams seems to approach science fiction thinking it just has to look cool, and it’s the future, so it doesn’t need to make sense. Why would anybody hide the enterprise under water? OK, so Scotty lampshaded that one, but still… Orbit is a pretty good place to hide from a bronze age civilization.

And they kept the transwarp transporters, which I think were maybe the stupidest thing the first film of the reboot introduced. If they have those, then why even send the enterprise on this harebrained ‘fly to the neutral zone, then bomb Kronos’-mission? Why not just teleport a couple of torpedoes to Khan’s approximate coordinates (OK, so it’s kind of a trek tradition to fail to see the weapons potential of the transporters, but still)? Heck, why bother with starships?

Of course, the new movie one-upped the stupidity of the transporters with the cure against death (and didn’t McCoy even say something re he had ‘synthesized’ Khan’s blood?). I guess that, being now death proof and having access to the magical transporters, the federation is now the most powerful faction in the galaxy, so the next film probably just chronicles Kirk’s early retirement.

Also, before the start of the film, I said to my girlfriend, if the movie starts with hotshot Kirk breaking the rules in heroic fashion on a mission, for which he then will be disciplined and have to prove himself all over again in order to regain its standing, I’ll cry myself to sleep (I didn’t, but I did choke up a few times). Of course, that’s the obvious call—but still, one might hope that for this kind of money, they could at least go for the second most obvious opening.

As for the whole Khan thing, I actually didn’t get that this was supposed to be a big reveal—having seen nothing but the trailer beforehand, I just thought that it was obvious that Cumberbatch was supposed to be the whitest Khan you know. (The whole ‘I’m better than you at everything’-speech I thought was intended to essentially give that away.) I was momentarily confused by the whole ‘one of our agents’-bit though.

And damn, 3D lens flares?

123

That’s what I was hoping for, as the last scene in the movie, right after the memorial service at Star Fleet headquarters in San Francisco. It would have been nice to see Pike storming up to the dais where Kirk is speaking; smile at him and let him know that he’s not getting away with anything. Bruce Greenwood is one of my most favorite actors.

124

The needs of the cool outweigh the needs of the plot.

125

Nah, Pike had been dead too long. Bones had to freeze Kirk immediately to prevent his brain from rotting.

126

BTW Am I remembering incorrectly that Pike was in a wheelchair at the end of the first reboot film?

127

He got better. shhhhhs

128

He was, but he was presumably recovering from Nero’s “hospitality”.

129

I’m an oldschool Trek fan. While I wasn’t old enough to catch TOS, I started with TNG and have watched every series and movie since. I say this to let people know I’m not just a new fan converted by the first JJ Abrams movie.

I think that Abrams is the savior of the Star Trek franchise. I LOOOOOOOOVED this movie, I don’t even care about the plot holes. I’m kind of glad he changed so many things. With 5 series, 13 movies, and 50 years of history, Trek was bogged down by its history, unable to modernize. Imagine if in the 80’s and 90’s, we still had a series set in Kirk’s time, using buttons and levers to maneuver. It would have been comical!

And even though Enterprise was set in the distant past, it was created too soon after (during) Voyager, and ended up looking exactly like it. Either Star Trek needed to go on hiatus for 20 years or they needed a major reboot and, yes, even destroy Vulcan in the process. So I’m happy with Into Darkness, I’m happy with new Khan, and happy with the change in continuity. Enough things harken to the past (tribbles, old Spock, Orion girls) that makes me feel connected to what I grew up with but this is Star Trek for the newest generation.

I can’t wait to see what Abrams will do with Star Trek 3. Maybe we’ll see the Klingons or Romulan war. Hell, even though it only happened a few years ago, reboot the Borg. I have more optimism for this franchise now than I’ve had in a long time

130

Saw it this evening. Was generally disappointed with rehashing rather than doing something completely new, but at least the credit sequence at the end was all kinds of awesome.

131

The graphic upgrade I don’t have a problem with. It’s the plot that I have a problem with. Yeah, jazz up the tech with cool graphics but give the characters depth, motivation, and have the clever resolution be something other than a fistfight or foot race - please. Something with intrigue, cleverness, and originality please.

132

I would be hard pressed to name even one thing about it that I didn’t absolutely hate.

Perhaps, if it had been called “Random Summer Comic Book Movie” I could have ignore more of the problems. But as a Star Trek movie, it was abominable.

133

I agree with much of the appreciation here, and enjoyed the movie overall. But I do have to say that the lens flare stuff was really too much. I am pretty much the ultimate in uncritical slack-jawed gawping when it comes to movie-viewing, and most of the technique that goes into cinematography or editing or visual effects passes right over my tiny cranium without registering at all on a conscious level. But even I managed to notice all the weird glares and flashes onscreen during Into Darkness and to think, “hey, I wonder if this is that ‘lens flare’ stuff that I’m always hearing about”.

Protip for film directors/cinematographers/etc.: if your visual technique is nontransparent enough for me to detect, you are being way too heavy-handed.

That said, was it just me or was the opening sequence with the chalk-coated “primitive tribe” (who nonetheless seemed able to manufacture unexpectedly sophisticated-looking smooth scrolled paper or paper equivalent) awfully hokey and unconvincing? I kept expecting to find out that it was just some kind of holographic training simulation, but b’gosh they apparently meant it to look real.

134

It is weird. I enjoyed watching the movie. I just don’t like the movie.

This write up is hysterical and spot on.

135

Whats cool is that since the invention of immortality combined with extremely easy interstellar warp pretty much eliminates the need for Starfleet so no more Star Trek movies are needed.

136

Seems like some people have selective memories about what Star Trek is. Sure it’s about Picard battling spacial anomalies every week. It was also about shirtless Kirk getting into fistfights. Having fisticuffs at the end is not out of place.

I agree totally. They came up with a way to diverge from the original and make it new. Of course the fanboys are pissed. But it’s not like the rest of Star Trek didn’t play fast and loose with its own continuity. Especially the original series.

If you can take a young boy and make him an ensign on the bridge of the flagship of the fleet (yes I hated when they used that term) I don’t see a problem with other merit based promotions. Star Fleet does not work the same as the current military. As was mentioned in this movie, it’s not military although it has some of those functions. Again I think some have selective memories about what Star Trek was in the past.

As for Cumberbatch as Khan, I liked it. I have no problem with him being “Indian.” I always figured they were genetically manipulated so their physical characteristics did not have to match their origin. It may be a fanwank but its one I’ve had since they had a Mexican play him so I didn’t have to invent it for this movie.

Overall I liked the movie. I liked some of the nods to the original (Harry Mudd’s ship, a shout out to Christine Chapel). It was fun and better than a number of the other movies. And to be honest, as much as I like the original and feel nostalgic towards the actors, these guys are better at it. Except for Uhura. Hate what they’ve done with her.

137

That was seven kinds of awesome.

138

Yes, kudos to them for coming up with a way to make it new. Pity that, having come up with that way, they decided not to make it new after all.

And I agree that the lens flare was way over the top. Lens flare should only show up when there’s a very bright light source in the field, or just out of the edge. It does not belong in every single scene.

139

This can be Jay Z’s new hit: “I Got 7 Kinds of Awesome and a Bitch Ain’t One”

140

Especially since in this time line, McCoy and Kirk are much more best friends than Spock and Kirk. Spock and Kirk are like the two classmates whose parents keep forcing together for playdates.

I don’t think Scotty actually meant to quit. He made a moral stand that he expected his captain to have his back on and seemed shocked when Kirk actually accepted his resignation.

When Pike was dying, I thought Spock was melding with him to preserve his katra, ala Bones/Spock in WoK. I figured this would give him the emotional means to get the bond with Kirk that old Spock has, by drawing on Pike’s feeling for Kirk. Instead, did Spock just mind-rape a dying man for his own curiosity?