Star Trek Into A Really Dumb Movie. [Some Spoilers]
First of all, let's get one thing out of the way. Benedict Cumberbatch is Khan. If you didn't see how glaringly obvious that reveal was, you weren't a big Trek fan to begin with. If you weren't a big Trek fan to begin with, the reveal has zero impact on you, so why pretend its a spoiler? Settled? Good.
In 2009, JJ Abrams revitalized the Trek franchise with a deeply flawed but highly entertaining reboot (the only one so far with the balls to make the reboot a part of the story). It suffered through poor writing, namely a script that went from zippy and loose to an outright disaster in the final act, but salvaged by confident blockbuster directing from Abrams and some of the most charming ensemble casting in blockbuster history. The movie worked in spite of itself, so the future was bright.
Now it is dark again, seemingly no lessons were learned and the filmmakers are content to suffer the same old problems, only amplified. Written with all the care and attention to storytelling logic and character consistency that you would expect from the writers of Transformers and Prometheus. Instead of taking this reboot as a chance to reinvent, they have instead chosen to repurpose, stripping classic Trek of all its big iconic moments like so many crackheads trying to re-sell copper wiring, and then reusing them with only the most surface level understanding of why those moments worked in the first place.
This is a franchise that hasn't earned the pathos and thematic depth of Wrath of Khan, yet thinks it can simply mimic those things and get away with it. They think they can throw a twist on the classic "KHAAAAAAAN" moment and that's powerful in itself, ignoring why it was a classic moment. Wrath of Khan is about facing mortality, accepting that death is a part of life, about paying for your past sins. It's a movie rich in meaning, something that works regardless of how many episodes of Trek you watched before it, something that could only work in the hands of a cast in the twilight of their years. These moments have no significance when placed at the feet of fresh-faced recruits.
And that's before we even get into the cynical bastardisation of Gene Roddenberry's vision of our future (I'll blame notorious False Flag theorist and all around nutjob, Roberto Orci, for that shovelful of bullshit) but expecting Darkness to be as good as Wrath of Khan is folly, I know, which is why I would have settled for it being as good as Star Trek '09. It isn't. At all. It frequently sacrifices fun and excitement for gravity (unearned, remember), leaving the film with long stretches where nothing exciting or entertaining is happening. The film stumbles from plot beat to plot beat, making frequently idiotic concessions to get there. Nothing in Darkness is as emotionally satisfying or viscerally thrilling as the opening sequence of Trek '09 with its star-making turn from Chris Hemsworth. I even found myself missing the lamentable 'Scotty in the water pipes' moment from the last movie because at least that inserted some energy into the movie. This movie manages to drag its heels, despite moving at quite a clip. JJ Abrams ability to pace a movie is admirable, it never feels long, but it also never does anything memorable or attention-grabbing along the way. It's as substantial as a strong gust of wind, nothing more.
Benedict Cumberbatch's Khan has none of the theatricality or weight of Ricardo Montalban's iconic turn, there's barely even a character present. He has no motivation beyond wanting to save his fellow superhumans, he's only a few shades away from being Thomas Jane's Homeless Dad in Arrested Development ("I just want my kids back"). Eric Bana's Nero had a better motivation than Cracker Khan (revenge, fancy that!), he also had a flash of personality with his "Hi, Chris, I'm Nero" moment. Nothing in Darkness comes close to that moment and it feels like a waste of talent that borders on felonious. An actor of Cumberbatch's stature deserves better than a stock growly villain who goes on forgettable tirades and occasionally punches people. There's no charisma, there's no menace, there's no propensity for quoting Moby Dick. The original Khan had spades of personality, thanks to good writing and a spirited performance. This Khan may as well keep the bland John Harrison title as he's mostly anonymous as a person here.
The script is dumb, dumber than even Star Trek '09 or Prometheus (at least that had some ambition), and this time the direction of JJ Abrams and his fantastic ensemble cannot save it. I still think Abrams was the best choice to direct Star Wars Episode VII, but based on his track record of producing style over substance, I suspect we are in for another Star Wars and not another Empire Strikes Back. Still, after the mess that was Star Trek Into Darkness, I would probably settle for a Return of the Jedi.
