Star Trek Into Darkness

I am just back from the theater watching 'Star Trek Into Darkness' and I think that one word describes this movie - amazing. I have seen many negative reviews, saying this movie was cliched, had too many special effects, and was too much of a knockoff on earlier plots. To all of those who have seen this movie and didn't think it was wonderful I can say only one thing - you are not a true Star Trek fan. I have been watching the show for close to 40 years and found this movie to be among the best of all the movies ever done in this series.First of all, let's get some things out there. The special effects were excellent. The sound quality and music was phenomenal. While I was concerned that there might be too much action in this movie, in reality I felt it fit very nicely into the plot and didn't overwhelm the movie.The acting was great. The characters who played the classic character parts from the 2009 movie all were stellar in their roles in this movie. Some highlights included:- a welcome expansion of Uhura's role in this movie (when you see her you will be happy she is on our side!!)- the continued crotchetiness of McCoy, including one of his "I'm a doctor, not a...." comments- another very humorous rendition of Scotty, including several classic commentsBenedict Cumberbatch was chilling as John Harrison (Khan), although I'm not sure he 'looked' the part of Khan, given the incredible job that Ricardo Montalban did with this character in both the original "Space Seed" and in "Star Trek II : The Wrath of Khan". There were many other excellent performances, including the actors who played Admiral Pike, Admiral Marcus and Dr. Carol Marcus.Now to the plot. It was an ingenious reboot of the entire Khan space opera. It took elements of the original episode and the movie and incorporated them into a new take on one of the best story concepts in the entire Star Trek franchise. It also reminded one of the episodes from Star Trek : Enterprise where the Augments were first described. The plot was very reminiscent of many things, including the entire Khan story, the notion of a senior Starfleet officer going bad (like "The Pegasus" in TNG), and the cinematic extravaganza that occurs near the end when Kirk sacrifices his own life to save the crew. I think it is very interesting how in this reboot Kirk dies and Spock lives, while in TWOK, it was the other way around. I enjoyed JJ Abrams' approach in solving this problem, so more movies could come forth from this one.Most importantly, this movie did everything that a great Star Trek movie should do - it involved a great storyline, good character development, and a fully satisfying villain who the crew had to defeat. It also paid homage to many things about Star Trek which made it so great. It was funny, scary, action-packed, and riveting. Even though you knew in the end that the crew would prevail, it didn't stop you from gripping the edge of your seat as you waited for it to happen. Put simply, it caused Star Trek to shine yet again and I fully believe that Gene Roddenberry is looking down smiling about this one.If you haven't seen the movie yet, please go see it and relax and enjoy it. Don't overanalyze it or sit there and pick it apart. Just watch the movie and be happy that there are people who love this franchise so much that they keep on making new movies. I think that this movie will go down as among the best of the series.Finally, I sincerely hope that at the end when it seems like the 5-year mission was going to be launched, that this means there will be more of these movies to come. There are several great story lines from the original series that could use a fresh reboot, and I hope to see one of those someday.

Okay so I'm going to be straight up with you, most of you are going to like the first one better. I personally like this one better and here's why.What some of you are not going to like is the talking and emotional stuff. Personally, I think it adds depth to the characters. You get to see a wider range of emotion from Chris Pine's acting (and Zachary Quinto's but he's Vulcan so . . . well his portrayal of Spock has always been a little more emotional lets be honest). And you see him deal with grief and how it affects his decision and how it makes him a better man by doing the right thing despite his anger and hatred. I do think the emotional stuff between Spock and Uhura (though somewhat funny) was unneeded as I did not feel like it was really resolved unlike the emotional scenes between Kirk and Spock. Watching it, it seems Spock gives more concern to how Kirk's feeling than his girlfriend (I do believe their relationship is in fact doomed since in TOS Uhura ends up with Scotty, Not until Sat Trek 5 but I digress).This movie has a completely different tone than the first. While the first one was witty, funny, and just plain fun, meeting the characters and watching them get into their roles. This movie is a bit darker. Dealing with death and somewhat betrayal. Don't get me wrong, this movie still has it's funny parts. Kirk can't help but throw in that one line even in a serious situation to make the audience laugh. I just feel that because of the tone change the first and second movie shouldn't really be judged together as they are both good in their own way.Thing I hate most. In TOS (The Original Series) it was always about Spock, Kirk, and Bones. Once again, this movie and it's predecessor focus on Spock, Kirk, and Uhura. I like Uhura. I really do. She's a strong willed, independent woman, who can stab Klingons. Awesome, but I did not want to see her so much. I like Bones in TOS. I love the trio's dynamic. This has none of that dynamic as Bones inserts a witty one liner and is off screen for the next twenty minutes.Benedict Cumberbatch. Say what you want about a white guy playing Khan, but he did such a good job at it. Well he plays crazy really well and truthfully, despite his crazy guy ambitions, he's kind of right. Just saying. His performance of the insane genius superhuman is great and it was a pleasure to watch him on the big Screen. (Can't wait to watch Sherlock Season 4)The plot. Well . . . sigh. . . to be honest, they did take parts of Wrath of Khan. When I first watched it, I had never seen TOS or it's movies so I didn't know who Khan was or what happened in the end of Star Trek II, but because I did not know anything about it. I thoroughly enjoyed the plot. After seeing Wrath of Khan I still do, but they did put in references to the movie that might annoy some people. We got to see Klingons for the first time and debating on the repercussions from this movie, we might see them next time too.Overall, I love this movie. I mean loooooove this movie. I love the first one two, but I like watching this one as a higher preference. Some of you will not take too the talking and emotional stuff (though really I didn't think there was as much as people kept claiming. It felt pretty balanced), some will appreciate it. Some will think the plot is a rip off from Wrath of Khan, some will not depending on your stance (I'm saying no cause there's no Genesis Project). I think there is more depth and character development and Kirk and Spock's friendship becomes deeper for it. It's still a good movie. This movie got me interested in TOS and I now I enjoy TOS and Abramsverse as two separate beings. It's a great access to those who don't think they can suffer through the 60s silliness right off the back (that and the first 3 or 4 really bad episodes). So FIVE STARS!!!! . . . . K/S Forever