Despite the derivative plot, Reboot #2, far outshines Reboot #1

Rating: 6/10 (20 June 2013)

I'm happy to report that 'Star Trek Into Darkness' is superior to the ho-hum 2009 initial Reboot. Here you get two villains for the price of one; they manage to be much more fleshed out than the bald Romulan, Nero, in the 2009 film, an unlikeable sadist of a character, who viewers could never warm up to.
At least the two villains in 'Into Darkness', Starfleet's Admiral Marcus, and the genetically engineered superhuman, rogue Starfleet agent, John Harrison (aka 'Khan'), operate on the surface, with some sort of (albeit twisted), moral imperative. Marcus is sort of a futuristic Dick Cheney run amok, determined to provoke a war with the Klingons, who he fears will soon destroy the Federation. And Khan, who resorts to terrorism when he blows up a secret Starfleet installation in London, is actually trying to get back at Marcus, who has stashed 72 of his superhuman comrades inside photon torpedoes, which end up on the Enterprise.
After Kirk's mentor, Admiral Pike, is killed by Khan, in a direct attack on Starfleet headquarters in San Francisco, Marcus correctly calculates that the impulsive Kirk, will gladly follow his 'shoot to kill' orders, and take out Khan, who has fled to Chronos, the Klingon home world. Kirk's impulsivity is what makes him interesting. Don't ask me why it's necessary for Marcus to place the 72 'pod people' in the photon torpedoes, because after all, Kirk could eventually disobey his orders and they could be discovered, which could mean bad news for Marcus, back at Starfleet. But that's exactly what happens. So why didn't Marcus dispose of Khan's 72 buddies before he orders Kirk to go after Khan? Some internet posters have suggested that Marcus wants to 'stick it to' Khan after he becomes a turncoat. Khan will die with the knowledge that all members of his race will die with him, at the same moment.
If Kirk happens to have a little of 'Marcus' in him in his thirst for revenge, it's up to his 'United Nations' crew members, to become more 'balanced' and bring Kirk back into the fold, so he conforms to acceptable behavior, within the context of international (or shall we say, 'universal') law. 'Scotty' is first to sound the trumpet of 'lawful behavior', when he resigns his commission after he's banned from inspecting the torpedoes. And then Spock, Bones and Uhura, who today would make a great team on a Commission of Human Rights, convince Kirk to take Khan alive.
'Into Darkness' really picks up in terms of plot, when a series of reversals keep us guessing as what's going to happen next. Marcus attacks the Enterprise and disables it; Kirk offers to give up Khan and the 72 cryogenically frozen ones but before Marcus can kill everyone, Scotty infiltrates Marcus' unmarked Federation starship, the USS Vengeance, and causes a power outage; after Kirk and Khan do a 'space jump' to the Vengeance, Khan manages to kill Marcus and take over the ship. But Spock manages to beam the torpedoes onto the USS Vengeance, explode them, causing the ship to become incapacitated, just like the Enterprise.
There's a spectacular scene as Khan crashes the USS Vengeance into Starfleet Academy in San Francisco as well as his apprehension by Spock and Uhura (please rest assured that in the future, there are still cable cars operating in San Francisco!).
'Into Darkness' could have been a masterpiece except for the unfortunate fact that it is wholly derivative. Kids who are not familiar with earlier Trek movies, might not realize that when Kirk saves the ship by going into the radiation chamber and has an emotional farewell with Spock, that's almost a direct rip-off from Star Trek 2: Wrath of Khan. Except in the earlier film, the roles are reversed: it's Spock who gets radiated, dies and saves the ship! I know this is supposed to be a tribute to Wrath of Khan, but tributes should not be direct copies. It's an example of LAZY Screen writing.
Examples of additional laziness abound in Reboot #2. Consider how easy it is that Kirk is revived when they discover Khan's blood has restorative properties. One unexplored implication is that many people on earth will now be resurrected from death, by simply tapping into the blood supply of the 72 pod people, once they are brought out of suspended animation.
There are plenty of more scenes that are copies from earlier Trek incarnations. Take for example, the opening scene, where the Prime Directive is violated. How many times did we see that before? Another group of indigenous peoples, being saved by the noble crew of the Enterprise. Or how about the 'machine gun' attack on Starfleet Headquarters or when Kirk and Khan, do the 'space jump'? You'll just have to ignore In Darkness' lack of originality, if you want to enjoy this film.
The story is also enhanced by how the screenwriters give the supporting players, their moment in the sun. I happen to favor Simon Pegg as the best actor in the film and enjoyed how he disabled the ship, in the proud tradition of the original Scotty, James Doohan. Bones is nicely utilized when he helps out arming the torpedoes and saves Kirk; Uhura helps Spock subdue Khan and Chekov has some nifty moments, below deck. Sulu also manages to get in the act by some death-defying piloting.
Spare me all the little petty arguments between Kirk and Spock as well as the aforementioned copycat radiation chamber scene. Nonetheless, Chris Pine and Zachary Quintero, are becoming much more comfortable as worthy precursors of Shatner and Nimoy.
Now that J.J. Abrams has improved his reboot, it's high time that he steps up his game and comes up with a truly original screenplay for the third installment. Keep the copycat stuff to a minimum. 'In Darkness' passes the testbarely.