I would be lying if I told you I wasn't impressed

Rating: 10/10 (21 May 2013)

J.J. Abrams to me has now become sort of interchangeable with Joss Whedon. Both filmmakers made good television shows, wrote mediocre scripts in the 90s and now directed really good films which are immersed in fan fiction.
Now I am a Star Wars fan, so I never really was into Rodenberry's... stuff. So yeah I prefer light sabers over phasers. I know bits and pieces but not anything like the Klingon language.
I do know that the even numbered films are way better than their odd numbered counterparts and this still makes the case. The first film was OK, but it was mostly set up and the villain was a generic Romulan.
Here the villain was, and lets be honest here they weren't fooling anyone, is Khan played by elongated faced British man. A white Khan, but nonetheless Khan. However its a more densely layered story, so there is another villain played by RoboCop who wants to start a war with the Klingons. And Iron Man 3 should take notes. What they did with the two villains was brilliant, with Khan initially forming a loose alliance with Kirk and then ascending as the main bad ass. So instead of lame cop outs, you have one take out the other and go hard.
And I was completely blown away by Spock. In the third act, he actually showed emotion! And he was able to match himself mentally and physically against Khan, and I would be lying if I said that I didn't get overjoyed when he used his Vulcan death grip. But sadly he wasn't able to pull off that classic line by Shatner: "KHAAAAAAN!".
Now this film had some things that weren't necessary. The prologue sequence didn't really drive the plot, it was meant for purely for some establishment of characters. The conclusion was also very abrupt. There was constant use of pans, Dutch angles and lens flares. And that gratuitous scene of the blonde chick in her lingerie, really? Are you that desperate to get prepubescent teens? That still is very well compensated by a really well paced film and a very great plot in which only a percent of the elements are contrived for fan pleasing. It's now guaranteed that Abrams will make an awesome Star Wars installment.