Greatly overrated but good looking and the action is nice

Rating: 7/10 (3 May 2014)

Ugh...
The dialogue sucks. It has a ton of needless exposition and introduction. It is sometimes out of sync with what is going on, badly timed, odd, often nonsensical. Random example: there is a scene when Zulu is making a threat as part of the plan and his colleague Leonard says, "Remind me never to p*ss you off". That sentence is not applicable here because Zulu is executing a plan Leonard is partaking in. That sort of odd thing keeps breaking the immersion. I am surprised that so many people did not notice or did not have a problem with the wording in this movie.
The screenplay has a few arguably useless scenes, but the situation improves as the movie picks up pace. Oh, it still very much has plot holes, but the film starts moving fast enough that you do not think about them too much. The best times are when the action kicks in. It is exciting and the new generation of computer effects look great, even when real items are placed against the computer generated ones, which in so many other movies makes the CGI look fake by contrast.
Some of the more distracting scenes in the movie are that ones that involve fan-pondering because it is unnecessary and just does not work. A good movie reference is dropped discretely, perhaps as part of the background, and not as whole phrases or scenes taken from the old Star Trek movies. That just fits awkwardly. Though If you haven't seen the old Star Trek movies, this probably won't bother you.
As for the actors, Chris Pine as main protagonist is rather generic. Yes, he expresses emotions when he is supposed to, but it doesn't feel like he has a distinct character, not even the one that the exposition of the movie keeps insisting he has. Simon Pegg makes for an excellent Scotty though. I'm glad he gets a lot of screen time here. Also, Benedict Cumberbatch does an excellent Hannibal Lector impression. If only the stuff he had to say was a little smarter then he could have totally pulled it off.
To compensate for the less than great dialogue, he kicks ass physically. In fact, considering his coolness and considering his motivations, the movie does a bad job at making him appear evil. But I guess a good villain needs believable relatable motivations. As for the females, it feels like they are mostly there for mandatory eye candy. At least the film knows its audience.
While the script is questionable, I do really like the art style and sound design of this film. The clean cool look of bright buildings and textured uniforms contrasts against the old stone and dark fiery destruction. Yes, there are too many lens flares, as many have pointed out, but it fits the style of the film and was not distracting to me.
In short, Into Darkness is good looking, has great action but the drama in between the action is lacking quality. For the first time I really feel like IMDb should have a score available between 6 and 7.