Star Trek junior still in search of . . .

Rating: 7/10 (3 July 2013)

. . . intelligent life, as the premise behind the carnage done by a HUMAN bad guy--Benedict Cumberbatch as John Harrison, a.k.a. Khan--is thin and unoriginal. Meanwhile, half the crew of the Starship Whatever look like they're ready to audition for HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 4. Chris Pine as a young Captain Kirk clearly is the pick of the litter, but in this company that might not be saying much. Experienced movie actor Simon Pegg is adequate in holding down the part of Scottie, but why they heck did the folks planning the story arc for the STAR TREK movie franchise "reset" NOT exercise more imagination, and delay some of the key characters from joining the crew for a few installments, taking the opportunity to establish OTHER key characters NOT in previous Trek incarnations (who would, of course, be more easily expendable than Spock, Scottie, Bones, Uhuru, etc.)? Furthermore, just as in G.I. JOE: RETALIATION, INTO DARKNESS begins with the platoon crying in their beers about the deaths of some extras playing colleagues in sister (Star Fleet, here) units, while totally glossing over continents of dead people left by later assaults on humanity in general. This callous disregard for reality (who's to bury all these dead folks??) seriously flaws many of this summer's so-called blockbusters, from OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN and WHITE HOUSE DOWN to IRON MAN 3 and WORLD WAR Z. So it goes.