Good, up to a point

Rating: 7/10 (9 November 2013)

Okay, minor spoilers follow. You have been warned.
So... Star Trek: Into Darkness. I really wanted to love this film. I enjoyed JJ Abrams' first Star Trek film, despite it essentially being one long action scene and no character development. While I'm not really a fan of the series, I was forced to watch it over and over again by my dad when I was a kid, so I managed to catch all of the references the first time I saw Into Darkness.
And therein lies my issue with this film. For a while, it's great - like the first film, it's got great action sequences, and it even has some touching scenes between Kirk and Pike, which was nice to see. But as soon as the 'homages' to Wrath of Khan and the original series started, it became a bit of a joke. I just feel like they shoehorned a bunch of references in to please fanboys, even though they made no sense. Hey, how about a pointless cameo from Leonard Nimoy? How about a furry testicle that pops up in one scene for no reason? How about Spock shouting 'Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan' in the worst way possible? Seriously, it reminded me of Vader's 'Noooooooooooooo' at the end of Episode III, it was that bad.
Maybe I'm being too harsh. I think they made a few mistakes, but as I said it's still a good film. Smarter, funnier and more poignant than the first (or the eleventh... whatever).
But there's no point in listening to me. Watch it for yourself, dude.