Did anyone actually think Cumberbatch wasn't the villain we all guessed it'd be?

Rating: 9/10 (17 September 2014)

Even better a second time around.
Let me begin by saying this film is worth seeing Benedict Cumberbatch's performance alone.
As Khan, Cumberbatch is a force to be reckon with. His portrayal is just as, and might I say, in my opinion even more sinister and than Ricardo Montalban's portrayal. Cumberbatch totally holds his own, going head to toe with Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto. Unlike the first film, the villain here does not suffer from any lack of character development. In just a few dialogs delivered by Cumberbatch, we know who he is, what he wants, who he hates, and why he's doing what he's doing. All played out and executed in a short amount of time with no tedious origin story. Every time Cumberbatch is on screen he brings such a presence and a commanding force with his deep voice and his villainous aura.
Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto are terrific again and their friendship are taken to the next, more complex level, rather than re-hashing their bickering in the first film. We see a natural progression of their relationship as Spock is always calculating and using logic over anything else, while Kirk does what he feels is right. It's very well displayed when Kirk saves Spock from an erupting volcano, disobeying protocol and allowing an un-advanced alien species to see a star-ship rise above the ocean. They both have a very emotional scene as Kirk sacrifices himself to revitalize the warp core of the ship. Both actors display their fine acting chops in this particular scene, that you can't help but choke up a little.
The rest of cast is great as always, Saldana has an awesome moment with the Klingons speaking their language. Cho as Sulu also has a great moment on the captain's chair, Yelchin as Chekov is promoted to engineer as Scotty, portrayed by Pegg is relieved. Speaking of Simon Pegg, he does a lot more here than he did in the first film. Karl Urban again channels DeForest Kelly very well and brings out the best witty one-liners with a lot of metaphors.
Peter Weller who plays Admiral Marcus, ends up being the main villain, which to me was a great surprise. It only makes Khan, in some way justifiable for his actions. Alice Eve is a welcome addition as Carol Marcus, Kirk's future love interest.
This time around, there is much more tension and more escalation. Every action beat makes you tense up and anticipate the overall result. Again the visuals look great, and the warp scenes were fantastic this time around. Watching this film in IMAX 3D was visually stimulating. Gorgeously shot, and felt very grand and immersive.
Star Trek Into Darkness works very well as a sequel, give credit to J.J. Abrams and the writers Kurtzman, Orci, and Lindelof, as references to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is present, but they are aware of the line between re-imagined homage and direct ripoff.
The only problem I had with this film is that when it ends it tries to wrap everything up so quickly that the ending feels very abrupt.
Nevertheless, Benedict Cumberbatch kills it as Khan, I think everyone who's seen this film can agree to that.
9.2/10