!SPOILER ALERT! Star Trek Into Darkness, an Epic in many ways.

Rating: 8/10 (16 May 2013)

Once again let me emphasize, this note may contain what some consider to be Spoilers from J.J. Abrams' Star Trek Into Darkness. I also wish to make something clear; this is opinion, my opinion, if you disagree with anything I say then do so constructively. I will simply ignore any spamming, trolling, flaming, etc. regarding my views on this movie.
So as usual I will start with the Pros;
1. Acting- The acting in this movie can be seen as an improvement over the reboot in 2009. Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto bring their chemistry once again and the latter actually surprised me at times. Benedict Cumberbatch played the role of Khan Noonien Singh, aka the villain, and he did so splendidly. We also get a brief bit of acting from a Klingon, played by Sean Blakemore and it was rather interesting. Overall the performance from the actors in this movie was satisfactory.
2. Storyline- The plot was very believable as it had characteristics of a series of events that make up a diabolical scheme rather than an Avengers/Dark Knight Rises style convenient happenings. Also, despite being 2hrs 12 minutes long, it was noticeable as the movie practically grips you and drags you into the storyline.
3. The Little Things- There were little aspects to the movie that made me remember the Star Trek of old, such as a featured Tribble and the early mention of the 5 year Deep Space mission. Such mentions reminded me that this is the Star Trek reality not just a cheap knock off (like Michael Bay's TMNT Space Alien Turtles remake is likely to be)
4. Character Development- We still see the growth of characters even after they have been Enterprise Captain, First Officer and Crew for several years. For example, Spock coming to terms and explaining how Emotion affects him and Kirk learning that being Captain isn't necessarily a one man job.
5. The Fights- The space battles, the gun fights and the hand to hand combat scenes were well done and did their best to avoid lens flares. Also, Spock delivers an Epic Vulcan Death Grip to Khan, it was epic indeed.
6. KHAAAAAAN!- Spock says it instead of Kirk. Right after Kirk dies. Spoiler Alert!
7. The Ending- A little corny but it never gets old; the classic ending monologue from James T. Kirk on the Star Trek of old.
Now for the Cons;
1. Character Development- Even though he has been Captain of the Star ship Enterprise for several years Kirk seems to have not learned much about being Captain which is made apparent relatively early in the movie. Kirk and Spock still have a huge gap between them in trust despite working together for some time. Not saying it is a big Con, as I know it is necessary for the movie to flow, but it seems like this movie happened immediately after the first in some ways.
2. Technology- Apparently Starfleet invests all its technology in Star ships and nothing to see things coming from space. An epic battle between a Federation vessel and what appears to be the same ship, on steroids, rages within our Solar System and nobody knows about it save for those involved. There is no alert or emergency response on Earth and apparently their primary fleet is still engaged in the Laurentian System. Granted, what was left of Starfleet on Earth was in shambles as the majority of their commanding officers in the sector were killed off early, but what about Earth's military? They even mention the military in the movie, so why doesn't any ever show up?
3. An Avoidable Death- So there's this door that leads to the Warp Core which acts as a barrier to the massive amounts of radiation produced there. Kirk opens this door and runs/climb/jumps to the Warp Core in order to manually realign it (by kicking it), succeeds, saves the Enterprise and dies from overexposure to Radiation and Lack of Foresight. Hold on, why aren't there any Radiation suits outside that door should anyone need to enter the Core to kick it? I mean fix it? I'm just saying, if they have disguises and unmarked ships standing by, then why not radiation suits. To add insult to injury, when Bones first sees Kirk's body in Sickbay we get a shot of protective suits in the background. They may not have been radiation suits but still; everywhere else is prepared, except for Engineering.