Stupidly Goes Exactly Where Everyone Went Before: Into Dumbness

Rating: 3/10 (18 May 2013)

Star Trek is one of the only television successes to contain some actual science fiction concepts, especially from 3rd season forward in Next Generation, but this movie, like it's crappy reboot predecessor is an action movie with spaceships. Into Darkness has about as much science fiction and boldly going as the recent James Bond, Skyfall, which is to say ... sadly ... none.
This terrible writing team (the guy who couldn't figure out what to do with the show Lost or the movie Prometheus and the idiots behind Transformers) has contrived a tapestry of action with artificial amped-up crisis after crisis--- the entire movie is essentially action scenes with a couple of pauses for clichéd dramatic beats--- "You're a loose cannon!" "This time ... it's personal!" "Vulcans should be more emotional."
Most of the cast is terrible cartoon caricature (Scotty & Bones are abysmal Saturday Night Live sketch performances), except Greenwood as Pike (this actor is directorproof, great in Exotica) and Kirk and Spock are good enough to keep me interested at a level of almost a 4.
The things lifted from Wrath of Khan are numerous and embarrassing and exemplify everything that is wrong with Hollywood and the remake/reboot machine: No CREATIVITY anywhere. Too much attempt to please the crowd, without any thought, challenge or boldly going anywhere.
Looks like JJ Abrams is well set up to continue making Star Wars movies exactly as cluttered and contrived and silly as The Phantom Menace.
Cluttered Action Sequences + Thievery (aka "homages") + Caricatures = Into Darkness
It's sad that an innovative franchise is now a dumb, loud and thoughtless lowest common denominator junk. Sci-fi should make you think, but this pile of noise shuts down the thinking process.