Great cast and effects make up for plot holes

Rating: 8/10 (20 July 2015)

*WARNING CONTAINS HEAVY SPOILERS* So after the first Star Trek movie which I really loved, there was a very long wait, and then finally, in 2013, after four whole years between movies, Star Trek Into Darkness came out, and, I was not one bit disappointed. That's not to say it's the equal of J.J. Abrams's original master piece, which showed the entire crew coming together and their first meetings and the start of the friendship between Kirk and Spock, but this does give us something else. A great villain. Benedict Cumberbatch plays that villain, and that villain is: Khan. And to be 100% honest, Cumberbatch has to be one of the best Star Trek villains of all time, he was just a very menacing and very memorable villain. Watching him just wipe out about twenty Klingon warrior single-handedly was a very entertaining action scene, and what makes it even better is that Khan just surrenders to Kirk, and then Kirk just starts wailing away on him, to which Khan stands there placidly, while Kirk keeps hitting him. That was a great scene. It's hard to get more menacing than just showing that the hero can do nothing to hurt you. I also like the parallels between Kirk and Khan, which was a nice touch. Of course the old cast is back, and they're all great. I liked the new dynamic between Kirk and Spock, where, you can tell they're friends, but they both have such different viewpoints, that there is a lot of conflict, and while Kirk is in control of a ship and more responsible, he's still the same guy as in the first one. I also liked that despite all the time they spent telling us how irresponsible Kirk is that by the end of the film, he finally comes to accept his responsibility as Captain, and is willing to sacrifice himself to save the ship. Bones isn't as good in this one, he barely has anything to do, but Karl Urban was still good. Carol Marcus is a nice addition to the cast, as is her father, Admiral Marcus, who makes for a good villain as well. I also think the tone of this movie was really great, it's dark, and you can tell things are dangerous for our heroes, but it's still a fun ride, it's not just all gloom and doom. The terrorist stories they've introduced in the more recent Star Trek stories is a good touch, since Star Trek's whole thing is dealing with current social issues. However, there were some things that were not good, and one of those is the pacing. I'm not sure if that's the right term, but this was a glaring issue later in the film. Okay, so first of all, Scotty disables the Vengeance, and Admiral Marcus sends security to deal with him , Kirk and Khan. Those guys get wiped out in like five seconds, and then... in the entire time it takes the heroes to reach the bridge, Marcus and his crew are still just sitting there, doing nothing. Or, later in the film, when Spock damages the Vengeance and Khan is going down with it, there's like ten minutes with the crew trying to save the Enterprise, and then, we finally get back to Khan and the Vengeance. It's like they just forgot about him, and then just shoved him in there to set up for the finale. And then there are the plot-holes. You can beam someone down to Earth, but you can't beam someone back up? Huh? Or, why Can't Bones just use one of the other Augment's blood to save Jim, does it have to be Khan? There are also numerous shout-outs to Wrath of Khan, some work, others feel too goofy. Kirk's sacrifice, that works, Spock yelling, "KHAAAAAN!", that felt pretty silly. Still, they were a nice touch, and I thought this film was a worthy successor to the original Star Trek, and I'm looking forward to where these movies go next.