Good film--but it could have been a whole lot better.

Rating: 6/10 (27 May 2013)

I love Star Trek. Please do not take this the wrong way, but this movie could have been made a whole lot better. The story line is good-- although there are times I was left scratching my head and saying "WTH?" to myself.
There are two villains in here. First you have Benedict Cumberbatch who does an EXCELLENT job of portraying Khan. It is hard to imagine him as Khan if you grew up watching the original series and saw "The Wrath of Khan"...However, he does make that part his own in a sense. One thing the viewer may come away with is a strange sense of empathy for his reasoning because it does have some logic.
This character is not just simply a "madman" hell bent on getting even with Kirk, as portrayed in previous versions. Cumberbatch actually gives Khan a high degree of intelligence, cunning and an ice cold demeanor, whereas in previous versions Khan was much more emotional. A viewer really cannot predict Khan in this one either. Other characters are used for that purpose and that is also a good thing!
Then you have Peter Weller. I have seen a lot of Peter Weller's work and he is usually top notch, but I felt that as Marcus, he was over the top in some of those scenes. This is the character that should have been the "greater villain"/"God Character" but this is role where he came off as "not believable" for lack of a better description. That character was also written to be too predictable. I like being surprised and I was not surprised with that character's actions. I think the fault for this lies with J.J. Abrams. Anytime that happens, it's usually direction that is the cause of it.
As usual, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and the actors portraying those we all grew up watching do an excellent job in this film. They are the main reasons I'll get the DVD. I was really impressed with how Scotty (Simon Pegg) actually ends up being what I call the "God Character" here. His character knows what is best and finds out what is really going on at times--so some of this story line is revealed through him. Writing-wise it is a good strategy to use him for that since the writing with the Marcus character left much to be desired.
The other issue I had with the film is that there is some mirroring of Wrath of Khan with a bit of role reversal. One will know what I mean when they see the film so this is not a spoiler. I felt that the writers should have had a little more restraint with that tactic and more originality. Something needed to be fresh and different than what we know of as viewers in that sense, but I feel that this was a set up for a later film.
While there is non-stop action and a good story going on here, I feel it could have been told without all the references to the other film. I do like how the Klingons were portrayed. They rocked! Get ready for the next sequel. Let us hope that it follows the 2009 version in terms of originality. This film does not ruin the franchise by any stretch because it is good, it is just that it could have been so much better. Maybe next time...