Is a perfectly fine blockbuster with lots of bang for your buck, but should have been more than it is (SPOILERS)

Rating: Null/10 (20 May 2013)

It has been a few years since the first film in this reboot and I found myself coming to this sequel having quite forgotten the events of that film but generally remembering that I quite enjoyed it. Although I didn't know it going into the film, Into the Darkness is a "new timeline" version of Wrath of Khan, which is probably my favorite of the original films. The plot sees Kirk going after a former Starfleet member when he launches a series of terrorist attacks on them; however in the process of their pursuit they discover that things are not as simple as they had been told by Admiral Marcus.
This is the summertime so this means that the cinemas are essentially going to be full of noise, explosions and action because this is the season for it. With Star Trek this is also the case and from the very opening scene we have narrow escapes from massive CGI death and lots of lots of things moving around the screen very quickly. On this front I found the film to be mostly enjoyable with plenty going on, some laughs and generally plenty of color and zing. The plot in theory offers more than this though since the idea of terrorist attacks by someone that the Starfleet tried to use to help them defeat their enemies and the theme of not becoming as bad as those we pursue is very much informed by post-9/11 politics. This had the potential to be darkly interesting but it is an add find in a family blockbuster and to be honest it doesn't totally work because it isn't really explored so much as it is just used as a frame for the action. As a frame it is decent enough and I liked the way it had updated the original plot, but the lack of development of the idea was a problem and it did also produce some odd moments.
In particular there is a scene right at the end where Khan flies a starship directly into San Francisco; it is delivered in such a way that one cannot help think of the 9/11 attacks and those feelings and images are raised but yet the attack is only used as spectacle in a CGI frenzy and I felt that it was a poor decision to invoke this as much as it did. That said, the spectacle is the thing here and the film does keep this coming with near-constant action which is only really broken up by quips, romance or manly staring. The references to the original film are quite nice but have the downside of making you compare them – and generally, although this film is much more technologically impressive, I found that in all other aspects the original film stood up as better.
The cast also mostly fall short of the performances in the original Khan. Pine is OK but is best when he is allowed to twinkle his eyes, deliver a smart line then jump an impossible distant to punch someone; when he has to be emotionally wounded or conflicted he really doesn't convince. Much was made of his faceoff with Cumberbatch but the sparks never really fly here because the two men are not given space to have that tension for very long, Cumberbatch is a good bit of casting and would have been better with more speeches or dialogue but is not given enough to do because the next action scene is always pushing the current scene to be over so it can start. As a result I have to say I preferred the original Kirk and Khan and enjoyed their conflict more. Quinto is OK as Spock although it still just feels like an impression and not a character; he gets the "KHAN" line but it is weakly delivered and doesn't compare to the original delivery by Kirk (or for that matter the delivery by George Constanza). Urban is cool and quite amusing while Saldana mostly hangs around in the background and Eve is used both as a plot device and also as an excuse to have someone in underwear. Generally the performances do what is required by the film and work as much, however at the end I was surprised by how infrequently I had heard some of the characters actually speak.
Although I have been a bit negative here, Star Trek does work as a fun summer blockbuster with plenty of noise and action. My reservations about the way the ideas behind the plot are not really used stayed with me the whole film and the constant references to the original film caused me to constantly compare the two and find this one to be the weaker. However in terms of spectacle and bangs for buck, this is perfectly fine and professionally done, just a shame that it clearly could have been more than this.