Boldly going where other movies have gone before

Rating: 6/10 (16 May 2013)

I'm going to say right off the bat that I had big expectations for this film. Having seen two other summer movies that turned out to be terrific, and being teased by every new trailer for months (who the heck is Benedict Cumberbatch supposed to be?!!), I was set to have my mind blown, or at least be entertained. As it turns out, my mind is still intact, and now I'm floating out in the dark nebulous between satisfied and underwhelmed.
Watching this film is a lot like watching scenes from Back to the Future Part II, where Michael J. Fox is back at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance, only now it's shot at a different angle. Star Trek Into Darkness does some clever and exciting things with familiar tropes and story lines, but even though it's reminiscent of another original scene, the new version frequently comes up the lesser of the two. The first movie was rife with lip service to fans- mentions of offscreen characters, the Kobayashi Maru, Leonard Nimoy's cameo as future Spock, lines that everyone thinks they remember ("Dammit, Jim, I'm a doctor, not a *fill in the blank*")- but they still came up with an original story, to ease us into the idea of an altered continuity for our favorite characters.
That film was solidly entertaining, but the plot came second to characters and set pieces. The sequel goes further, with lip service in story. When we learn that the villain is involved in Section 31, I was expecting a high-stakes chase after a rogue former agent, a la Skyfall. The bombing scenes in the beginning were certainly similar to that movie, but, much like Christopher Nolan's third Batman film, the director kept the story a mystery, then lied about what it was when fans started to figure it out. I wouldn't say Cumberbatch is miscast in his role necessarily, but the script doesn't give him much to work with, and fans will probably be loath to accept him as the new version of an iconic character. This is not to say that rehashed plot points don't ever pay off. Simple reversal of which characters are in a situation and how the events play out can be highly effective and rewarding.
More frustrating, though, is that the film doesn't stand alone. The way that it ends kicks off a new saga, without really resolving much of what was at stake before. They literally stick the antagonist in a refrigerator like leftovers to use in a later film. It's understandable, given how big-budget films basically get handed a franchise these days if they make back their budget, but a two-hour movie is too dissimilar to a television serial to be treated like one.
So why don't I hate this movie? Because although I disagree with how the story was handled, I still think that it had a lot of great aspects. The enemy in the last film was the Romulans and their giant mining drill, plain and simple. In this one, the antagonist comes from many directions, and the Enterprise is always outnumbered and under pressure, which leads to some exciting action scenes and clever maneuvers. The main protagonists are wonderful as always; Kirk comes into his own as the shrewd mind that we know and love, and the supporting cast is perfect. And in spite of the grimmer tone promised by the title, there are a lot of laugh-out-loud funny moments between characters, as well as some very solid drama.
In spite of divisive attitudes about JJ Abrams as a director and Star Trek as a franchise, I think there's definitely an audience for this movie, if the excited Trekkies down in front were any indication. It just wasn't the thrill ride I hoped it would be throughout, and I was disappointed when it was over. The trailer promised heavy consequences for the ensuing conflict, and while we got a lot of action and a lot of peril, potentially game-changing events didn't really pop out. There was no equivalent to Vulcan's destruction, and even though the threat of danger keeps you on the edge of your seat, it doesn't go as far as it could.