I was initially confused by the title of Star Trek Into Darkness when I first heard it. Sure, it was grammatically correct, and expressed an idea, but it was still pretty weird. Having seen the movie, I can see that "Into Darkness" is a pretty accurate subtitle - by which I mean that the last third of the movie is a downward slope into derivative mediocrity that mirrors the Enterprise's falling to Earth.
Though it basically presents itself as a burnt offering to the great god Wrath of Khan, the movie seems to be much closer to The Search for Spock: Lots of good ideas that the movie introduces but ultimately fails to carry out, a focus on Spock's character rather than Kirk, Starfleet as a Lawful Neutral secondary enemy (though it's much more Lawful Evil here, of course), and overuse of dialogue from Wrath of Khan. Unlike The Search for Spock, which was passable all the way through, this has an absolutely stellar first two acts, that crashes and burns in the third. The first hour or so of the movie makes it well worth the price of admission: Emotional, dramatic, grand in scope, funny, and largely original (the shuttle on Kronos, which I've christened the "Decade Chickenhawk", notwithstanding).
Also, I've noticed an amount of Shout Outs that higher that Trek has ever had until now: References to 47 have been replaced by 42, the warp core obviously resembles the Omega-13, a few bits seem to reference comments by Mr. Plinkett and several comments by Scotty repeat grievances that fans had over the 2009 movie.
"Into Darkness" it goes, but there's always before it gets there
I was initially confused by the title of Star Trek Into Darkness when I first heard it. Sure, it was grammatically correct, and expressed an idea, but it was still pretty weird. Having seen the movie, I can see that "Into Darkness" is a pretty accurate subtitle - by which I mean that the last third of the movie is a downward slope into derivative mediocrity that mirrors the Enterprise's falling to Earth.
Though it basically presents itself as a burnt offering to the great god Wrath of Khan, the movie seems to be much closer to The Search for Spock: Lots of good ideas that the movie introduces but ultimately fails to carry out, a focus on Spock's character rather than Kirk, Starfleet as a Lawful Neutral secondary enemy (though it's much more Lawful Evil here, of course), and overuse of dialogue from Wrath of Khan. Unlike The Search for Spock, which was passable all the way through, this has an absolutely stellar first two acts, that crashes and burns in the third. The first hour or so of the movie makes it well worth the price of admission: Emotional, dramatic, grand in scope, funny, and largely original (the shuttle on Kronos, which I've christened the "Decade Chickenhawk", notwithstanding).
Also, I've noticed an amount of Shout Outs that higher that Trek has ever had until now: References to 47 have been replaced by 42, the warp core obviously resembles the Omega-13, a few bits seem to reference comments by Mr. Plinkett and several comments by Scotty repeat grievances that fans had over the 2009 movie.