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I'm seeing the film tonight at a midnight viewing fairly excited

Tell us how it goes.

Quick Review:
From the point of view of my friends who only know what the first film told them, it was brilliant, if a tad predictable in places.

From the point of view of me (someone who knows the Star Trek universe reasonably well) it was also very very enjoyable, though some points that most people wouldn't get do kind of give the plot away somewhat, and the whole "emotional climax" of the film is kind of lessened due to the previously mentioned plot points.

Regardless, it was very fun as an action movie, with some brilliant sequences, a number of well done twists and turns, and a solid plot.

Zachary Quinto is brilliant again as Spock, Chris Pine really lets Kirk grow as a character through the film, and as expected Benedict Cumberbatch hits it out of the park as John Harrison, making him absolutely brutal and savage whilst at the same time being somewhat relatable as a character.

I won't discuss any of the plot until other people bring it up, as otherwise people might get aneurysms.

Finally, this film has one of the most brutal death scenes I ave seen in cinema for a long while (not since Watchmen), and it is brilliant.

You can answer it in nested spoilers if you want or PM me to avoid it for others, but one question that I don't really care if it's spoiled and really want to know, is Cumberbatch Khan (yes, I know he goes by John Harrison)?

Because I'm seeing all different confirmations and denials from people.

I saw it last night as well. It’s a improvement on the 2009 film (which I am in minority for not liking) but it still has more than its fair share of WTF moments.

The film really can’t make up its mind regarding transporter technology. It’s effectiveness seems to be determined by whatever suits the plot best at any given moment.

 Frazzled wrote:
I'm down with that BUT
1. I don't want Khan messed with. Ricardo do too good a job to reprise him.

2. I'd rather they slowed down a little bit. Its resplendent of all the popcorn movies now. They've forgotten the greatness of pauses in action. Allow for some acting. Nonstop pow pow pow gets exhausting.

3. I'd be fine if they never did anything other than mention klingons for a long long time. I'm sick to death of klingons. Seriously, they were in what six movies? Come on dude...

I agree.

I don't like TOS very much. I think it has aged badly and is based on some really loony ideas from Roddenberry which were written out of canon slowly starting with STII. The three best things Star Trek ever did were Wrath of Khan, the Borg and DS9. All 3 of those things are darker and more complex in nature than the stupid hippy dippy utopia Roddenberry wanted.

The 2009 movie was none of those things. It was just sound and fury and no substance, no introspection and certainly no deeper understanding of the human condition. You can get all of those things and still be an action movie. Wrath of Khan and First Contact were both intense action movies, but they both retained the soul and spirit of Star Trek. The 2009 movie did not. I do not have high hopes for this one either on that front.

Agreed on most counts. Its interesting though-didn't he do Super8? That had excellent timing and pauses.


I think this movie will be a nice popcorn film. Not ST, just a nice popcorn sci fyey film. I will say I absolutely loved the soundtrack from the 2009 film, so thats helpful.

 Frazzled wrote:
Agreed on most counts. Its interesting though-didn't he do Super8? That had excellent timing and pauses.


I think this movie will be a nice popcorn film. Not ST, just a nice popcorn sci fyey film. I will say I absolutely loved the soundtrack from the 2009 film, so thats helpful.

I bought that soundtrack, yeah. It rules.

I saw it this afternoon and class it as a pretty enjoyable action adventure - no better or no worse than the previous effort. It is of course basically a remake of an earlier adventure with some of the roles flipped.

As others have noted, this is the film's biggest flaw, as your brain skips ahead to what you think should happen next and with the big emotional climax a mirror copy of its predecessor, the impact is substantially lessened.

There is also a tacked on chase after "that scene" which is nowhere near as good as what has gone before, so the ending is bit of an anti-climax.


Chris Pine - Very good and still a lot better than Shatner
Zachary Quinto - Very good, but Pine is more fun.
Zoe Saldana - Spends most of the film sulking about her boyfriend
Karl Urban - Still doesn't ring true for me. Give him another Dredd film instead.
Simon Pegg - Does great things with an expanded role
John Cho - Left on the bridge looking serious
Anton Yelchin - Disappears into engineering and only reappears when required to lend a "helping hand"
Benedict Cumberbatch - Entertaining in a scenery chewing kind of way. Be interesting to see if he returns for a later film as a good/bad guy.
Alice Eve - Spends film being very english... but also very cute, so ho hum

Speaking of which...