My Thoughts on Star Trek Into Darkness

WARNING!! THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!  DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU’VE NOT YET SEEN THE MOVIE.

I SAY AGAIN, THERE ARE SPOILERS AHEAD.  

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Okay, so my town had one of the lucky selected theaters who got to see Star Trek Into Darkness on Thursday night.  I am not, by any means whatsoever, a Trekkie.  The only other Star Trek movie I’d seen before this was the Star Trek film released a few years back, also directed by J.J. Abrams, and starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and Zoe Saldana.  I rather enjoyed it, because as a complete newbie into the franchise, it was easy to follow, had very good action, an amazing score, and I thought the characters were likeable.  I really liked that Leonard Nimoy was in it too, because obviously, despite not seeing any of the past series or films, I still knew who Mr. Spock was.

I wasn’t /too/ excited about this film though, simply because, again, not a Trekkie.  However, it was on the list of films that I wanted to see this year, and so when my friends invited me to go along with them and see it, I went with them.  

Now, I won’t go too into detail about the plot of the movie, because odds are if you're reading this, you've seen it.  So I’ll just talk about what I feel is obviously the biggest issue with the Trekkies I know. 

Benedict Cumberbatch as Khan.  My friends, though I think most of them saw it coming, groaned a little at the reveal, as did a good chunk of the theater.  I had to have it explained to me why this was a bad thing.  One friend wasn’t happy with “whitewashing” the cast a bit more so than they already had, and another friend explained that in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Khan’s character and motivation had already been set up in the series, which was pretty much Kirk leaving him on a dying planet.  (Obviously I do think there’s probably much more it to that, and any Trekkie reading this is more than welcome to go into further detail for me).  But had I grown up with it, I honestly can’t say I wouldn’t have been annoyed with it myself, but here’s what I have to say regarding the subject.  Please understand that this is just my own personal opinion, and I mean no offense or disrespect to anyone.

I thought Benedict Cumberbatch was awesome.  For a film that did not have a series to lead, I thought that in this movie, Khan still had a good backstory and a good reason to want revenge.  I also felt that he was genuinely threatening.  

Perhaps I’m wrong in thinking so, but I also knew beforehand what an iconic villain Khan is, not just in the Star Trek franchise, but in cinema in general.  Therefore, I can’t really blame J.J. Abrams for bringing the character into his reboot.  

But yeah, there’s my personal thoughts as a non-Trekkie.  I liked the movie, I’ll definitely buy it when it comes out, and I might even go see it again in theaters.

Ciao! <3