The io9 review made the very good point that the movie undermines any chance it has at emotional impact by continually lowering the stakes. They start off hunting down a superhuman terrorist while also risking war with the Klingons, but by the third act, it's just Kahn having a hissy fit, on foot with no weapons, and no plan.

And the more I think about it, the more I'm annoyed by the decisions that were obviously made only to give JJ an excuse for a cool visual. Like, why did the Enterprise need to be underwater? In geosynchronous orbit above the volcano would have worked a lot better, wouldn't it? Oh, but then we wouldn't have gotten to see the Enterprise rising out of the water. And yes, that's what kicks the plot into motion because Kirk loses his job over it, but it was SUCH A DUMB DECISION IN THE FIRST PLACE. And the whole movie is like that. There's the scene where Kahn is running through the plaza right after he crashes the ship, and he grabs a coat AND IT FITS even though he's supposed to be even taller than Benedict Cumberbath is in real life. And then instead of using the disguise to blend in with the crowd...he runs through a glass wall. So why did he steal the coat? Why, JJ?

The continuity errors in the warp core scene bugged the crap out of me. Hands were jumping all over the place. Seatbelts came and went at random. Just sloppy filmmaking.

So - is Stark Trek a must see in the theaters or a just wait until it comes out on DVD?

if you saw and liked the 2009 movie in the theater, see this one too.

I haven't seen the movie yet, le nubian, but on one plot point: Spock (and Vulcans in general) are supposed to be several times as strong and resilient as a human being, being from a desert world with much higher gravity. In TOS Spock has bent metal barehanded when out of control. Khan is genetically enhanced to a similar level of superhuman physical ability. Klingons, while a warrior society, are supposed to be roughly physically equivalent to normal humans of the same build and combat expertise. It's not unreasonable that Khan would be able to wipe the floor with the latter while having an even fight with Spock.

The only problem with that is that, in this movie, the Klingons have Spock/Kirk/Uhura on the run before Kahn gets there to save them. If Spock can beat Kahn in hand-to-hand combat, he shouldn't have needed his help in the first scene.

I just saw IM3. I laughed and enjoyed it. I agree with Steph that the tag at the end was worth the price!

As for the discussion about the addiction and regulating(?), in the trials film there was a point where Killian said to one of the subjects that addiction and not regulating were bad and would get you booted from the program. this was just before they had to clear the room because one of the subjects was about to explode. Not sure what the addiction was supposed to be to.

Matt,

I appreciate the remark and may put some perspective on things. However, I do not recall at any point prior seeing a visual reference to Spock's strength. Your comments are valid but not shown on screen. And that scene in particular was after much much foolishness.

I liked STiD a lot. I have no major knowledge of love of anything pre-JJ in the star trek universe so that part doesn't bug me and the general ridiculousness of things like the Enterprise being under water in the first place doesn't stretch my belief any further than almost everything else about the universe. The Spock hand to hand Thing doesn't strike me as an inconsistency either - it is clear to me from that scene that Spock has tricks that involve some ridiculous pressure point neural whoziwhatsis which would obviously work more in his favor in a man to man situation than a one vs. many situation. I know very little about ass kicking but I know that different fighting styles are involved.

There was definitely gratuitous eye candy of both human and CGI variety but I thought the movie kept enough intelligence and humor to make it feel worthwhile. And never boring. Two prehensile tails up!

Before I go back and read the whitefont, I think that Star Trek should have been named Star Trek: Lens Flare! or possibly Star Trek: It's All About the Coat.

Now to read the whitefont.

Oh, but I did keep muttering "Not the face! Not the face!"

Okay, whitefont has been read. Yes, I laughed out loud when Khan grabbed the coat as he was hauling ass through San Francisco, and it just happened to fit. CUE DRAMATIC COAT MOMENT!

I think that flipping the Wrath of Khan death scene was a calculated risk that didn't work for me. It was like killing Buffy -- obviously Kirk was going to be brought back. If you introduce a Tribble in act 1, it has to go off in act 3. (Okay, so that's not a perfect comparison, since the acts are off, but you get the idea.)

Also, having Spock bellow "KHAAAAAAAAAAN" just made me laugh, and I know it wasn't supposed to. I was supposed to be all teary and moved, but putting that moment in was a HUGE risk, and maybe it's just the people I'm friends with, but that particular bellowed name gets invoked as a joke too much for that scene to work in the movie.

Benedict Cumberbatch still looks like a Siamese cat. And he officially is a creepy motherfucker. But I could eat his voice with a spoon.

Karl Urban is damn fine. As is Chris Pine.

I assume there is a metric crapload of Kirk/Spock/Uhura fanfic out there.

Worldbuilding minutia that I loved: seeing St. Paul's Cathedral in the London scenes and the Golden Gate Bridge in the San Francisco scenes. Especially St. Paul's -- I just love the idea that, a couple-few hundred years in the future, St. Paul's is still hanging about, because that's just what it does. That tickled me.

t edit I'm glad I wasn't spoiled that Cumberbatch was Khan -- I remember the speculation when he was first cast, but then the "John Harrison" character name was released, and I figured, hey, he's still Benedict Cumberbatch, so I'll see it. And yet, when he was revealed to really be Khan, I wasn't surprised. Except for how the character is -- I think -- a Sikh, but clearly Ricardo Montalban isn't, and clearly Cumberbatch isn't, either. So lots of handwaving there.