Into Darkness in the end VALIDATED the humanistic value of the franchise, going away from confrontational militarism. Many Trek fans shoulddo what William Shatner said in a controversial but hysterical skit on Saturday Night Live..."get a life"! Was it flawless, no... and I think they would have been better off going in a different direction than re-imagining Khan and skirting too close with camp on the Spock/ Kirk reversal of fortunes from "Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan". And as much as I loved "Star Trek: The Voyage Home" if whales are any part of the next film they lose me!
I did like "The Search for Spock" a lot, great deal of heart, humor and poignancy as Kirk and his crew had to return to find their friend Spock if there was any way they could get him back. "First Contact" was really good as well.
The original movie was as boring an experience for the most part as a supposed summer blockbuster could be. Interesting concept for a regular TV series, but having a gigantic supercomputer/ ship as the chief antagonist made me think Decker and the bald lady were probably having more fun being absorbed by the "V-Ger" hybrid than anyone watching the film. But at least artistically it could be defended.... the worst piece of crap EVER to infest the big screen in the Trek world is hands down " Star Trek V:The Final Frontier where just about EVERYTHING missed the mark in Spock's alleged brother Sybok's search for "God".
In the Next Generation phase of movies, only "First Contact" was really entertaining. "Generations" was such a let down, especially in killing off James Kirk in such an ignominious fashion. Soran was another of those "misunderstood" nutcases who make for less than compelling villains. ALMOST as bad was " Star Trek: Insurrection" with the Sona and the granola hippy dippy planet where you couldn't grow old..... but ONLY if you stayed on the planet all your life, something to do with the air or some shit.
"Nemesis" also kinda dropped the ball...goofball humor early on with that wedding scene that clunked more than hit the mark, and of course we knew Picard and the gang would never convince Shimzon to give up his mad desire to completely wipe out humanity to ease the pain of his entire existence. Tom Hardy was very good, especially filming the movie at the age of 24 and going head to head very admirably with old pro Patrick Stewart. The " Blue Skies" element between Data and the memories transferred to B4 were nice, but the movie just lacked something....the Remans added nothing but nasty villainy( though the Romulans treatment of the other race on their planet was an atrocity and a happier outcome could not be expected). At least though it made a better finale for the Next Generation crew than the crappiness of "Insurrection".
Lastly, the final original crew film, Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country" was kind of rushed, but it was a much better ending for the old crew than to be remembered for the "Final Frontier" and the cartoonishness of Spock in flying jet powered footwear zooming down a mountain to save a falling Captain Kirk, who he only reached INCHES before he hit the ground. And a foolish Sybok finding out God was the devil, or at least a very pissed off , nasty alien whose makeup was of an incredibly disagreeable demeanor. The Cold War allegory was pretty spot on, though it did lay things a bit thick having the heroic Klingon chancellor named "Gorkon"... not so subtle counterpart to "Gorbachev" of the Soviet Union. It was fun, suspenseful, twisty( Admiral Cartwight and Savik being baddies who wanted to keep the bad blood running between the Federation and the Klingons) And plus as Savik we see a younger Kim Cattrall before she became fabulous as Samantha on Sex and the City!
Sorry for the stream of consciousness,lol but gotta say those Trek "fans" who dissed "Into Darkness" as the worst Trek movie EVER should be glad they aren't "Star Wars" fans who have to put up with George Lucas and his ruination of the entire "Star Wars" with his technical "improvements" to the original trilogy and his bastardized "prequels". What's really going to be fun is how the upcoming "Star Wars" sequels will fare under present "Star Trek" movie franchise director JJ Abrams... and for goodness sake, DON'T cast any of the current generation "Star Trek" actors in the new Star Wars films, ple-ee-ee-eze!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
