Just saw it this morning, and I'd like to say it was pretty good.
Well I'd like to, because I can't think of anything wrong with the movie. But still, I'm feeling a little disappointed in it. I just feel like it was missing something, something that I can't put my finger on.
So far, after a few hours thinking about it, it seems to just lack any of the tension that made Wrath of Khan a classic. And it also lacked any sort of battle of wits, like you would expect from Khan, somebody who's super-strong but also super-humanly smart.
Warning: Spoilers not in spoiler tags for readability
Tension: "Oh man, Sulu is totally showing his whole hand, and stating over a communication channel aimed at the Klingon home world that there's a Federation ship, prepared to fire Federation weapons, at Klingon sovereign territory, where there happen to be high-ranking Federation officers. That can't possibly be a good idea." Oh, it didn't matter.
Tension: "The Enterprise is dead in space because sabotage! Will the dreadnaught blow it up?" No, the warp drive was repaired. "But will it actually work well enough to escape???" Yep, works just fine.
Tension: "Oh carp the Enterprise is getting blown to pieces!" But we've already established that the Admiral's daughter is on board and can diffuse the situation, and Scotty is on board the dreadnaught and can diffuse that.
Tension: "Khan never planned to spare anybody! He's going to kill everyone now that he recovered his crew!" Not likely, since we already figured out EXACTLY what Spock did a few minutes ago. They diffused the tension before it even showed up.
Tension: "All that damage knocked the warp core out of alignment, we're going to dieeeeeee!" Nope, not if you've ever seen a science fiction movie before. I wonder, which of the only two people in a position to fix the ship will heroically fix the ship?
Tension: "Well Kirk's dead. Dang." Nope! Khan has magic blood that will probably bring things back to life. Hey check out that tribble.
Potential: "I bet Khan had a really good reason for shooting up all those high-ranking command crews." Nope, it was 'cause he was mad.
Potential: "Well, at least he's going to have an awesome plan for escaping/enacting the next phase of his 'screw everything up' thing." Nope, magically beamed away to Qo'noS.
Potential: "I'm sure he at least had a great reason for beaming into the heart of the Klingon Empire. To start a galaxy-breaking war? He has some sort of alliance with the Klingons to bring death to his enemies?" Nope. Not at all. Might as well have been deep space.
Potential: "Ah, I see. His whole plan all along was to steal the dreadnaught and rescue his people!" But how could he have possibly known that the admiral would load up all 72 of them onto the Enterprise, that Kirk would try to apprehend him instead of using the long-range torpedoes that Khan himself helped build, and that the admiral would personally command the dreadnaught to come secretly blow up the evidence.
Potential: "Oh yeah, here we go. The Enterprise and the dreadnaught are crippled, no weapons, no engines. Now we get into the battle of wits and mind games. First person to fire a shot or escape wins. Yes." Oh they're just getting sucked down to Earth (which I should mention is a lot further away than The Moon at this point).
Potential: "Khan's alive and the dreadnaught is moving! Of course! Here's our chance for a final showdown!" Nope, he's ramming San Francisco because he just really dislikes that city.
Potential: "Well at least it's the Enterprise's chance for some cool move or sacrifice to save thousands of lives on the surface." Nope, just dodge and watch the ship crash.
Potential: "Oh man, Spock is pissed. Will he be able to defeat Khan in a protracted hand-to-hand battle, or will there finally be some sort of battle of wits???" Ok, protracted hand-to-hand battle. Can't complain I guess.
Oh look, I put my finger on it. Go me. Sorry for the long spoilers.
