After a terrorist kills Christopher Pike and escapes with extra-super-duper beaming to the Klingon home world, Kirk is sent to kill him. Kirk decides instead to capture this mysterious man… OK, it’s Khan. We all know it is Khan.
The second Abrams-verse Trek film has all the same positives as the first, and all the same negatives, except the negatives are magnified. Over and over again, things do not make sense. Emotions bounce around to fit the action instead of approaching anything human, and there is so much fan service. By the end it feels like a fan film, just playing out a silly “what if” hypothesis a couple of Star Trek fans might discuss over pizza. “Hey, how about if Kirk was Spock and Spock was Kirk in Wrath of Khan! Cool!” The movie is devoted to mentioning, discussing, or just stopping and gazing at Star Trek’s past. Let’s name drop Nurse Chapel and Harry Mudd. Let’s bring in Carol Marcus (Mother of Kirk’s son in that other reality). And, of course, there’s Khan.
Once again (following the 2009 film), we have a petulant, illogical Spock and an immature Kirk. They are both terrible officers and their characters do not so much develop as flop around.
I suppose I should point out that this film also completely destroys the Trek universe, but they’ll forget that by the next film. The tech developed makes star ships obsolete (you can beam across the galaxy instantaneously) and death has been completely defeated.
But like 2009’s Star Trek, the point is not message or plot (though the basic one is stronger here even if the particulars are just as stupid) or character or sense. The point is mindless, lowest common denominator adventure delivered with pretty lights and lots of movement. And that’s what we get. It’s exciting and fun in a meaningless way. The score is operatic, the explosions are big and flashy, and it is all very pretty. Some people complain about Carol Marcus stripping down to her bra and panties, saying it is gratuitous, but they are missing the point. It is not gratuitous, because it is the entire reason for everything in this film. Pretty things happen because they are pretty. Ships zoom. Pretty! Guns fire. Pretty! Girl changes clothing. Pretty! Benedict Cumberbatch pouts at the camera. Pretty! Yeah, this isn’t a film to be proud of, but it succeeds in what it is trying to be, and sometimes, that’s enough.