Watched: Star Trek Into Darkness
This was a strangely enjoyable jumbled mess of a film. Like the recent Doctor Who special, it felt tied together by moments of fan service - an exchange between Quinto-Spock and Nimoy-Spock is powered by nostalgia, rather than its own weight - but that’s not to say that there wasn’t plenty going on in the scenes in between.
It’s good to see Simon Pegg and his questionable Scottish accent being given a bigger role, and emotionally this film belongs to Zachary Quinto, but in terms of raw charisma Benedict Cumberbatch owns this film, often to deletrious effect; so assured and brilliant is his performance that his scenes with Chris Pine make Captain Kirk seem a lot smaller than he really should be. It also means that when Khan inevitably finds his downfall, it doesn’t quite feel appropriate - logical, maybe, but even Spock doesn’t quite match his determination.
Perfectly adequate, and definitely enjoyable - it’s a blockbuster in a very traditional sense. But it sometimes tries to make up for a lack of genius in visual flair, and that only works occasionally.