Sorry I meant to say the film came out in 2013 and not 2012, my bad.

All 3 films have the same plot: terrorist has grudge against the federation, commits a terrorist attack, enterprise gets messed up, bad guy reveals plan with super weapon, fist fight with bad guy at the end.

When the film started with Spock unironically explaining that he can stop the volcano from erupting by using "cold fusion", I knew immediately that this was no longer Star Trek.

Nero was bad too: "A natural disaster has destroyed my planet and then I time traveled 25 years in the past to a time when my planet was safe." "So, you'll warn our planet about its impending doom?" "No, I'm going to risk all of our lives by attacking Vulcan and Earth. Because they failed to save us from our sun going nova." "Ummm....you realize that, even if you succeed, Romulus is still fucked, right?"

Magic blood that can heal everything, including death. Interstellar transporters.

When he aggressively said "My name..... is... KHAN!!!", I almost expected Kirk to respond with: "Um....okay."

Hollywood script writers no longer care about having a good story - they think that flashing lights and loud noises are everything.

I hated the trope that the later Star Trek movies like this one and Nemesis fell into of "Bad guy has a ship thats so much bigger and better than the Enterprise!" one of the best things about the original Wrath of Khan was that the Enterprise and Reliant were closely matched so it was a battle of wits and skill not just who had the biggest guns. Also it makes no sense in universe that Star Fleet can just build a ship in secret thats like 3 x more powerful than whats meant to be their best ship. Star Fleet and the Federation in the original series and TNG era felt real and somewhat grounded - all thrown away in the reboot movies and Discovery Trek era.

I recently watched Wrath of Khan for the first time since I was a kid, and while it still isn't my favorite TOS film it is miles better than this. The iconic scene of Kirk screaming "KHAN!" makes sense in that context because he's talking to him over comms. He's literally shouting angrily at a man who seemingly just defeated him. Secondly, Spock's death is treated with weight and drama, Kirk looks utterly helpless and broken as he is watching his best friend die, and just kind of slumps to the floor beside him in stunned silence. Into Darkness treats it like a cartoon, like what a child _thinks_ a dramatic death scene should look like, followed by ridiculous screaming at someone who isn't even there to hear it.

Into Derpness featuring Dr No-onien was peak lens flare by Jar Jar Abrams. At least until he made the Cinematic abortion that was 'The Rise of Palpatine'.

The silly fight on the Klingon homeworld reminded me of the lover's spat between Spock and Uhura which Uhura ddcides to have during the mission, in front of the captain, as if this were a sitcom. One of the things about watching TOS is the professionalism displayed by the crew while on duty. Uhura could do things like tease Spock in the recreation room while on downtime, but she would not do so on the bridge in a crisis.

This isn't Star Trek. It's a parody.

Imagine how brilliant Jar Jar Abrams thought he was for having Captain Kirk deleted instead of Spock... He must have picked up his Bud Light and sipped it down while hearing the song playing in his head... "REAL MAN OF GENIUS!!!"

Don't forget they hid a spaceship in the ocean for no reason!!! i cant imagine what that did to the impulse manifolds.

JJ Trek is nothing but "turn your brain off action" movies.

You described the plot of Demolition Man! 😂 I remember watching all 3 of these movies. After being distracted by the visuals, you're left feeling empty as it's not really Star Trek. It's like a Fast & Furious version of Star Trek 😕

Sounds like Starfleet already replaced toilet paper with 3 sea shells!

One simple fix that would have the Khan's arc and plot making much more sense: they woke Khan up for his military strategic genius. That would make sense. Would a modern general want to talk to Sun Tzu? Or Napoleon? Probably. Tech changes, but the as Sun Tzu's writings prove, military strategies at their core remain timeless. Of course, then the writers would actually have the burden of writing him as a strategic genius, which given the writing quality would have probably been insurmountable. However, the plot was terrible anyways, so it does not fix the overall problems.

I have literally never heard anyone ever say Into darkness was the best of the rebooted movies. I've heard the third one is actually okay but it wasn't made by JJ abrams, and the first one is considered a kind of guilty pleasure, but into Darkness has been basically reviled by everyone I've ever spoken to about it.

Admiral Robocop: “can you build me a more advanced starship?” Smaug Khan: “naturally, my intellect has no limitations” Admiral Robocop: “perfect, this will be the dawn of a new age…” Smaug Khan: “just one question” Amiral Robocop: “and that is?” Smaug Khan: “what is a Starship?”

The reversal of the Spock death from Wrath of Khan and Kirk’s subsequent super recovery just made me groan inside. Conscious subverting of the brilliance of what had come before. The needs of the few, or the one, outweighing the needs of the many 🤷‍♂️ Thing is, I cared about Spock and Kirk in the Wrath of Khan, I didn’t give two hoots about these imposters.

The movie would’ve been slightly (I say again: slightly) better if John Harrison had stayed John Harrison. The Khan reveal felt really tacked-on.

Adding to Dave's comment about McCoy being able to use Khan's blood to cure death, it's amazing how much Abrams casually dismantles the carefully built-up Trek universe just to make his plots work. "Sir, interstellar beaming is a thing now!" "OK, start mothballing Star Fleet, we don't need it anymore!"

They had to wake Khan up to help infuse a little violence for the same reason they woke John Spartan. Check the Enterprise heads for 3 seashells. Adding Demolition Man type humor would have made In To Darkness a much better movie because it was too hard to take seriously

So nobody got the clue that these are NOT Star Trek films by the time Beastie Boys were blasting at you in the first movie? Ok I guess.

As Dave mentions towards the end, all the flashy action scenes, and fast pace really does hide a bad movie. It is standard operating procedure for a Jar Jar Abrams film. A slow burn like Hunt for Red October could not be made today unfortunately.

8:16 I cried at this scene when the real Spock died. I felt nothing when fake Kirk "died". Those people don't know how emotions work because they are robots themselves. ffs, JarJar's company is named "Bad Robot". How on the nose can you get!?

In the original “Wrath of Khan” film, Khan entrapped Kirk and a few crew in that planet as “a tomb”. That famous scene when Kirk desperately and angrily screams, “Khaaaaaan!!!” (as Khan’s ship slowly drifts triumphantly from the planet), my jaw dropped in shock! “The Khan won and Kirk will die!”, I thought to myself. Now that is superb script writing, plot twist, and heightened fear of a villain! (At that moment, Khan scared the hell out of me like Darth Vader did in “Empire Strikes Back”.) When, Kirk and crew found a way to survive and re-establish communication, that was an against-the-odds scenario. (Wow, that’s amazing storytelling, script writing, and world-class acting!) And then, Spock’s ultimate sacrifice…!!! Absolutely, brilliant and memorable classic film😎👍🏾 Sorry, JJ, your version was just a high-octane, high fructose corn syrup nothing burger that elevated my blood sugar and numbed my brain cells!😝 Thanks Dave Cullen for your critique and reflection on this “Jar Jar” Abrams film-its unbelievable that he gets entrusted with these mainstay and generational franchises (Star Trek and Star Wars), and makes them hollow not hallow, all-carbs with no protein, and microwaves not bakes them.😕

I just love how these terrible movies have done virtually nothing to bring in new young fans like they wanted. Bravo JJ! Keep your hands off of Krull!

It's amazing how many people JJ managed to fool with the first Star Trek and even more with the first Star Wars.

The Abrams Star Trek is lacking in so many ways... for one, if Kirk nearly destroyed the Enterprise after every movie... do you know how many crew members would have died? There is a lack of honor for the ship too. Remember seeing the Enterprise in space dock and being so amazed by it, then seeing Kirks reaction... the music. The ship became a character in the movie and something you cared about. Now its just a plot device that you can blow up and rebuild with no consequences.

Transwarp Beaming killed Star Trek, as did the many other things they did to make space seem so incredibly small. Star Wars has the same issue since the sequels.

I've always been so confused as to why "Into Darkness" Khan bears no resemblance to actual Khan. The Botany Bay crew went into stasis well before the Kelvin timeline split, so there should be no difference in how they dress, talk, etc. I could deal with a Khan recasting, but they made zero attempts to make it fit. It's bizzare... I've always thought such an easy fix could have been to have Cumberbatch play a different superman that we'd never met before. An enhanced engineer from WW3, and Khan himself remains in stasis as the twist. Even the movie's title is a meaningless jumble of words. What a waste.

Meh. The first one has Leonard Nimoy in it. I like it the most.

Funny how the Klingon homeworld is so very unprotected from infiltrators. I guess Starfleet isn't alone in that stupid policy of leaving Earth unprotected.

Thanks a lot Dave, great video. I love the way you - and the Critical Drinker - continue to point out just how far modern culture and society have fallen. The original 'The Wrath of Khan' and 'The Voyage Home' would be my fave movies with the old cast.

Apparently, they knew how the movie was going to turn out since it was aptly named.

I don't understand how Kirk was given the captain's chair after several months in the academy. Since this is a new timeline, it would have been really interesting to see the roles reversed where Kirk becomes the first officer and Spock is the captain. But i do think they couldve made Spocks temper tantrum at the end work... if the audience was involved and IF they suggested that he couldnt control himself, even after he got back to the ship. It would be an incite into the mind of a Vulcan. We would finally be able to see how wild and dangerous they really are without logic

It's clear how JJ simply wrote a handful of 'epic' twists/moments and then just strung them together with narrative mush.

I've seen this film a couple of times and I never even knew there was a plot about bringing Khan back and torpedos 🤣

When I saw it in the theaters, initially I enjoyed it for what it was. But just like the force awakens, into the darkness has not aged well. In fact, the older gets the more glare in the parent. The films plot holes and flaws are glaringly obvious.

Khan being 300 years from the past but capable to build weapons and ships in the current time reminds me of Howard Stark telling Tony how he was limited by the technology of his time. That's my only way to argue how it can work here.

I should think if you went back 300 years and asked someone's advice on wifi it'd be a hell of a lot better than asking Jar Jar how to make a good movie.

As a long term Bab5 fan, all throughout this movie, I was somehow waiting for a plot ‚twist‘ of some sort. Like they had Khan’s crewmen’s brains hard-wired to the torpedoes to give them superior agility or aiming and tracking. Maybe the writers even played with that idea and forgot about it along the way XD

the moment khan killed the klingons... my response was. Oh, he's an augment. They had khan moving like the Augments did in Enterprise. Which had me wondering which augment he was, which batch, and if the torps were more of the augments

Near the start of the movie there's a scene after the archives get bombed when all the senior staff are assembled. Kirk asks why anyone would blow up an archive, then realizes that in the event of a terrorist attack all the most important leaders would be gathered in that room. Then Khan attacks that room. I thought it was a brilliant twist. Khan was maneuvering pieces on a chessboard. He hit a low security, unimportant target to compel the behavior of his adversaries and put them right where he wanted them to be so he could take them all out at once. Oh, but then it turns out the archives WERE actually a high value target because Section 31 was secretly operating out of them and Khan NEEDED to attack them... I really felt like they took too scripts and smashed them together without thinking about how they contradicted each other.

“My God, Bones…what have I done?” -JJ Abrams

It's a trademark of JJ Abrams' style of writing these movies that the whole plot falls apart if he allows the audience even a second to think about what was just said by the characters Truly one of the filmmakers of all time

I must say, I audibly laughed/groaned/mockingly said "OK" in the theater when Kelvin Spick yelled out "Khaaaaaaaaan!" I try not to be rude, particularly in public, but it just came out.

You are absolutely correct. The cherry on the cake was that awful shoehorning in of Leonard Nimoy for that poorly scripted scene in which he warns them about Khan, Utter nonsense. I like to pretend this trilogy of films never existed.

I could not really imagine how they put such great actors into such a movie that looks like a video game. Spock is just unrecognizable.

I saw this movie in the theater. Halfway through it, I already hated it. By the end, I hated myself for seeing it.

What is with the obsession of Star Trek to turn augments into superheroes? In the Original Series and Deep Space Nine, they where just the peak of what humans can be. But starting with Enterprise, they could move like they where in the Matrix and in this movie, Khan can literally resurrect the dead.

I think J J Abrams owes every Star Trek and Star Wars fan an apology for the crap he has put on screen for both of these iconic franchises.

Jar Jar is too busy shining flashlights into the camera to worry about the story.

OH YES !! This is what we like the most about this channel. We need more of this.

Most of the opinions I've heard have ranked Beyond as the best. I kinda tend to agree. The first two were packed with references, and there was a lot of effort put into making sure people noticed them. Beyond, on the other hand, in spite of everything else, at least focused more on the story, instead of trying to impress the audience with references. It had plenty wrong with it. They all had their flaws, but I at least felt like the story was original, and it placed before us, to accept or reject. The way I see it, one of JJ's problems is that he tends to be passive & doesn't stick up for his ideas. When describing Into Darkness, there were a few times, where he said that he had been over-ruled. It sounded like Into Darkness might have been less of a parallel to Trek II at one point. I laughed when Spock yelled Khan's name. It had no where near the weight of the scene from the original film, and it sounded ridiculous to me. I do like that JJ stuck up for fans, when it sounded like the studio was set on going after fan productions. In general, I found the movie series mostly harmless, compared to what they're doing with the property, now. Aside from Spock leaving the original universe, there was really no real impact on the classic stories, you could pretty much go back & add on to where Nemesis left off, if you wanted to ignore the Kelvin films. I didn't mind the films. I kinda liked the story that the first film had, as far as Pike being a mentor to Kirk. They're not strong films, though, and I wouldn't try to defend them to anyone that disagrees.

I remember being so bothered by the idea in this film that Khan's blood could cure death and how, since they have this technology figured out, no one would ever die again... and then it's all but forgotten by the next film. If they wanted a gimmick to bring Kirk back, I wish they had just thought of something, anything, that wouldn't lend itself to future replication, like some technology Khan had that was used on Kirk but in the course of the film was destroyed. But whatever, the film was just a complete mess.

Remember this is the film that get JJ Abrams the Star Wars director,s chair....

😂😂😂 OMG! THE VOICE IMPRESSIONS! I needed this thank you.. I'm a old Trek fan and I love it when you and Robert bernnet go crazy on the new trek!

I love your analysis of this movie. It’s so on-the-nose. Please do more.

Thanks for telling us about Star Trek Continues. I binged the whole 11 episodes in one sitting that very evening. THE best new Star Trek I've seen since 1969! (Yes... I saw TOS during its original run. Not much of the 3rd season, though, as they moved it into a time-slot that was past my childhood bedtime) Why couldn't Paramount have done something like CONTINUES in all these decades?

I remember thinking, why all the panic to catch Khan at the end for his blood, when they had all this crew is the missiles which all had the same magical blood... Oh yes, and the cured death from then on!

Just remember lots of explosions, and being like, yeah, that was ok. Then thinking - that made no sense.

I’ve thought about this particular sequel a lot, being an absolute fan of the original. While they missed a ton of opportunities, one that just jumps out is having the crew stumble upon Khan with no knowledge of who or what he is and having young Spock talk to old Spock about who this is and what risk he poses to the galaxy. Would have been a sweet and interesting moment in the movie and like not having the original Star Wars characters back together in episode 7 is a major miss that can never be fixed. We truly live in an age of some really stupid film makers. Oh almost forgot, it’s the same stupid film maker.

While I detest this film, The one scene I did like was Khan dropping two platoons of Klingons like they were nothing, We have been told much of the Superior Intellect. However the superior strength was only shown when moving battle damage debris on the USS Reliant bridge. We saw a bit of the Augment combat prowess in Enterprise, so I thought it was a nice add. I know it was an action segment solely to keep your attention and in the writes mind 'move the plot' forward but I still liked it for the reason stated. Excellent work as always Dave, see you next time.

It's been a long time since this film was out. And I gone a long way towards blotting it out of my memory. Thanks for reopening an old wound for me. LOL

If they just wanted Khan as a tactician I could understand. Remember when TNG covered this exact situation with Scotty not understanding how the ship worked? Even in the short period of time he was gone it advanced so far.

Great video! I liked the 2009 movie enough to watch it more than once. I watched Into Darkness. I know I did. I remember none of it and even some of the plot points you had here aren't sounding familiar to me. That's how gawdawful it was. And Benedict Cumberbatch is a great actor so I can't/shan't blame him. I have seen nothing past Into -Idiocy- Darkness and I don't miss it in the slightest.

I didn’t hate that movie. My expectations were low for all of the reboot movies, so they were all a big “whatever” for me. Strictly fan fiction. And I fully expected the memberberries they gave us in the climax.

JJ makes the 72 torpedos his "mystery box." There is nothing else in the plot. What a genius. I can hardly contain my amazement.

Also, who knew tribbles had human blood?

When I think about this movie I remember that it was the first time a studio outright lied and tried to deceive fans. The fans had sussed out that this was a Khan remake and were asking about it to producer, actors, even the director. And they all said no. I remember realizing that the producer were treating fans like they were stupid. And after watching the movie all doubt was gone.

I didn't mind the 2009 movie. Hated Into Darkness, left the theatre thinking it was just stupid. I really enjoyed Beyond whether it was a good movie or not I had a fun time with it at the theatre and left with a smile wanting to go watch it again.

What you said there about intelligence being useless without knowledge is exactly the crux of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. It is a battle of Khan’s intelligence versus Kirk’s experience as pointed out by Spock. Kirk is able to rely on that to win against the seemingly invincible Khan. This is something that appeared to straight over the head of GayGay Abrams.

Scotty shouldn't have questioned the torpedoes that were brought onboard, he should have trusted the science! 😏

still odd that someone like JJ Abrams can make a kickass show like Fringe , but then screw up a different franchise so badly.

At least Trek 09 and Beyond actually made good use of the ensemble cast, showcased good teamwork, stunning visuals, and had a fundamentally adventurous, optimistic tone (especially 09). Getting sick of seeing these films lumped in with everything from 2017-onward. I get it, made by the same company and people, blah blah blah…Kelvin timeline isn’t as bad as what we got afterward (some exceptions of course, like Picard s3). And look, Into Darkness IS the worst of the bunch, sure, I’ll stipulate to that.

Explosions, screaming, phasers, mindless action, lens flares. Pretty much sims up all 3 Kelvin films.

I will admit that Khan's John Harrison alias did fool me while I was watching in the theater. I kept wracking my brain wondering how the captain of the Enterprise-B was involved, if it was the character from the Prime timeline (somehow) or if it was the Kelvin version of the character, somehow born earlier in this timeline than he was in the series proper. I remembered the Enterprise-B's captain was John Harriman, not Harrison, right when Khan revealed his identity in the brig. Oh well. Sauron-Saruman.

You forgot to mention that Ohura is in every scene because you need a black woman for everything in movies and TV.

I like how Spock could call for help, but calls old Nimoy Spock instead. Okay.

My eyes nearly fell out of my head when you said it was considered by some to be 'the best'.

I never really felt much from watching those movies. I never put enough thought into it afterwards. Your analysis is spot-on and explains the reason why I never felt much from those.

I had always assumed Khan was woken up so they could be blamed for war crimes that were not allowed but some viewed as necessary.

LENS FLARES!!!! (all I remember, save for the recycled Khan plot)

How would the torpedoes even work? 80% of the internal space is taken up by a cryogenic container, there is no room for fuel, explosives or control systems.

Only seen that one once, bought it in a 2 disc dvd set together with "1". Likely the last start trek I ever buy sadly. Third one I never saw even.

Remember that in Wrath of Khan, Khan figured out how to run the reliant in a basic way, but he had no experience in starship combat beyond the first ambush, and that only worked because Kirk had a dumb attack. So even if Khan gained certain knowledge by studying the manuals for the Reliant, he didn't have the experience or skill to use it properly. It would have been the same, or worse, in this movie. Now, it is hard to believe that even in that "civilized age" that there still weren't good officers, ship designers, etc., in Star Fleet. The Andorians at least probably were keeping up a combat ready fleet and training. So there likely would have been people as good or better than Khan.

All three films were dumb. Dumbed down versions of Star Trek. Sulu holding a baby with his spouse, Kirk on a motorcycle with rock music, Spock kissing Uhura.... it's all like a bad dream. No real soul or logic.

Into Darkness plot could have been vastly improved by having Admiral Marcus work with house Duras and some other klingons to start a war. Hence the torpedoes (far less. Like 5 or 6) fired at Qo'noS. Khan is still helping but as insurance, Marcus has the other augments on Qo'noS in a facility already with a fixed transporter relay (explain long distance beaming). Have Marcus cross Khan no matter what happened, to keep the blame from him and remove the augments and facility. Enterprise saves the augments, but someone still fires the torpedoes, the war still happens, starting with a small conflict in the neutral zone. Blame Enterprise for what happened. Have Kirk and crew form an alliance with Khan and some of the hearing ears on Qo'noS (house Mogh most likely) so they can stop the war. (I know, undescovered country and all that. But its far better than what it got)

I don't know how I wasn't thrown out of the theater for exclaiming "You can't park a spaceship underwater!"

I agree with what you said. I think this is where the parody of Star Trek began.

I must admit. I enjoyed it. Thing is i'm a massive Star Wars nerd, with very little knowledge of Star Trek. Super casual, at best. But as a Star Wars guy, I now feel your pain. I get it.

I remember seeing this in the theaters, and they lost my already at the part where Kirk had his command stripped from him for violating the Prime Directive, being reprimanded by Pike for having no real drive and an aversion to authority (which was the very reason that Pike convinced him to join Star Fleet, because he thought that those qualities were lacking) then convinces Admiral Marcus to allow Kirk to be his first officer, then Pike gets killed, then Kirk is back in command of the Enterprise, then Spock is back as the first officer, because Kirk needs him (the same guy who got his command stripped away from him), and now we were ready to start the adventure! Who wrote this 💩?! That whole sequence was a complete waste, and served only to accomplish getting Pike killed (who we all checked off as dead when the Romulans were torturing him, but he survived and was in a wheelchair at the end of the last movie, and now he has canes, but he's dead now anyways, and no one f-ing cares!!! This is yet another reason why I loathe Jar Jar Abrams!!! Honestly, I didn't think that it could get any worse. If I knew that it would I would have walked out of the theater right then and there!!! Thank you for bringing up one of my most painful cinematic memories EVER!!!

This movie was Putzman's TFA for Star Trek. All my favorite IPs have died an ignominious death😢

I remember seeing the first trailer and thinking the villain was going to be Gary Mitchell, and getting really excited. Then finding out it was Khan and being very underwhelmed.

D’you know, I bought all 3 films on 4K UHD blu ray a few years ago, and I’ve not watched any of them since. Speaks volumes…

Impossible to say how much genetic engineering could boost Khan's value as a weapon designer. Imagine an ape that could build spears and train other apes to use pikes in a phalanx formation against other apes.

This only shows how awesome Khan were as a character in the OG show.