Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
Somewhat better than I remembered. It has the benefit of not having the need to introduce every character, but can jump straight into the story - which is also more streamlined and coherent than the timeline mess of the first one.
Yet again, my complaints and praises are mostly the same. It is held together by great chemistry and banter between the main crew and it seems like Abrams has dialed the lens flare back a bit, but I still think there is a ridiculous amount of fist fights.
Reusing Khan as a forceful enemy for Kirk isn’t a bad idea as such, and the dilemma of helping a terrorist save his people in cryosleep has potential. I just don’t think it is used for much more than getting the action plot going. In the original it was more personal between Khan and Kirk because they had a history, now he is just a ruthless mass murderer. We didn’t really need old Spock in this and they also try way too hard on recreating the death scene from the original movie.
Rating: 3