15. Star Trek: Into Darkness
J.J Abrams two Star Trek movies are immensely frustrating for me, both as a die hard Star Trek fan and as a movie fan in general. In his second foray into the Star Trek universe, Abrams continues to show off unimpeachable technical craft while at the same time missing out a lot in terms of narrative, character, and the essence of what made the TV shows so interesting. For example, the special effects in this movie are second to none, rivaling anything seen in movie theaters this year. The action scenes are well thought out and choreographed, and Michael Giacchino's score adds immeasurably to the effectiveness of the movie. At the same time, the climax is lazily mirrored from Wrath of Khan, no attention is paid to some of the more interesting aspects of the characters, and Benedict Cumberbatch's incredible performance is tempered by the writers giving him almost nothing of consequence to say the entire movie. That's not to say it wasn't good, it was actually the best blockbuster of 2013 by a good distance, with immeasurably good technical qualities and some of the best acting of any summer movie recently. It's supremely entertaining but it does feel like Abrams and his team just don't have a very good grasp of the Star Trek mythos. Fortunately, it remains a great piece of action filmmaking and its well worth the watch for the technical aspects alone.