1. Fun Factor
I specifically inserted the photo above to highlight one of the film's most "fun" (and scary) moments for my money. Between the surreal sound effects provided by Academy Award winner Ben Burtt, accenting the Vengeance bearing down on the Enterprise in high warp to the obvious phaser blasts that ensued, this sequence underlined how much energy and intensity the movie had going for it. Likewise, the film was littered with a lot of fun scenes from the opening of the movie, to the battle on Kronos (yes I spelled it that way), and to the Enterprise falling through the Earth's clouds. It was entertaining, it was relentless, and it injected a lifeforce into Star Trek that could have potentially existed in previous incarnations but never saw the light of day due to budget limitations. I welcomed it with open arms.
Lastly, contrary to the title, the sense of humor was peppered in throughout this picture at just the right moments. From Scotty running out of breath on the Vengeance, to Khan giving Kirk a stoic look as he exclaims he once jumped into his own shot glass, and Dr. McCoy's classic quips, I felt the humor was well placed throughout. Hell, I even found myself cracking up over the madness of Peter Weller's brilliant delivery of Admiral Marcus flying off the handle. The humor provided a needed balance between too serious, and too hokey. A job well done to all involved! Oh, and one more thing, upon hearing some internet chatter recently that "Star Trek" is broken, I could only laugh. People seem to have short memories, and with that I would like to remind everyone reading of when a Star Trek film opened to lower box office receipts than a Jennifer Lopez romantic comedy, circa 2002. Indeed, Star Trek was already broken, and thankfully someone came along to re-inject some of Khan's super blood into it before it was too late. I'd like to think we should all be grateful we've been treated to not one but two really well done Star Trek films in the past four years. As always, please leave comments below. I have a feeling I'll draw the ire of some passionate fans for this article, but I welcome any additional thoughts you all have, negative or positive, along with some additional reasons you may find this to be a great Star Trek film. Thanks for reading!