The excuses have started. It is generally accepted that Star Trek Into Darkness failed to be the movie spectacular that everyone was supposed to love, especially if the fan response is anything to go by. The barrage of criticism prompted the films co-writer and producer Bob Orci to take to Twitter and launch a tirade of abuse at all those who dared to critique the film in an honest way. And now, even JJ Abrams has made the admission that the silly guessing game he instigated around the true identity of the movies villain was a mistake. The Abrams mystery box is nothing new, but the flat out denial by Abrams that the villain was 100% not Khan turned out to be nothing more than a big fat lie. Abrams said:
"The truth is I think it probably would have been smarter just to say upfront, 'This is who it is,' It was only trying to preserve the fun of it, and it might have given people more time to acclimate and accept that's what the thing was. But the truth is because it was so important to the studio that we not angle this thing for existing fans, it felt like if we said it was Khan, it would feel like you've really got to know what Star Trek is about to see this movie. And that would have been limiting. So I can understand their argument to try to keep that quiet, but I do wonder if it would have seemed a little bit less like an attempt at deception or something if we had just come out with it."
He might be putting the blame on Paramount but its hard to believe that JJ Abrams didn't have a little hand in keeping Khans identity a secret. And the fact that Into Darkness was not angled for existing fans might be a wakeup call to Paramount and Abrams that ignoring the established fan only harms the franchise in the long run. In any case, an admission that a mistake was made is whole-heartedly welcomed. But Khans identity is probably one of the lesser problems that ruined Into Darkness. Plot holes, terrible dialogue and unnecessary homages turned the 12th Star Trek movie into the least satisfying film in the franchise. However, dont expect an apology for all those bigger mistakes any time soon. So, since Abrams and his film-making cohorts have seemingly ignored the other multifarious problems with the film, and invented their own scape-goat, it's hard to let this one lie. And with that in mind we've put together a video analysis that makes it crystal clear how Star Trek Into Darkness was a roller coaster of mistakes from beginning to the end.