3. To Boldly Stay
The plot is very good, but when it all boils down to it, nothing really happens to change where we were at the end of the first movie, and where we are now after the second. For a film called Star Trek, there is a curious lack of any actual Star Trekking. Yes, there's a sojourn to a forbidden enemy planet, but it's fairly underplayed in favour of just presenting an interesting looking backdrop to an excellent fire-fight, but it feels a little like someone pressed a reset button and we're back where we started. The impact of the events in the narrative should have shaped something different, and changed the very nature of Starfleet, but instead of any exploration of that, and also because of the final-act twist that fundamentally changes the trajectory of one major character (who had been given a hugely poignant conclusion) the events in London, as presented in the trailer, seem to have no real legacy. If everything is supposed to be different to canon, why does it feel like every deviation is still pulling us back to the same end-game? By its own agenda to chart the undiscovered country, Into Darkness fails, since it actually just reinforces old points.