10 Dumbest Things In Star Trek Into Darkness

Admiral Robocop… er, Marcus’ plan is a mess. On one hand, he says all-out war with the Klingons is inevitable, so he dreams of a militarized Starfleet with which to pre-emptively start and end the conflict. But… how, exactly?

Okay, sure, he had Khan develop new long-range and (supposedly untraceable) photon torpedoes, and he’s got the big bad starship Vengeance (a stupid name; who is he getting vengeance on?). But think about it, as super-duper powerful as that one black ops black starship is, it’s one ship. It can’t be everywhere at once — despite its barely glimpsed remote weapons pods — and wars are rarely fought on a single front. Why start the war now instead of waiting until he can build more Vengeances? Was he so dependent on Khan that the loss of him ruined his long game? Or does he worry that Khan will reveal his plans?

The film comments on the United States' response to the 9-11 attacks, and how easy it is to respond to terrorism in ways that lead “into darkness”, where ethics become an inconvenience, but, sadly, the script only pays lip service to these themes without really delving into them, or even taking the time to think through the logical implications. That’s the sort of stupid that undermines story logic and blunts the story’s allegorical aims.