NOTE: This review contains spoilers and nerdery.

Star Trek (2?) Into Darkness is a good, fun movie. The pacing is excellent, the characters are charming, and the design and look of the world is deep and engrossing. This is not faint praise. It’s very difficult to do all these things well and the filmmakers deserve to be commended for it.

But…

Into Darkness is not a great movie.

Most negative reviews have focused on the film’s dumbness: Its plot holes, its frenetic action, its weak grasp of what makes Trek Trek.

These don’t bother me. Much.¹

The real problem is deeper. Star Trek Into Darkness borrows haphazardly from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan without understanding how or why that film works. As a result, Into Darkness lacks a coherent theme.

“Aren’t You Dead?”

Wrath of Khan is beloved because it has a powerful thematic story that is appropriate to its characters and its context.

William Shatner was 51 when the movie was released. The original series had been off the air for 13 years. Faced with an aging cast and a franchise better known because of nostalgia than quality, the writers leaned into the problem and created a film centered on death, aging, and rebirth.

Every element in Wrath of Khan is almost ludicrously on theme:

• The film opens with a simulation in which the entire Enterprise crew is killed.
• The dialogue constantly remarks on the crew’s age and Kirk’s mortality (his fading eyesight, his love of antiques, his birthday, etc).
• Kirk dismisses space travel as an adventure for the young.
• The film’s science fiction gimmick, the Genesis Device, is literally a machine that creates life from death.
• The film’s villain is an old foe from Kirk’s youth who blames Kirk for the death of his wife.
• Kirk reconnects with an old flame and a son he never knew he had.
• Kirk faces death for the first time as Spock sacrifices himself to save the Enterprise.
• And in the final exchange on the bridge, Kirk reveals that his journey and his loss have made him feel young again.

Wrath of Khan knows the story it’s trying to tell and it selects every element to further that story.

“Khaaaaaaaaaan!”

Compare this to Into Darkness, which remixes the elements and climactic scenes from Wrath of Khan using a cast of 30-somethings going on their first missions.

Chris Pine’s Captain Kirk is introduced as young, inexperienced, and brash. He’s a risk taker who has never had to face the consequences of his actions. Someday, we’re warned, his brashness could get his entire crew killed.

So what does the story do? It sends him on a revenge mission in which he succeeds by… taking wild and dangerous risks and going with his gut. Then in a funhouse mirror version of Wrath of Khan’s climax, Kirk sacrifices himself to save the Enterprise (a dubious piece of character growth considering Kirk would’ve certainly sacrificed himself at any other point in the film to save his crew). The film’s final message is that we should not let attacks on our homeland cause us to become worse than the enemies we face. Also, Spock learns to get angry, shouts “Khaaaaaaaaan” for some reason, and then beats a guy up. And oh yeah, Kirk is revived by magic space blood.

This is thematic spaghetti. It is a messy collection of ideas that do not resonate or hold together. Into Darkness² attempts to use images and scenes from Wrath of Khan with characters, contexts, and themes to which they do not apply.

Spock’s death in Wrath of Khan is significant because the movie is built on themes of mortality and aging. And because we the audience have a long and deep understanding of the character and his relationship with Kirk and Bones. It is the ultimate test for Kirk in the movie, confirming the film’s theme that “how we deal with death is at least as important as how we deal with life.”

Fast forward 31 years: Kirk’s death in Into Darkness is a third act twist designed to inspire an action sequence in which Spock fist fights Khan on top of a flying garbage truck. A good remix should redefine or add to the original, creating a contrast (or unexpected similarity) that generates new meanings. Star Trek Into Darkness remixes Wrath of Khan’s ending because it’s a cool idea, not because it has any thematic connection to its characters or its story.

This new Kirk and new Spock do not need to face their mortality. Each has seen loved ones die (in this same movie in fact). This Kirk and Spock are different, younger characters who need to learn different lessons.³ Putting these characters in the climax from Wrath of Khan is an empty exercise.

The Future

Star Trek Into Darkness is solid popcorn fare. I’d be very happy if future Star Trek movies maintained this level of fun, humor, and action.

But I also hope that future sequels will aim higher. There’s a moment in Into Darkness when Uhura angrily accuses Spock of feeling nothing when faced with death. Spock explains that he chooses not to feel because his emotions are so painful and potent, not because he doesn’t have them. Death reminds him of the overpowering grief he felt watching his planet and his mother die in the previous film. This is a new (but completely valid) take on the character that uses the same science fiction premise (a species that suppresses their emotions) to tell a meaningfully different story about the human experience.

That’s Star Trek. And I’d like a sequel to move forward with that sort of confidence. To tell a story that fits and serves the new characters, rather than endlessly remixing and rebooting the past.