Saw this earlier.
Entertaining to watch and a decent sequel to the last one. More hand-to-hand battles than spaceship combat, which surprised me. Could actually predict the plot twists which were going on, but it was enjoyable to watch, so, much like knowing the ship's going to sink in '
Titanic', that didn't really matter because it was portrayed well.
Only one real criticism, but
do not click on this unless you have seen it - contains a huge major spoiler.
Spoiler
Never been a fan of Benedict. Sure he's a lovely chap in person, but he has one of those faces, like Jack Black, which I have an irrational need to punch. Still, while he acted well...
Why did they make Khan a white guy?! Even the name makes it obvious he's not meant to be!
Torn between satisfaction and disappointment with that performance, actually. Satisfaction, because he presented a villainous personality which seemed formidable, but dissatisfied because he hadn't bothered to give that iconic character any of the same kind of body language or vocal rhythms. Didn't need to be an exact impersonation (although, Urban's McCoy is still extremely good, precisely because he reflects the original actor's turn so well), but this version should have been named something else. Why even bother if he's going to have such a different personality? Cold and methodical (and even a little bitchy), instead of being cat-like and cunning.
So, yes, torn a bit... If they had named him someone else and just had Khan's name imprinted upon one of the capsules, that would have had a darker impact. He both looked, sounded and felt like a completely different character. Might as well have gone the whole distance and simply had him be strongly 'influenced' by Khan's strategies.
Aside from that (perhaps relatively trivial) point, I liked and thought it set up things well for another sequel. One of those films where you can tell it's like pieces on a chess board being moved into place for the next act, but still happens to be a fun ride.
