Meyer’s criticisms might seem strong, but he wasn’t the only one to have an issue with Abrams’ second “Trek” title. “Star Trek Into Darkness” fumbled its Khan mystery, trying to hide Cumberbatch’s character behind the alias of John Harrison, which, by sounding like a Dunder Mifflin employee, made him even more suspicious. Meyer saw that the sequel suffered from its execution by going through a checklist (a Treklist, if you will) of what audiences already anticipated when going off course would’ve been a more intelligent move.
“Other than doing all the things that people expect in a ‘Star Trek’ movie, I didn’t understand what those movies are about,” said Meyer. “I think the difference between an homage and a rip-off is that in an homage you’re supposed to add something. They should try to do something else besides trying to do ‘Star Trek II.'”
That’s sound advice. While it might be one of the more favored “Star Trek” movies in the franchise critically, “Star Trek Into Darkness” still stands as the lowest-ranked entry from the Kelvin timeline, according to Rotten Tomatoes. Here’s hoping that whenever Chris Pine’s Enterprise crew does return following the promising update on “Star Trek 4,” should they face a new iteration of, say, Gul Dukat, they don’t try and fool audiences into thinking he’s just a normal, unsuspecting Cardassian named Greg Robertson.
