All 13 Star Trek movies officially ranked
Star Trek Into Darkness
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Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013)
Production Budget: $190,000,000
Worldwide Box office: $467,381,548
Total Profit: $277,381,548
Return on Investment: 146.0%
The second entry in the Kelvin Timeline and perhaps the most controversial of the lot, Star Trek: Into Darkness seemed to have all of the stars aligning for a great return, and while it stands as the highest grossing movie at the box-office it managed only 146% thanks to a few questionable decisions on the part of the filmmakers.
Let’s be honest, the first thing we all thought of when we heard (Kelvin) Star Trek II was coming out was “The Wrath of (Kelvin) Khan” right? Then Benedict Cumberbatch, the actor who could do no wrong, was cast in an unknown role and we all said “Khaaaaan!”, but the studio said, no, John Harrison, not Khan. of course we didn’t buy it, but they kept insisting, and sure enough when the movie came out Captain Kirk was once again facing Khan Noonien Singh.
Many complaints would arise over the whitewashing of the character, a deplorable practice that has certainly has no place in a franchise that has long celebrated diversity, to say nothing of it not having a place in the industry overall. This campaign of complaints, and shoehorning of the character into the movie damaged what might otherwise have been a much larger success.
The power of Khan as a villain was not in that he was a genetically engineered super human remnant of the mysterious eugenics wars, it was the personal connection he shared with the crew of the Enterprise, the blame he placed upon them for marooning him and his crew on a planet that, unbeknownst to them, would become desolate and lifeless. Only though the strength of his hatred for our heroes did Khan survive long enough to take his revenge. The only thing this Khan had was an overzealous Admiral with a penchant for hiding weapon and armour invoices who had somehow managed to fool Khan’s people into getting into some torpedoes.
The plot felt stretched, and the personal grudge forced, it would have been a far more effective strategy from a fan’s perspective to have the crew of the Enterprise run across the SS Botany Bay herself and derive a personal grudge from there, as well as to just acknowledge the name of the villain from the start. We loved Khan, let us be excited to see him not shocked that he had a fake ID.