I’ve watched both Abrams Trek films this week in anticipation of seeing Beyond tonight. I still like the first one an awful lot. I’m very ambivalent about Into Darkness. It got a whole lot wrong (mostly in the writing), but there’s enough about it that I like that I’m unwilling to write it off (mostly in the performances and direction). Undoubtably a deeply flawed film, but not a completely worthless one. If nothing else, there are some extremely striking visuals. The Enterprise falling out of warp while being chased by the Vengeance is one of the coolest space shots I’ve seen in anything.

I suspect STID’s reputation may improve if the fourth film is as well-received as Beyond. I think it will probably draw a lot less hate as simply the weak link in an otherwise solid series. I think it’s premature to assess that until we know whether or not the franchise’s course has actually been corrected beyond Beyond, though (I couldn’t resist).