Apparently the creators of ‘Star Trek into Darkness‘ have decided to come out of the woodwork recently to explain the mistakes of their film, including J.J. Abrams, who recently spoke about how the film had too many homages to ‘Wrath of Khan’. Most recently, it is co-writer/producer Damon Lindelof badmouthing the film, stating that he felt the decision to try to keep Khan’s inclusion in the film a secret was a serious mistake. His opinions came out while he speaking to Variety about his HBO Series, ‘The Leftovers’ (which is an amazing show, and should definitely be checked out):
“When we did Star Trek Into Darkness for example, we decided that we weren’t going to tell people that Benedict Cumberbatch was playing Khan. And that was a mistake, because the audience was like, ‘We know he’s playing Khan.’ That was why it was a mistake. But J.J. [Abrams] is telling us nothing about the new Star Wars movie and we love it. I’ve not come across a single person who’s like, ‘I wish I knew a little bit more.’ We are like, ‘Thank God he’s protecting us from all the things that will be revealed in the movie theater.’”
The whole Khan fiasco was made even worse by the fact that they so vehemently denied that the character was in the film, even after people had figured it out, making his reveal in the movie all the more disappointing. There were plenty of other problems with ‘Star Trek into Darkness’ to be sure, but I think Lindelof and Abrams have both realized since then that the whole mysterious reveal schtick does not always work, and both have found better ways of promoting their films and shows.
Lindelof has taken the lessons learned to help craft ‘The Leftovers,’ which is chock full of mysteries, but does not feel so bloated with questions as ‘Lost‘ had been (to be fair, I loved ‘Lost,’ and will defend it to anyone who asks, but even I recognize that they left far too many questions unanswered), and the show does not revolve on one major reveal as ‘Into Darkness’ did. As for Abrams, he has done a remarkable job promoting ‘Star Wars’ without giving away too many details, and even though we are all still intrigued by the mystery of Luke Skywalker, it does not feel like the whole film revolves around the question, ‘Where is Luke?’
What are your thoughts on Lindelof’s statements about the mistakes of ‘Star Trek Into Darkness?’ Share them in the comments below!
Source: Collider