As the year draws to a close, it's customary to look back at the last twelve months and take stock of lessons learned and just how we, as people, could do things better next time. It's also a period when we, as pop culture lovers, look back and ponder what we liked and what we think fell short. This year is no different, because even though 2013 had a pretty great run of movies, television, music, etc. there was still room for improvement.
So, in case those responsible for our entertainment are too busy being creative for a moment of self-reflection, we've decided to make it easy for them by identifying a few ways in which they could fix some of this year's most glaring problems. A few New Year's resolutions, if you will. Consider this our holiday gift to you, dear media-makers. No need to thank us, though. Just promise us that you'll take our advice to heart — especially that thing about Benedict Cumberbatch and the accents.
Don't Be So Secretive Next Time
Resolution for: J.J. Abrams, director
Star Trek Into Darkness
Amongst the many, many things this summer's
Star Trek movie got wrong was misjudging the level of need to keep the identity of Benedict Cumberbatch's character secret until midway through the movie. The idea of a shock reveal is hardly anything new in filmmaking — see
The Usual Suspects,
The Crying Game or the entire career of M. Night Shyamalan as proof — but the level of secrecy surrounding what turned out to be the return of Khan overwhelmed almost everything else about the movie ahead of its release, suggesting that the revelation of the true identity of Cumberbatch's character would be the most shocking thing in the 23rd century, instead of the guy everyone had suspected all along.
To make matters worse, there was little to no reason for the secrecy beyond the belief that Khan was such a well-known and important character to the
Star Trek mythos that his very inclusion was somehow important. Certainly, inside the story itself, his name was as meaningless as "John Harrison," the pseudonym that he hid behind. Hiding him served only the purpose of teasing longtime fans of the property, which went against the stated aims of the reboot to broaden the appeal of
Trek as a whole.
Next time around, it'd be nice to see a movie that focused on having a strong story that didn't rely on any kind of shock reveal for impact -- especially when said reveal was arguably the least shocking thing about the entire film. J.J., we know
you're with us here, but it's worth noting this point again for future filmmakers. (While we're asking for things in regards to a third
Star Trek post-reboot: Can everyone involved finally give a little more screen time to Karl Urban as Dr. McCoy? He's criminally underused in the two movies so far.) —
Graeme McMillan
