It’s the same exact back story.
Same exact characters.
Nearly the same dialogue, word for word.
Same scenes, with prettier effects, less cold hatred and simple revenge. It has no depth, not philosophical in the least, has no bearing on popular culture, nor examination of “what if.” They never should have let that hack Abrams TOUCH Star Trek. If DeForest were alive I imagine he would have denounced Abrams as an ounce of crap polished by Hollywood. He always was the heart and soul of the three. Without him Neemoy and Shatner sold out.
Those “Star Trek” movies, while good as popcorn movies will never stand the test of time. They are not Star Trek in the slightest.
Abrams is much more suited for Star Wars, an adventure movie that tries to be deep but fails. Miserably.
OK let's see. Where is Admiral Pike in Wrath of Khan? Same for Fleet Admiral Alexander Marcus?
Where is Captain Terrell, LT. SAAVIK. or Kirk's son David Marcus in "Into Darkness"...
Nearly the same dialogue, word for word.
Opening scene in Wrath of Khan is supposedly on the bridge of a Starship with LT. Saavik talking. A situation develops wherein they are attacked by a Klingon Vessel while trying to rescue a supposedly disabled ship the Kobayashi Maru.
Opening Scene in Into Darkness is on the Planet Nibiru where Bones and Kirk are running away from a primitive tribe while Spock is down inside a Volcano.
Logic tells me if they both use the same dialog it will at the very least be confusing being the same people aren't involved in the conversation AND they are in two totally different settings.
"Same scenes, with prettier effects,"
See above. But if we have the same scenes where is the Genesis Torpedo and where is the scene where they set it off in Into Darkness? Where is the scene in Wrath of Khan that has Admiral Marcus attacking the Enterprise with the Vengence? Where are the scenes where the Admiral's plan to start a war with the Klingons by blaming them for the destruction of the Enterprise is revealed?
So again no its not the same it has some of the same characters but they are in different scenes with different dialog and the Into Darkness script has some scenes that are just plain stupid. Like having Spock inside a live volcano.