retelling? yes. homage? no way. into darkness took what was easily one of the most powerful scenes in tos and just kind of shoe-horned it to play on nostalgia for its own gain. it was this pretentious, heavy-handed, "this is a grand gesture artistic moment" that was all over the movie that personally ruined it for me. and quinto's spock doing the "KHAAAAAN" was just cringey more than anything else. shatner camp i can live with. nu!trek melodrama gets annoying.
Re: now onto something completely different: star trek beyond