Star Trek Into Darkness is J.J. Abrams? stunning sequel to his drastically overrated 2009 reboot of the franchise. I will get into Darkness, but first I must give my thoughts on Star Trek in a little micro-review.
While I do think Star Trek ?09 was an okay film, it isn?t near the acclaim it gets from most people. I do appreciate the dose of energy he injected into the franchise. Guys, I?m a Star Trek fan. I love the hard scientific plausibility the series and original films tried to maintain. I love the philosophical aspects they took every so often. I love how the shows weren?t afraid if being ?too smart? for their audience and showed it. I love many of parts that the original franchise had to offer, but that doesn?t mean I can?t love the new parts the reboot brought to the table. Many Trek fans have to realize, that the series couldn?t go on being the classical music to Star Wars? rock ?n? roll, which is why it grew stale and faded into obscurity in the first place. It can be good for a series to go in a new direction, as long as the person taking it there knows what he?s doing, and Abrams knows what he was doing. The fast-pace, action and fantastical elements that Star Trek rarely had before really worked in this film. What I didn?t like about the film, though, was its incoherent story (script courtesy of Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, co-writers of the ?oh-so lovely? Transformers 2007 film). Nero the Romulan wasn?t a good antagonist by any means, but I guess I can give it a pass since it is an origin story, and the main conflict is piecing together the seemingly contradictive Enterprise shipmates. The story had plenty of plot holes, and I?m not the type to nitpick plot holes unless said holes are inconsistencies within the story, which the story had plenty of. How does red matter work? Why is Spock trying to prevent a supernova if that is a natural occurrence? It isn?t the United Federation?s duty to play god. Wouldn?t a black hole make the situation worse? Why does Nero blame Spock for the destruction of his planet? Has he gone mad? If he has, why is his crew still following him? The story did partially accomplish developing Spock and Kirk?s relationship, although I still felt irked by how by the end of the film, they went from rivals to friends in no time.
My final verdict on Star Trek: Bad script, good direction, a few good performances, 3 out of 6 Hexes.
Now Star Trek Into Darkness is a major improvement on the previous film. It retains the sense of adventure and excitement the first one brought, but also has an intriguing story and more character development. From the film?s opening to the end, I was thoroughly entertained by this example of summer movie fun at its best. Abrams, Orci and Kurtzman got together and made the best follow up to Star Trek they could make, and it shows.
The film opens with Kirk and the team preventing a volcanic eruption from wiping out an indigenous species on planet Nibiru (Stan Lee has some real competition for best cameo this year if he?s competing with A PLANET). Things go awry and Kirk ends up losing his captain rank on The Enterprise, and it is implied that this isn?t the first time a mission has gone this way. Benedict Cumberbatch makes an appearance as a new villain, John Harrison, who starts his maniacal rampage by blowing up London. Events lead to Kirk out for Harrison, and he wants revenge. Now that?s a premise, but the film offers a few more twists and turns revealing things aren?t how they seem and The Enterprise is in a lot more danger than they asked for. I can?t say much about the story that won?t spoil anything, thanks to J.J. Abrams? ?mystery box? approach to film-making, but I will say the story is pretty good. On terms of surprise, the film is quite predictable in most of the parts they intended to be surprising in. For example, I wholly predicted the true identity of one major character (who doesn?t wear a skirt), but I was intrigued by the direction the story went after the reveal. As for the multiple throwbacks to Wrath of Khan in the film, I didn?t think of them as quite intrusive except for another Leonard Nimoy cameo.
The action is another part the film succeeds in spectacularly. It is well directed, it doesn?t overuse shakycam like most films do and it looks great and exciting (lens flare included). I can?t say I expected a parkour foot race through San Francisco to be in a Star Trek movie, but it worked in the context of the movie. Like I said, these new Star Trek movies are more reminiscent of Star Wars than Star Trek.
The character development that was a strength in the first film is another strength in this one. The film further fleshes out how Spock balances his human emotions, with his Vulcan logic. The anxiety that Kirk had about becoming captain wasn?t tied up in the first film, but it comes full circle in this one. Kirk learns what it truly means to keep your ship and shipmates safe in a tear-jerking scene. Zoe Saldana as Uhura is great, and she chews up the scenery the same way she did in the first film and the same for Karl Urban?s Leonard McCoy who puts in quite a few funny lines. I feel Benedict Cumberbatch is going to be typecast as his Sherlock Holmes character, as Harrison really gives of the cold, calculating vibe. Don?t get me wrong, Cumberbatch is great in the film, I?m just pointing out that his character is just Sherlock in the future and he got bored with solving cases. Alice Eve?s character is there. She wasn?t bad, she did what she needed to do, but nothing amazing (except for one scene that was blatantly only around to be in the trailers, but I?m satisfied nonetheless). Peter Weller as Admiral Marcus was just great. The performance was okay, but Marcus? contributions the story is what I just loved, making the story just more epic in scale. Expect a Klingon appearance in the film. I feel the Klingon?s as a threat were underutilized, but maybe they are saving those intergalactic warmongers for a sequel.
Star Trek Into Darkness is the best film I?ve seen come out to theaters in a long time, and further proof that Star Wars is in the write hands. If J.J. Abrams can make a script like Trek ?09 into a good film, and Into Darkness a great film (props to Orci, Kurtzman and Damon Lindeloff for making a really good story this time) I am excited to see where he will take Star Wars. Into Darkness offers something for everybody to enjoy and is a summer staple that everyone should go and see.
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