Director:
J.J. Abrams
Cast:
Chris Pine
Zachary Quinto
Zoe Saldana
Karl Urban
Simon Pegg
John Cho
Rated: PG-13
It boldly goes where other Star Trek films have gone before.
“Star Trek Into Darkness” is the sequel to the 2009 movie that served as a sort of reboot to the franchise going back to the original characters. The film, which takes place in a sort of separate reality than the original series, follows Captain James T. Kirk (Pine), who is now in command of the Enterprise. His reckless actions though cause him to get into some trouble with the higher ups in Star Fleet.
Kirk’s issues with the upper command is pushed aside though as a new threat arises to challenge Star Fleet. Because of this, Kirk, along with his crew consisting of Spock (Quinto), Uhura (Saldana), Leonard McCoy (Urban), Scotty (Pegg) and Sulu (Cho). Have to go after the individual raising the threat. However the villain behind this threat, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, turns out to be one of the most fierce adversaries that the Enterprise has to face.
The sequel to the 2009 flick is plotted out very well. Many of the things that go on are referenced and the story is fleshed out to the point where there isn’t much in terms of gaping plot holes. The film never feels bad or dull in terms of its story-telling.
The main problem “Star Trek Into Darkness” has is that it retreads over a lot of territory that has been shown before. There were so many moments in the film that felt like they were just redoing what was done in either the 2009 film or the older “Star Trek” movie “Wrath of Kahn.” In regards to “Wrath of Kahn,” there are moments where the film nearly stopped itself and winked at the camera to show what they were referencing.
As previously stated, the story is told well. J.J. Abrams is good at executing his plot lines in his work and it shows here. However, it would have been nice to see other ideas and the film be a bit more fresh. Instead, many of the scenes feel like I’ve watched them before.
The characters are still great here though. The 2009 film was very impressive with the cast fitting into their roles nicely and that continues here. The crew of the Enterprise from Kirk to Sulu are all well played by the performers. It’s also great to see the growth of the characters and the chemistry that is between the actors and actresses.
Because of spoilers, the villain’s identity won’t be revealed in this review. However, I’ll at least say that Benedict Cumberbatch did a fantastic job portraying a very threatening, diabolical and cunning villain. The twist where you find out who the villain really is works fine, but I don’t think they took it as far as they possibly could. The ending felt rather anti-climactic in the direction they went.
The special effects, for the most part, look great. There are some great shots and angles used to display the Enterprise and other space ships in all of their glory.
As summer blockbusters go, this is a really good flick. It is in a way similar to “Iron Man 3” in that it has flaws but still for the most part works. J.J. Abrams puts out a good product here, the film is well written, the cast is really fantastic and the movie looks really nice. It just would have been nice to watch the film and not feel like I’ve seen a lot of it before. Overall, this one is a high 3 out of 5.
Matthew Liedke on Film 