Star Trek Into Darkness

Star Trek Into Darkness, 2013, Action

Plot (taken from IMDB.com): After the crew of the Enterprise find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction.

Thoughts: I have never been accused of being a “Trekkie”, and while many details and character quirks go lost on me, many years of sitting around my mother as she watched The Next Generation (shoutout to Pat Stewart and Lavar Burton) I am not unaccustomed to the lore and some of the terminology. With that being said, I  found the sequel to JJ Abrams’s take on Star Trek in 2009 to be quite refreshing.

The opening scene thrusts you into a fast-paced environment and the movie really doesn’t let it go.  It was pretty much wall-to-wall action with about 20 of the 120 minutes being lull time. At a point, it does get a little tiresome seeing people in the face of danger after nearly escaping the previous trials. I actually think that much action really spread the weight of the emotion of the movie, so much so that the middle of act II felt like act I was wrapping up.

I enjoy how open ended this production leaves everything. There is so much more to be discovered and explored in this universe and we only just scratched the surface of some of Star Trek’s most popular life-forms.

Chris Pine and Zachary Qunito (who I will always refer to as Sylar) do an excellent job of balancing one another’s temperament while on screen. Spock wasn’t as obnoxious this go around and Kirk really settled into his role as a leader. At times, however, it did seem like this movie was headed into the “bromance” genre. There was minimal  exploitation of romantic relationships in this movie, so I guess the writers decided to ramp up the phileo love between Spock and Kirk (which was sweet, yet still, a little over done).

On a similar note, I was disappointed in the way Uhura, played by the crowned queen of Sci-Fi Zoe Saldana, was used in the film. Most of her screen time was spent being cold to Spock. The writers really botched the opportunity to have a strong female lead by instr opting, instead, to have her say snappy lines with little depth.

Benedict Cumberbatch (try saying that three times fast) was awesome as the (primary) antagonist of the film. His speech patterns and intonations added a quirk to his character that made him feel real. I can’t wait to see what that guy has coming up next.

Wait…didn’t they try this with Loki?

You will be hard-pressed to find better special effects in another film this summer. I also love the fact that Abrams chooses to use make-up rather than CGI on many of his characters, and as a result, this movie feels organic and natural (I appreciate the hardwork make-up artists do after watching the Syfy show Face Off).

Star Trek Into Darkness is a film about embracing your entire self. The messages and meaningful dialogue in this film put it on the upper-tier of sci-fi action movies; movies that go beyond “cool looking aliens and shiny lasers”.

At times, it felt like this movie was at warp speed.

Overall, this is a good summer movie and IMO a better film than The Avengers 2 Iron Man 3 (though I’m not saying don’t go see Iron Man 3). Filling the legend of a production as grand as the original Star Trek franchise can be overwhelming but I think all of the production team is really doing something that makes Trekkies excited while also adding to the fan-base. If you catch it I’m sure you’ll love it almost as JJ Abrams loves lens flares. Almost.
3.3/5