Since his first take on the Star Trek franchise came out in 2009, JJ Abrams has been busy continuing his rise to sci-fi royalty. But with the release of Star Trek: Into Darkness, the world has seen Captain Kirk and co. complete an improbable transformation into one of the coolest crews around. If you compare the audience for this latest film to those who frequented the franchise’s previous fare, you would realize what an accomplishment this is. Into Darkness has the crew of the USS Enterprise tracking a mysterious terrorist, John Harrison, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, after a Starfleet location is bombed.
With an intriguing villain, it was expected that some of the substantial crew would have to take a back seat in screen time. Surprisingly, that isn’t the case. Kirk, (Chris Pine) Spock, (Zachary Quinto) and the villain share lead duties and the rest of the crew each gets at least one moment in the spotlight. Bones (Karl Urban) and Scotty (Simon Pegg) stand out with their effective comic relief. In terms of performances, most of the characters are flat so we don’t get too much in terms of standout development. The leads however do very well. Pine and Quinto excel and show great comfort with their characters. Cumberbatch however, absolutely steals the show. His character is so hard to pin down as he changes from scene to scene. The delivery is epic without ever crossing the line into cheesy. The only thing better than how the character is written is how the actor presents him. It’s a Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight caliber performance.
The story for Star Trek: Into Darkness is an exciting one. There’s action at every turn that takes place in different expansive settings. It proves to be a very enjoyable summer movie. I, for one, am not a fan of the use of Leonard Nimoy as Spock Prime in the previous film to both separate and connect these films to the previous incarnation of Star Trek. Well the character turns up again and it’s unnecessary. That campy moment added up with the lengthy ordeal around a broken Enterprise that sees countless red-shirted crew members die brutally as everyone we know is strapped safely into their seats, causes some eye rolling. But at the end of the day if you can’t grin during a Star Trek movie then it doesn’t fit the bill.
Each film earns either zero, a half or a full arrow in five categories. The categories are Acting, Writing/Directing, Emotion, Innovation and Overall Impression. The arrows are added up to equal the full score.
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