Before “Star Trek” I was a Star Wars fan. It’s not that the previous films or shows were bad, it’s just that watching another large-scale space opera felt like a huge commitment. All I knew about Star Trek was that there was Kirk, a starship, and an alien with pointy ears named Spock. But when I heard that J.J. Abrams – director of the latest Star Wars trilogy – did a Star Trek reboot, I was interested to see if it did better. While Star Trek Into Darkness is definitely a refreshing and visually stunning film to see, it’s sad to say I’m still a Star Wars fan.
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The Movie Review
When the USS Enterprise crew returns home, they find that an evil force hidden within their organization has exploded the fleet and everything it represents, putting our world in danger.
Captain Kirk heads deep into a Galactic war-zone world to catch a one-man weapon of mass destruction, one of the most formidable villains in Star Trek history; Khan. Love will be tested, friendships will be shattered, and sacrifices will be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew. Witness our space heroes be catapulted into an epic chess game of life and death.
Director J.J. Abrams returns to the canon despite stating in the 2009 reboot that he planned to go in a different direction. While he is a fanboy himself, Abrams has been notorious for being a devil’s advocate for fanboys. Rebooting the Star Trek universe seems ambitious, and Abrams blowing up the planet Vulcan signified this change.
But halfway through, you realize Into Darkness is just a rehashing of the old Trek tales, motifs, and catchphrases in an effort to pay homage to the originals.
Visually, however, this movie is breathtaking. The special effects left me in awe, they were realistic enough not to take me away from the experience. This film is also well-shot, with atmospheric lighting and moody cinematography. Michael Giacchino once again composes a fantastic score,
I don’t remember ever being disappointed by him. While it does sound familiar, it perfectly suits the film and its tone. It’s a great soundtrack and I found myself listening to it again afterwards.
Actors like Karl Urban and Simon Pegg never fail to deliver when given strong lines to say and emotional things to do in a scene, while Benedict Cumberbatch is an incredibly intense villain even better than Ricardo Montalbán).
There’s no arguing that Into Darkness has great action, it delivers a succession of quick-paced action scenes, from space battles to fistfights, providing a great deal of excitement, tension, and suspense.
Storywise, Star Trek Into Darkness does suffer a little. It was definitely enjoyable, with plenty of drama, thrills, and fast-paced action. However, it seemed as though the narrative didn’t quite end on a satisfactory note, and why they re-used a villain from a previous film was beyond me.
It would’ve been fine bringing Khan back if they did something new with him, but instead, it felt like he was unfrozen and went back to what he was chasing after. Even the amounts of plot twists this movie had didn’t change the fact that I could predict most of it.
The Bottom Line
In conclusion, Star Trek Into Darkness is incredibly beautiful with well-established characters. The film is worth seeing mainly because of Benedict Cumberbatch, but everyone else acted the hell out of their roles too. Great cinematography, and of course there are Abrams’ signature lens flares.
The only issue are the inconsistencies in a sense where the romance feels shoe-horned into the story or stuff that goes unexplored. Still, that didn’t stop me from enjoying this movie, and it probably wouldn’t stop Trekkies from enjoying this visual treat.
