Star Trek: Into Darkness.
When
it comes to the ancient and honored Civil War of Geekdom, I’m afraid
that my flag is firmly planted in the Star Wars camp. That’s not to take
anything away from Trekkies or the object of their cult-like adherence
to Starfleet, but rather as an explanation of where I stand in the
eternal debate. I enjoy Star Trek, I think it’s a well worthy
science-fiction series with memorable characters and it deserves the
fandom it has. But it’s just a fun series of movies for me. It was a
decent television series that I would watch on occasion, never with any
sort of regular devotion that I reserve for a few other projects in
existence. I’m not as versed as some with the subtle nuances and
scattered trivia. I’m simply not as attached to the series as I would be
to the Jedi or Luke Skywalker. I can complain for hours about how Han
shot first, but I really don’t care about the difference between
Romulans and Klingons. So I’m not heavily invested in the success or
failure of the Star Trek series on the whole, which may be one of the
reasons I really enjoyed the reboot.
I’ve
seen what J.J. Abrams is capable of with recreating the franchise and
doing so from what is basically ‘scratch’… he reset a number of
characters, he dashed known “Trek” history out the window, and he
created a brand new series out of the franchise with familiar and yet
vastly different characters. We do get a number of the stereotypical
moments with Spock, Kirk, and McCoy and the interaction between the
three we come to expect. On the other hand, the characters have new
histories, backgrounds, and motivations to propel the plot and Starfleet
in an entirely new direction. People are happy with a few of the
changes, but some fans are up in arms over a number of issues. Fair
enough.
Okay, I
geeked out a bit when I saw “Mickey” from Doctor Who take on a small
role in the very beginning of the film. It wasn’t really much of an
impact other than to start the plot moving forward and introduce us to
the character played by Benedict Cumberbatch. The star of BBC’s
“Sherlock” arrives in full force as the movies’ primary villain, a
former Starfleet operative whose identity is a tightly held secret that
fans of the series will thrill to discover. When he flees to Klingon
space after having attacked a number of Starfleet targets (leaving a
number of higher ranked officers dead or wounded), Kirk and the
Enterprise are tasked with a secret mission to bomb the heck out of the
Operative. The results will more than likely spark a war with the
Klingon Empire, so Kirk ultimately decides to forego vengeance and
attempts to capture the Terrorist instead.
The
plot plays more like a Mission Impossible sort of film, with spies and
intrigue and heavy action pieces all thrown into space. It doesn’t
really feel like a Star Trek movie when it comes down to it, and that’s
not necessarily a negative thing. Loyalties are questioned, Starfleet’s
“prime directive” comes into play, and questioning when it’s alright to
“break the rules” is a constant theme throughout the film. Chris Pine
and Zachary Quinto continue to drive the film as Kirk and Spock, their
chemistry works quite well and we see how the two continue to effect one
another.
4.5 out of 5.
Highly recommended.
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