The Dork Knight’s Star Trek Into Darkness Review

Star Trek Into Darkness Review

Star Trek Into Darkness does a wonderful job of focusing on the relationships between the characters much like the original Gene Roddenberry show and, in my opinion, has done the best job of any of the subsequent series at capturing the spirit of the original Star Trek. Even small exchanges, like the one between Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy (Karl Urban) and Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu (John Cho) on the bridge after Sulu contacts John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch) for the first time and Bones expresses his respect for Sulu or when Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) tells Ensign Chekov (Anton Yelchin) to put on a red shirt, reminded me of all the character relationships I loved so much in TOS (that’s short hand for Star Trek The Original Series). Chief Engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott (Simon Pegg) has much more screen time in this film and shares several wonderful scenes with Captain Kirk. One very enjoyable scene with Scotty has him drinking in a bar when Captain Kirk calls him; it’s just great.

It’s not quite clear how long after the events of 2009’s Star Trek this takes place, but it has been long enough for Kirk to become quite the pain in Admiral Pike’s (Bruce Greenwood) ass while displaying to the top brass at Starfleet, like Admiral Alex Marcus (Peter Weller), that he’s not quite ready to be a Starship Captain after all through his blatant disregard for the rules and his reckless behavior. I really enjoyed the father/son relationship between Kirk and Pike and the character development that takes place at the beginning of the movie. I’ve been asked to keep the review on this site spoiler free, so I’ll just say that all the doubts I had about Chris Pine’s interpretation of Kirk are gone after this movie. Fueled by Pike’s belief in him, Kirk goes from a brash, reckless cowboy with a sense of entitlement to a captain who “respects the chair” and faces death bravely instead of cheating it at every chance he gets and Chris Pine plays the part wonderfully. There are two scenes especially that he’s extremely wonderful in and I swear I thought I’d never say that about him.

I also enjoyed Zachary Quinto‘s interpretation of Spock more this time around. The progression of the Spock character in this parallel universe is one I enjoy watching in Star Trek Into Darkness. There’s a scene near the end where Spock releases a scream that Shatner should approve of and loses control of his emotions. It could have easily come off as comical, but Quinto pulls it off. I also enjoyed watching the progression of Spock’s relationship with Lieutenant Nyota Uhura (Zoe Saldana). In 2009’s Star Trek their relationship was too “lovey-dovey” for me. This time around their relationship explores the strains that come along with one-half of the couple being someone who suppresses and hides their emotions and what that type of behavior would do to the other half. In fact, there’s a scene where Uhura and Spock have a lovers’ quarrel that Uhura drags Kirk into and it’s extremely entertaining to watch.

On top of all of the great character interactions was the action and Star Trek Into Darkness has plenty of action. Benedict Cumberbatch does a great job as the movie’s main antagonist, John Harrison, and at one point in the movie he actually had me feeling sympathy for the character as he explained his motivations to Kirk. Of course, I would later feel guilty over being played a fool when Harrison’s ripping people’s heads off and unleashing hell on the Enterprise with a really BIG damn ship (even though from movie posters and trailers alone I should have known better).

As of this moment, I’ve already seen this movie twice because it’s that good. Star Trek Into Darkness is the best Star Trek movie I’ve ever seen and it is easily the best movie of this summer so far (sorry Iron Man 3 fans). I was fortunate enough to see the 3D press screening on Wednesday and I just had to see it in IMAX 3D so I took my Number One to see it at the Brenden Theaters IMAX at the Palms here in Las Vegas Thursday night and I am so glad I did. If you can see this movie in IMAX 3D, do yourself a favor and see it in IMAX 3D.

In between viewings I stopped by Cosmic Comics to pick up the official prequel trade, Countdown to Darkness, and enjoyed a quick read that gave me some insight to Spock’s mindset and the type of company that Alex Marcus keeps. It’s not essential reading for the mainstream fan, but fans of the Star Trek franchise should give it a read. It’s also kind of cool how in the movie Sulu references an event (the Mudd  incident) that took place in the comic book prequel. If you’re in the Las Vegas area, you can pick a copy up at Cosmic Comics for $17.99 (pull box members get 20% off).

Before seeing Star Trek Into Darkness, my all-time favorite Star Trek flick was Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, which thanks to AMC Town Square 18 and MaximuM Comics I got to see on the big screen a couple of Saturdays ago. I say “was” because Star Trek Into Darkness is now officially my all-time favorite Star Trek movie. In 2009’s Star Trek, the stage had to be set as far as “How does this crew end up together earlier than the original timeline?” and “How does Kirk become the captain of the Enterprise so young?”; it had the burden of an “origin story” and Star Trek Into Darkness does not. In fact, Star Trek Into Darkness starts out with the crew of the Enterprise in the middle of an away mission on the planet of Nibiru and in typical classic Star Trek fashion, pretty much all of the senior staff is on the away mission for some reason.

For fans of the original Star Trek, the ending of Star Trek Into Darkness has all of the action and emotion of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, but then after the emotional ride comes even more action. It was like everything I felt from watching Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, but in one movie with modern day kick ass effects and action. For new fans of Star Trek, this movie is a worthy sequel as it is far superior to its predecessor in both story and action. Enjoy the latest trailer below then do yourself a solid and go see Star Trek Into Darkness! (Preferably in IMAX 3D if you can.)

Movie Description from Paramount:

“In Summer 2013, pioneering director J.J. Abrams will deliver an explosive action thriller that takes Star Trek Into Darkness. When the crew of the Enterprise is called back home, they find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization has detonated the fleet and everything it stands for, leaving our world in a state of crisis. With a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction. As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.”

Star Trek Into Darkness, directed by J.J. Abrams, is in theaters now and stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Bruce Greenwood, Peter Weller, Alice Eve, and Benedict Cumberbatch.

This review is from my original personal blog post at:

http://www.postmodernmoron.com/entertainment/movies/star-trek-into-darkness-review/

Don’t forget to head over to Cosmic Comics in Las Vegas and #getyourfix for Star Trek: Countdown to Darkness and all of your comic book needs!