Star Trek: Into Darkness

By Zach Goodier

This movie is J. J. Abrams' sequel to the successful 2009 remake.  With the new, altered timeline, the possibility now exists for the retelling of classic Star Trek stories, with a new spin that is allotted by the change in the classic Star Trek timeline.  This all makes sense, but it does come with risk.  While there is a lot here to please fans, especially if they enjoyed the previous installment, it is action-oriented, so it loses some of the classic "Star Trek" feeling.  But that is no excuse to not go out and give this movie a chance, because regardless of whether or not you are die hard Trek-fan, or just the casual sci-fi/action junkie, you will find a lot here to enjoy.

The antagonist, "John Harrison," though you'll know him by a more familiar name later on in the film.

Well, this is a tough one to get into, namely because of the spoilers.  Needless to say, Kirk and the crew are back, and they're on another adventure.  John Harrison is the villain this time around, although you may find that once he drops this alias you have the greatest nerdgasm of all time.  However, the follow-up may not be as in-depth and cerebral as you would like.  However, this isn't a fault of the actors, it's a writing decision.  The old Trek films were based directly on the show and its characters, allowing for more depth in the story.  This film feeds off of the established lore, and just focuses on the CGI/action sequences.  While the action is really good, I would be willing to bet that the vast majority of Trekies who have an issue with this film will definitely find fault with the lack of depth to the story.

Scotty is still hilarious in this movie, and his role is expanded in this film.

That being said, there are plenty of little moments that link back to the classic films that make your inner nerd jump for joy like it's Christmas.  While I won't get into spoilers about details, let's just say Abrams and his writers did a great job of working the whole "altered timeline" into the classic conflict, bringing scenes that mirror the classic film perfectly, yet change some of the key details.  This is one of the things that this film did well, and made me want to shed a tear or two when it got near the end.  The story definitely does a good job of paying homage to the classic, while still adding its own take on events through the timeline shift.

The characters are all fairly well portrayed.  Kirk has a lot more emotional depth, feeling a little more focused, but still very headstrong and reckless.  Spock fills his roll nicely as well, giving new life to the classic "emotion vs logic" conflict that the classic version conveyed so well.  However, like the story, you can't really help but feel that these characters are still not quite what you would hope they would be.... THEY'RE GOOD.... But you can never truly replace a classic.  The character that keeps you on your toes is Harrison, obviously.  As a villain, it is tough to pin him down throughout the first half of the movie, and the Federation is seemingly just as confused by his actions; however, once you get into the middle parts of the movie, his true nature will soon become apparent, and a brief appearance by Leonard Nimoy as the "Old Spock" will catch you up to speed if you aren't familiar with the classic lore, or simply need a quick refresher.

Surely now that he's in a cell we're all safe..... right?.... RIGHT!?!?!

Let me take a second to revisit Harrison.  He is revealed as the antagonist early on, and Benedict Cumberbatch does a phenomenal job of bringing the character to life, and creating a dark, yet charismatic and believable presence of the screen that gives an interesting reincarnation to an old Trek character.  His acting in this film was great, and my only criticism is that he was underutilized.  I wished there was more of him on the screen, but that is simply a testament to just how well he did in his role. 

Federation star-ships now come with submersible feature, like I needed any more reason to want one.

What about Sulu? and the other crew members you like?  Most of the Enterprise crew seems to take a backseat this time around, with Scotty being the only member of the crew aside from Kirk and Spock to get a solid chunk of screen time.  Everyone appears, but aside from a couple of brief scenes to show they still exist, you don't see a lot of them.  However, if you were to look at the movie as a whole, you quickly realize that what seems like at least 60% of all the footage is just CGI work.  This is where one of my biggest peeves in this movie lies

 

I know size isn't EVERYTHING, but I have to say... It does mean a lot.

In short, Into Darkness is a fun thrill ride that is loaded with all the humor and great visuals that we come to expect from Abrams; however, this movie starts to lose its strength when analyzed on a more cerebral and intricate fashion.  Star Trek was founded on low-budget, yet emotionally and intellectually gripping stories and characters.  While some of that is captured here in particular scenes, it is really a fragment of what made the franchise great.   However, this is still a very fun movie that was a great take on a classic conflict in the universe. While it won't replace the classics, it still has a great deal to offer you, and I enjoyed every step of the ride, although I would have liked to see more done with the characters, this is still a worthy addition to the franchise, even if it seems a little dumbed down overall.

Good:

-Outstanding visuals.

-Solid follow-up to the 2009 film.

-Villain is very well portrayed.

-Lot of little (and not so little) tributes to the classic film this takes after.

Bad:

-Overinvests in the visual component, sacrifices some of the story.

-As one might expect, the remake doesn't actually remake what made the original outstanding.

Scully Rating: 9.0 out of 10