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Posted by on May 20, 2013 in Movies, Pat Wong | 0 comments

Star Trek Into Darkness Movie Review

76251355166072-hh-27766r-2I have always been a Star Wars fan (they had me when Luke Skywalker pulled out a lightsaber) rather than a Star Trek fan so I am not a Trekkie that has extensive knowledge of the series. While it may have been due to high expectations set from rave reviews about J.J. Abrham’s first Star Trek movie, I thought it was overrated when I saw it.  As such, I did not have too many expectations for Into the Darkness. The trailers looked good and my coworkers wanted to go see it so I went to see the movie in IMAX 3D. I am pleasantly surprised to say that I loved this movie and it is a great movie regardless if you are a science fiction or Star Trek fan.

The one thing I really liked about the first film was the cast. That cast returns and makes some key additions. Chris Pine returns as the iconic James Tiberius Kirk. Pine is excellent again as the cocky, bold, and womanizing captain. While those characteristics would normally make someone seen as selfish and narcissistic, Kirk is a great leader as his substance is a man of conviction and compassion despite what his exterior may appear. His crew respects him for his true character and knows that Kirk will do anything for them. Zachary Quinto also returns as Kirk’s legendary first officer Spock. While it is tough to imagine someone topping Leonard Nimoy as Spock, Quinto does an honorable job playing the logical and almost always emotionless Vulcan. When Quinto does show emotion, it is very powerful and adds a lot to the film. In addition, the film brings back a strong supporting ensemble to play the famous crew of the USS Enterprise: Zoe Saldana as Lieutenant Nyota Uhara, Karl Urban as Dr. Leonard McCoy, Simon Pegg as Montgomery “Scotty” Scott, John Cho as Hikaru Sulu, and Anton Yelchin as Ensign Pavel Chekov. The main reasons I did not love the first film was I thought the villain, Eric Bana’s Nero, was very cheesy. Into the Darkness does not have this problem. Benedict Cumbertach is brilliant as the main antagonist, Commander John Harrison, who is later revealed to be a legendary Star Trek villain. Cumbertach’s character is charismatic, brilliant, cunning, and intriguing. His performance is so compelling that you will need a significant part of the movie to decide whether he is truly a villain or being used by Starfleet and actually a victim.

The film begins on a red planet with disguised Captain Kirk and Dr. McCoy running from a village of indigenous, primitive people. As we quickly learn, the planet has an active volcano that is about to explode. If it explodes, it will wipe out the entire planet and the entire population. Kirk stole a religious scroll so that the indigenous people would chase him and move away from the volcano so Spock can be dropped into the volcano with his cold fusion device to render the volcano inert and save the planet from certain destruction. During the operation, Spock successfully sets up the device but is stranded in the volcano as he gets disconnected from the shuttle that dropped him in and it was forced to return to the ship after the volcano became more unstable. As such, the only way to save Spock will be for the USS Enterprise to come out of hiding and get a direct line of sight in order to beam Spock to safety. However, Starfleet protocol mandates that Kirk and his crew simply observe the indigenous civilization and in no way directly interact or interfere with its development. As such, revealing the ship to the indigenous people would be in direct violation of protocol. In reality, stopping the eruption of the volcano and saving the planet is a violation in itself. For this reason, Spock asks the Captain to let him die to avoid breaking any rules. As one of his lines to Kirk, Spock’s speaks some famous words: “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few”. Of course, Kirk is not Spock and has the ship save Spock. While Spock is shocked that Kirk would reveal the ship to save him, Kirk quickly responds “Who cares if they saw us?” As the ship flies away, the indigenous people of the planet draw a picture of the USS Enterprise in the sand. It may be an explanation for some of the hieroglyphics the Mayans, Aztecs, or Egyptians left behind and is the exact reason why Starfleet has its protocol.

Back on Earth, Kirk and Spock are called into Admiral Christopher Pike’s office. As a reminder, Pike (Bruce Greenwood) is the former Captain of the USS Enterprise before Kirk took the helm. He personally recruited Kirk to Starfleet and is a father figure and mentor to Kirk. Kirk thinks the meeting is for an assignment to go into deep space for 5 years. However, the meeting is because Spock files a report of the incident at the beginning of the film. As a Vulcan, Spock is unable to lie and is compulsively compelled to follow protocol to the letter of the law at all times. Even though Kirk broke the rules to save his life and Spock has gratitude for the decision, he feels they should still take responsibility for their actions. The scene between Pike and Kirk is one of the better scenes in the movie. Pike lectures Kirk about responsibility and criticizes Kirk for thinking he can bend and break rules simply because he does not agree with them. Like a rebellious teenager, Kirk argues and notes that he has yet to lose a single member of his crew. As a wise father figure, Pike points out that Kirk foolishly justifies his ridiculous decisions because of blind luck. Kirk finally understands and starts to learn from his mistakes only after Pike communicates the harsh punishment laid down by Starfleet leadership. Of course, seeing Kirk as a son, Pike finds a way to save Kirk’s career since Kirk learned a valuable lesson and Pike still believes there is greatness in Kirk.

I loved that scene for the following reasons. First, it shows the clear difference between Kirk and Spock. Kirk always tries to bend and break the rules because he is a maverick that thinks he is above the rules if he believes the rules are wrong. Spock is always logical and a slave to the rules. They are both on the opposite ends of the spectrum. As such, it also shows us why their relationship works. They have a symbiotic relationship as Kirk’s weaknesses are Spock’s strengths and vice versa. J.J. Abrahms does an excellent job of sticking to this theme throughout the entire movie as there will be times Spock needs to be like Kirk and other times where Kirk needs to act like Spock. Of course, the conversations and dialogues between Pike and Kirk are always great and have been some of my most favorite parts of both movies.

Also after the opening scene, the movie cuts to London where a Starfleet employee wakes up next to his wife. Next, they go visit his daughter who is terminally ill and has no hope of survival. In this moment, we are introduced to Benedict Cumbertach’s character, Commander John Harrison. He tells the Starfleet employee that he can save his daughter. As her father, he will do anything for her and obviously agrees to whatever term’s Harrison has. After his daughter is saved, the Starfleet employee goes to a Starfleet archive center in London and blows it up as were Harrison’s terms. The scene shows how diabolical Harrison is and he does not disappoint as a character the rest of the movie. The bombing triggers an emergency meeting of senior Starfleet leadership, including admirals and Captains. Admiral Alexander Marcus (Peter Weller) leads the meeting and explains that former Commander John Harrison is responsible for the attack. He has called the meeting as everyone in the room is critical in creating a perimeter in space during the manhunt so Harrison cannot flee Federation space. Just as Kirk deduces that the bombing of an archive center is a ploy to really get the leadership together in one room and states such to leadership, Harrison attacks the meeting. Although Kirk survives the attack and acts heroically in fighting Harrison off, Harrison causes significant casualties and flees. Obviously, Captain James Tiberius Kirk will not let this outrage stand.

Kirk’s crew sorts through the wreckage from the attack and figures out which planet Harrison fled to. As it is a planet of a hostile empire and incursion into its space could trigger a war, Kirk has to get permission from Admiral Marcus to pursue. Marcus grants Kirk permission. However, he only gives him a little information of the real purpose of the archive center that was attacked but equips the USS Enterprise with some classified, high tech weaponry. As Kirk and his crew embark on the mission, they are joined by a new crewmember, Carol Wallace (Alice Eve), who is a science officer who specializes in advanced weaponry.  As Captain, should Kirk ask questions like why he needs someone that serves a similar function as Spock or whether she has proper clearance? Perhaps. As you can imagine, if you have seen a glimpse of Alice Eve in her underwear in the trailer, Kirk is obviously distracted and not to be bothered with such trivial technicalities. The movie goes on to reveal the true identities of Carol Wallace and John Harriso, the real purpose the archive center that was attacked, and the nature of the advanced weaponry Kirk was given by Admiral Marcus.

The film does not have an over the top or big battle scene nor does it need one as the character development, dialogue, and plot twists and climax are superb. I saw it in IMAX 3D and you felt like you were in the battle as the phaser fire and projectiles during battles looked like they were flying at you. The film also includes one of the better cameos I have seen in the movie as Leonard Nimoy returns as the elder Spock, who travelled back in time in the first movie. As a reminder, the elder Spock made a vow to never reveal anything to the younger Spock about his travels as to not affect his destiny. However, there may be situation or person so signifiicant that could compel the elder Spock to say a few words.

Star Trek Into Darkness is a completely satisfying summer blockbuster and I highly recommend it. I hope J.J. Abrahms does as good of a job with the Star Wars sequel trilogy (Episode VII is set for 2015).

Up next? Man of Steel. June 14. What do you have to top Star Trek?

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