In the interest of full disclosure, you should all know that I am not, nor have I ever been a Star Trek fan. I have maybe seen 4 of 5 episodes of the various incarnations on television, and I have seen one of the original movies and of course the updated Star Trek movie from four years ago. I am. however, a massive J.J Abrams fan. He plays fast and loose and his eye for the pacing of a story is AWESOME. If you do not believe me, go watch Mission Impossible 3. That movie moves at break neck speeds all while having an emotional core and substantially high stakes. On television Abrams is a risk taker with grand ideas, lofty goals and bumpy follow through. On the big screen, the guy is absolutely polarizing. People whine about his lens flares ad nauseam, and in Super 8, people complained about a whole host of things, while other people (including me) reveled in the nostalgia. One thing I think he does very well is work with groups. He understands the group actor dynamic. That is what made the first Star Trek so much fun. It was not only perfectly cast, the cast worked perfectly with each other. It made for a fun thrilling summer blockbuster. The inherent problem with a sequel is that the expectations get higher. If you recall, the villain in the first movie destroyed ENTIRE PLANETS!! How do you top that? Honestly, it becomes nearly impossible, so instead of shoveling another movie on us quickly to cash in on the sudden rebirth of Star Trek popularity, they waited 4 years to hash out a story, and deliver a screenplay and film worthy of the big screen. Here comes problem number 2: When you wait so long for something, you expect it to deliver BIG TIME. Why did they take so long if they were not going to hit it out of the park These were the questions in my mind as I sat down to watch a film I had heard great things about, but also had a friend whose movie opinion matter a great deal to me that it was the worst movie he had seen all year.Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) and the crew of the Starship Enterprise are on a mission to save an entire civilization from sure destruction at the hands of a very active volcano, when things start to go very wrong. The entire mission is wrong. They are supposed to observe, not interfere, but Kirk just cannot help himself. Spock (Zachary Quinto) believes he has to sacrifice himself for the mission to be a success, but Kirk does not believe in leaving a man behind, and when it is all said and done, everyone is safe. That is, until they get back to basecamp and Spock's report tells the truth Kirk left out. Kirk loses the ship, and Spock is to be reassigned. Before any of that can happen though, The Starfleet is hit where they live and Kirk's mentor, Pike is killed by a one man wrecking crew. Back as the captain of the Enterprise, Kirk and his crew chase this unknown assailant into Klingon territory and after a brutal fight, this mysterious man (Benedict Cumberbatch) appears to be super human. He is smarter than everyone, a better soldier, can take punches without blinking and has a severe coldness to him. Once aboard the Enterprise, we learn this man's name is Kahn and he is a genetically created thing that the Government created to help them plan wars, or something like that. To be honest, it was not too clear to me, and if I was a Star Trek guy, this might have made more sense. Before they can head back to London, Kirk's ship is ambushed by Marcus (Peter Weller) is who the leader of the Starfleet and wants Kahn dead and he wants Kahn's entire race destroyed. Kirk was supposed to unload 37 missiles at Kahn, and inside those missiles were Kahn;s entire race of super humans. This is why Kahn went on a murderous rampage. He just wanted his family back.
if my synopsis led you to believe I did not like this film, it is understandable. From a story stand point, the further I get from the film, it kind of sucks. Kahn does not make a great super villain and at the end of the third act, he spirals from being a level headed super human into a raging lunatic. Cumberbatch is engaging in the role, and Kahn looks like he is going to be a worthy adversary when the film gets moving and the fight with the Klingons show him to be a kick ass warrior, but once he allows himself to be caught, he loses momentum as a villain. Kirk's arc is too similar to the first movie, but Spock is what drives this film. Quinto's Spock drives this franchise right now and I think it would be wise to let him be the emotional core of the series because he struggles with his emotions. Kirk is all emotion and swagger, which is fun, but Spock is where the depth is. I find that the decisions made when Kirk is in the heat of the moment and Spock is at the helm are the most exhilarating moments in the film. The story is strung together, but the stakes were never high enough until the emotionally manipulative moment towards the end of the film that could have worked as a severely devastating moment if they had not copped out of it.
That being said, I kind of loved the movie. The opening scene is a tight rope stunt of an action sequence with Kirk and Sulu being chased by natives, while a little pod nearly gets burned, then the Enterprise has to make a last second escape, all in the span of five thrilling minutes. Anton Yelchin, John Cho, and Simon Pegg all do great work as the supporting staff of the Enterprise, yet again. Karl Urban is my favorite comic relief character and I will never tire of him uttering the "Damnit Jim, I'm a doctor not a ...." catchphrase. His oafishness, mixed with his clear lack of a sense of danger make him a fun foil for Kirk. They also are competing for the affection of the completely sexy Carol (Alice Eve) and it makes for some fun flirty and awkward moments for Urban's doctor. These actors all have wonderful chemistry together and they make the action scenes feel even more alive, because of that. The stakes may not be high, but we like them, so we care about them and want them all to be alive and well. This movie lives in the action sequences. Kahn's short attack on the Starfleet's commanders is dazzling. The sound editing is crisp, the score is heroic, and blood pumping and Abrams packs each action sequence so tightly that you are always waiting for everything to just erupt into pure chaos, but he has such control over them that they never get away from him. The Klingon fight is all sorts of awesome, and gives us more hand to hand combat than I remember in the previous film and the climatic action sequence may end in a stupid way, but up until that point, I totally loved it. That is not even including the dazzling, breath taking spaceship chase. The action scenes, because it is a fun summer block buster, more than make up for the story weaknesses in my opinion.
My biggest complaint in the film is the complete lack of worth of the female characters. Zoe Saldana is a strong female presence on screen and all her Uhura does in this movie is worry. She worries about the lack of emotions her man shows, and that Kirk shows too much of it. She is a smart character who knows dozens of languages and is clearly useful, but they do nothing with her. Even Alice Eve's character, who is more useless, gets to at least, disarm a bomb. This is not about the objectification of women, because Eve's character is objectified in a moment so utterly stupid and pointless, the screen writer actually apologized for it. This is about showing women as strong independent characters who operate as more than just an emotional receptacle for the men. Saldana is capable of kicking so much ass and even though she is tiny, she is strong and demands your attention, so I wish they had used her better.
It is an imperfect film, but Star Trek into Darkness is a fun summer blockbuster. I probably will not remember much about it in years to come, but I did not think it was one of the worst movies of the year. Yet, I can understand why people out there hate it. As long as you hate it on the merits of the film and not just because you think Star Trek movies should be different, I am all for you having your opinion. I still think Abrams is a top notch Sci-fi genre director and his action pacing is worlds beyond 90% of the directors who try and direct action.
Final Grade: B (if I am being fair, I liked this movie way more coming out of the movie than I do a week or so later)
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