Movie Review: Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
Posted By Iain McNally on May 10, 2013
James T. Kirk may once again be captain on the bridge of the USS Enterprise, surrounded by “Bones”, Spock and the rest of the crew, but he is still a slightly different Kirk to the one we know. This Kirk has reached to his position through bravado, bluster and most of all luck; all traits that the “Shatner-Kirk” had in spades, however he was also tempered by being older through most of his screen adventures, a more stable childhood and the support of a father who was there to see him graduate.
It seems like the repercussions of Nero’s time travel shenanigans from the first film, may reverberate through the series for some time to come, and we may never see the exact same characters as we did in the original series and films. This would also, thankfully, provide the writers and directors with a rich vein of material for further sequels.
Who is John Harrison?
For those who have been following the development of the film, one question stands above all others: “Who is ‘John Harrison’, the character played by Benedict Cumberbatch?” You won’t find the answer here, but I will say that I found the resolution to be wholly satisfactory and unexpected, and there are plenty more surprises in store. Similar to this summer’s Iron Man 3, there are a number of secrets in the film that have so far managed to remain under wraps (and will hopefully remain so). So, if you are interested, I urge you to go and see the film as soon as you can.
Star Trek Into Darkness starts with an away mission to save the natives of a primitive planet, a great means of showing how the crew have grown into a cohesive unit. Athough, as Captain, Kirk bends (and breaks) quite a few Starfleet regulations to fulfil the mission and save a crewmate and friend. This comes back to bite him in a stern dressing down from Admiral Pike (Bruce Greenwood) and in an early bombshell, Kirk is stripped of his command and demoted to first officer. Before this can have too much of an effect, the mysterious John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch) declares war on Starfleet, Kirk regains his command and crew, and the race is on to bring Harrison to justice for his acts of aggression against Starfleet and find out what’s motivating his attacks.
There’s plenty of action to be found in Star Trek Into Darkness
From this point onwards director J.J. Abrams and writers Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof, mine the history of ‘Trek and remix what they find there to create a stirring adventure that takes well known elements from the old films and arranges them in new configurations that are just as entertaining as the first film in this new series was.
Eagle eyed Trekkers will spot references to Section 31, the NX-01 from Star Trek:Enterprise, Zephram Cochrane’s Phoenix and we even get some Klingons, a bird of prey or two, the Klingon homeworld Qo’noS (annoyingly spelt Kronos) and what might be a glimpse of the ruined moon of Praxis from Star Trek VI!
This remix approach to the Trek lore continues with the characters, as familiar names and situations like “Christine Chapel”, are littered throughout the movie, but with new twists and most of these work out very satisfactorily, including one case where an entire scene from one of the older movies is reused, albeit with a whole new spin. I personally loved this approach to reinventing the franchise and hope it continues for any further sequels.
That said, the film also features some amazing original action set pieces. This is still a rousing Star Trek adventure.
As the film focuses on Chris Pine’s Kirk learning “respect for the Chair”, Pine is still impresses as Kirk, paying homage to the cocky swagger of old whilst making the character his own. In fact in a “It’s gonna be OK, son” moment with Pike, Pine really shows why he got the role in the first place.
With the introductions all out of the way in the last film, the rest of the cast also get their time to shine, apart from Anton Yelchin’s Chekov, who bizarrely gets banished to the engine room and has little to do for most of the film.
Fascinating
As the other two points on the friendship at the heart of the old show, Zachary Quinto’s Spock and Karl Urban’s McCoy are solid in their roles, arguing with the Captain and each other (and getting into scrapes). Zoe Saldana also gets to get off the phone and get involved with the action as Uhura in a cool confrontation with Klingons. John Cho gets to sit in the chair as Captain Sulu at one point and after appearing in only half of the previous movie, Simon Pegg’s Scotty gets a lot more to do this time round, having an adventure of his own and even getting to go nose to nose with Kirk at one point.
DO NOT MESS WITH THIS WOMANN
In the supporting cast, Peter Weller also turns up as an admiral, delivering one of the funniest lines in the film, and Benedict Cumberbatch is as excellent here as he is in Sherlock.
Alice Eve’s Carol Marcus doesn’t get a whole lot to do, and we don’t really get to see enough of her to get to know her character well, although audiences outside Malaysia will get to see much more of her as there were some suggestive cuts in the version I saw. I noticed about three or four cuts in total in the local version, so hopefully I’ve not missed any major plot points.
The biggest star of the show by far is, of course, the NCC-1701 herself; the Starship Enterprise and J.J. Abrams positively makes love to her using his camera throughout the film, from a striking beauty shot at the title card, to a vision of her in clouds reminiscent of the shot rising through Titan with Saturn in the background from the prior film. I have to say though, I am NOT a fan of the Enterprise leaving trails of blue fairy dust behind whenever she goes to warp.
Michael Giacchino’s score is also a highlight of the film, with the return of the stirring updated theme as well as a number of fantastic mood pieces; the introduction of Noel Clarke’s character particularly stands out as it’s told almost completely though facial expression and music, with little or no dialogue.
“Ya cannae put that there!!!”
For those who are looking for it, there will be some minor niggles that may grate. I didn’t care for the brewery set used for the engine room in the 2009 film and that returns, this time however, it has been enhanced by a much more suitable warp core set, apparently from the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory).
Fans who detested the Enterprise being constructed on Earth, as opposed to in orbit, will probably hate that the Enterprise flies in atmosphere a few times, and there is a battle scene that looks to take place next door to the moon, where a crippled ship falls into Earth’s gravity well in seconds. As this served to enhance the drama, I let it slide, but I’m sure others will complain. In a few scenes, J.J. also seems to be prepping for his Star Wars directorial gig by equipping a many of the star fleet offices with suspiciously imperial looking caps.
As a fan of all things Trek, (I’ve sat though nearly it all, including Voyager and Enterprise) I found the film to be hugely entertaining and unexpected. Something that is starting to become a trend, what with this and the numerous secrets and delights in Iron Man 3. In fact, I liked it so much that I can’t wait to go see it again at a paid preview this weekend!
A NOTE ON 3D: I saw Star Trek Into Darkness in IMAX 3D and while it looked great on the huge IMAX screen, I have to say that I totally forgot that the movie was in 3D for the majority of the running time. Only when something occasionally flew out of the screen and startled me did I remember , so if you are trying to decide to catch it in 3D or wait until 3D comes available, I suggest going with the 2D. You won’t miss much.
Check out our other Star Trek Into Darkness Review:
Dave Howlett’s Review
Michelle Ealey’s Review
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