Reboots of old franchises tend to be either hit or miss in the film industry. The recent Star Trek films attempts to be apart of the former rather than the latter.
Picking up sometime after the first reboot film, Into Darkness once again follows the adventures of the young USS Enterprise crew.
When Starfleet’s headquarters on Earth is attacked, Admiral Marcus tasks Kirk and the Enterprise with eliminating the perpetrator John Harrison. They pursue Harrison to the Klingon homeworld, where he strangely surrenders after a brief engagement. Onboard the Enterprise, Kirk and the crew soon discover that Harrison is a major threat to them and the Federation.
Into Darkness’s strengths come from its action set pieces and the performances of the cast.
Director J.J. Abrams creates multiple awe inspiring action scenes, such as the fight sequence where Harrison takes on an entire Klingon battalion without breaking a sweat, or when Kirk and Harrison navigate through a space debris field with jet booster suits.
The film’s best acting come from Zachary Quinto as the always “logical” Vulcan Spock and Karl Urban as the metaphor spouting Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy. Chris Pine does a decent job of portraying a cocky, yet resourceful Captain Kirk. Zoe Saldana plays bright and sexy Nyota Uhura. Simon Pegg gives an excellent portrayal of the snarky and loveable engineering officer, Scotty. And Benedict Cumberbatch gives a menacing, yet oddly sympathetic portrayal of John Harrison.
Into Darkness is a bit weak, however, in the writing department. While the first half of the film is visually dazzling and has some nice build up, writers Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof turn the second half into a retread of the events from the popular 1982 film, Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan. The second half isn’t bad per say, but once the film takes this abrupt directional change it isn’t able to stand on its own as a separate movie.
The special effects and visuals, while incredibly beautiful, are hampered by the constant barrage of everyone’s favorite lens flares.
Star Trek: Into Darkness is a fun and spectacular looking film, with some good acting and well-written dialogue and humor.
3 out 5 stars
