Star Trek Into Darkness

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
Directed by: J.J. (The Man) Abrams
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 87%

When I was a wee lad, I was first introduced to a Sci Fi franchise that would change my life forever. Never had I seen anything like it. The ships, the technology, the alien races, and the sexy costumes. After I was introduced to this franchise, I would compare everything else to it. That franchise is, of course, Star Wars.

I think that Zoe Saldana might be sexier than Carrie Fisher though...

Tough call...

Now that I have a healthy rage going with some of you I will explain why I have fallen in love with Star Trek, and why I think that Abrams' involvement with the next Star Wars films will bring nothing but incredibleness to a troubled franchise.

First things first, there has been a huge spoiler on line for quite some time now. I will advise you to redirect and come back to this review if you haven't seen the spoiler already. It's ok, I'll wait...ok? For those of you still with me, you already know that the secret surrounding Benedict Cumberbatch's character John Harrison has been a huge controversy. It was assumed that he would be playing everyone's favorite genetically modified super human, Khan Noonien Singh. However, these rumors were dispelled by Abrams, Simon Pegg (Scotty), Chris Pine (Kirk), and even Cumberbatch himself. It was finally revealed a few weeks ago that the villan in Star Trek Into Darkness is, indeed, Khan... Having chosen my nerd side at a young age when I picked Star Wars over Star Trek, I had never seen any of the shows or old movies. My head is full of Star Wars facts while the easiest bit of trivia about Star Trek escapes me. It wasn't until Abrams' reboot that I actually decided that I was able to spread my love equally between the franchises. I still haven't seen any of the movies or watched the shows, but I can appreciate them now at least. I say all this because the fact that Khan was being brought back into the franchise was a big problem for a lot of Trekkies. They geeked hard about the implications it would have for the franchise. I, personally, didn't care. I was just excited to get back to the Enterprise.

Into Darkness opens with Kirk and McCoy (Karl Urban) fleeing from a primitive people on a planet they are exploring. As the two dodge spears in a pink forest, we see Spock (Zachary Quinto) descend into a volcano in an effort to quell an inevitable eruption which would decimate the population in the area. As Spock is being lowered into the mouth of the volcano, the cable he is attached to snaps and he is dropped onto a small patch of solid rock. Sulu (John Cho), realizing he has no choice but to leave Spock there due to the extreme heat, retreats back to the Enterprise with Uhura (Zoe Saldana). With everyone back on board except Spock, Kirk orders that Scotty beam him back to the ship. He tells him that they can't do it from the distance they are at and that they'd need to have a line of sight in order to get him aboard. Spock accepts his fate and detonates the frost bomb in the volcano. As the timer ticks away, Kirk decides to risk his ship and crew to rescue him. Spock is beamed aboard at the last second and everyone rejoices. We move ahead a few days and learn that Spock has filed a mission report that contradicts Kirk's personal report. Due to the violation of the Prime Directive, which is that Starfleet will have no direct influence over a civilization's advancement, Kirk is relegated back to Starfleet Academy and the Enterprise is given back to Captain Pike. Meanwhile, our villan entices a father struggling with a terminally ill child with a cure. Khan gives a vial of his blood to the father in exchange for a service. We see the father insert the tube into his daughter's IV, he kisses her on the head, and then he heads to work at the Starfleet Archives. He logs into his station, drops a ring into a glass of water, and then is promptly obliterated in a gigantic explosion. The explosion sends Starfleet into a panic and they gather all of their captains for a meeting. Captain Pike was able to convince the Starfleet to allow him to take Kirk on as his first officer, so he attends the meeting as well. They end up getting attacked by Khan during the meeting which causes Kirk to request permission to hunt down Khan and kill him. Permission is granted after some hesitation and the plot begins. There are a ton of surprises in the movie and some key races are introduced (Klingons).

This movie is fantastic. It is a damn near perfect sci fi film. The effects are literally out of this world, the dialogue is cheeky but clever, and the plot is incredibly interesting. We also get to see Kirk transform into a admirable Captain and Spock relinquish some of his Vulcan tendencies in favor of more human sensibilities. I could watch Star Trek and its sequel several times and be completely in awe each time. I cannot say the same for Star Wars anymore. Perhaps it is because the effects are so dated although the prequels were not done that long ago. I think it boils down to writing and direction. It was joked about that the lens flare was like another character in the first film. What you may not know is that all of that flare was done during production. It was not added later. Abrams had mirrors and beams directed at the camera in certain shots. This added to the sterile feeling of the Enterprise. A place that is "...disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence..." can appear incredibly clean and safe because of light reflection. The reason I never cared for Star Trek in the past is because it was all so very boring to me. I felt that every time I saw a clip or heard someone discussing it, they were spewing some technical jargon that made no sense to me. I didn't feel like dedicating the time and effort it would take to understand them so I just tuned it out. Star Wars wasn't like that. Everything was governed by an unseen "Force", and there were those that believed in it and those that didn't. It was a classic good vs. evil story and there were bitchin' lightsaber fights. Where I grew up, you were cool if you liked Star Wars, and a complete dork if you liked Star Trek. Abrams was able to bring everyone into the fold with his reboot. I cannot remember that last film I watched in the theater where I got so giddy at the tech that I wanted to bounce in my seat. When they first punch it into warp, my jaw dropped to the floor. The way the ship stretched out right before it blinked out of space was phenomenal. All of what made Star Trek so great is back in force in the sequel. Now, as for Abrams' involvement with Star Wars; I believe that he is going to bring the franchise back to relevance. Star Wars used to be a trustworthy powerhouse of a franchise, but it has slipped into obscurity in the past several years. I grew up raving about Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca, Han Solo, and Yoda. Today, kids long to be Iron Man, Batman, and Captain America. I don't find a problem with this; it's just different. Abrams will inject his flair (or flare) and turn it into something that Star Wars fans can gladly claim. I fully expect the new episodes to be darker in nature and have more developed characters. What this will mean is a resurgence of the brand as a whole; a renewed sense of pride in a product that captivated the entire world in 1977.

No BS

See Star Trek Into Darkness. There is no other way to say it. It is fun, intense, and a visual spectacle. You don't need to be a Trekkie to appreciate it (I'm not). I paid the extra money to see it in IMAX 3D and don't regret it at all. See this film.

My Score: 9.5/10