Star Trek Into Darkness Review

 

Written by:  Jon Guzik

 

 

 

 

Back in 2009, I was for the most part very pleasantly surprised by JJ Abram’s take on Star Trek.  He took a franchise that I knew relatively nothing about and made it grounded, and dare I say it—more like Star Wars.  The film actually had you care about the characters and their relationships, and you enjoyed seeing the dynamic between all of them.  While the new film Into Darkness can be just as fun and great to look at as the first film, it ultimately suffers from plot holes and moments that make you laugh or cringe, when you definitely aren’t supposed to.

The film opens with a visually stunning set piece of a red-vegetation planet, and the effects for both the alien tribe, as well as the volcano are top notch.  Unfortunately after this opening sequence, Abrams never really takes his foot off the gas pedal.  Like last years The Dark Knight Rises, everything happens in such a fast pace it’s almost impossible to catch everything if you’re not paying attention.  It would have been better to have more scenes that were slower paced so we can catch our breaths. The cast from the first film returns, including the two (?!) protagonists- James Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto).  The strongest part of the film is the dynamic these two have with each other, and some of their back and forth is really the heart of the movie.  However, not much can be said of the rest of the cast, Bones played by Karl Urban simply is there to have an angry face while spitting out comic relief, Sulu (John Cho) and Chekov (Anton Yelchin) are equally underused and are one-dimensional throughout.   Even Uhura (Zoe Saldana) and Spock’s “relationship” falls flat within 20 minutes in the movie and goes nowhere after that.  The reliable Simon Pegg as Scotty is a saving grace amongst this crew of snoozers, which is unfortunate because they all worked well in the first movie.

The villain in the movie, John Harrison, is played by Benedict Cumberbatch (such a powerful name!), and for the most part is played to great effect.  His chilling deep voice has the same kind of effect on you that Hannibal Lecter’s voice did in "Silence of The Lambs"--which can  put you at ease and unease at the same time.  However, his character has a big flaw, which I can’t get into without delving into SPOILER territory, so be warned…
 

SPOILERS****

 

Although the first film was great, one thing that always bothered me about it is the fact that even though it was a "reboot", they decided to use an actor from the original series: Leonard Nemoy. And in STID, he does nothing except fill in young Spock of what to expect from Khan in the future. Yes, “John Harrison” is, surprise!.......not John Harrison. Which in and of itself is extremely over-used lately. More recently in Iron Man 3, they had a smokescreen for the real villain, as well as Dark Knight Rises with Bane and "Miranda Tate". Let's hope this will be an end to the "Smokescreen Villain" era. What's so bad about knowing who our bad guy is ahead of time? Pulling the ol' switcheroo on us as moviegoers gets old after a while, so at this point it's just lazy writing/plotting.

 

Back to Nemoy-- so is he just going to show up in every future installment in the franchise to warn young Spock of every potential problem that may arise? Abrams really had a wasted opportunity to start fresh for anactual reboot where no other previous characters and/or adding little homages-like Spock this time yelling "KHAAAAANN", instead of Kirk from “Wrath of Khan”. That moment has been parodied so many times in the last 20 +years, and as serious as the moment in the new movie was supposed to be when Spock yells it, I couldn't help but burst out laughing.

 

I just don’t see the point of bringing in old characters like Nemoy back, as well as referencing old the old movies and TV show when they should be creating new inventive ideas, while at the same time respecting the source material. After all, this franchise is considered a reboot, so it just ends up being confusing, convoluted, and overall annoying that they are bringing these kinds of things back for the new films. Here's hoping whomever takes over the franchise after JJ Abrams leaves for Star Wars, they will let it this franchise stand on its own 2 feet and not make so many blatant, lazy references to the old franchise.

 

END SPOILERS****

 

 

The film is not all bad, however. There are fine performances throughout, although most characters aren’t given much to do anyway. It ends in such a way that you really want to see the next movie, which is something some sequels don't do well enough sometimes. The visual effects are nothing short of fantastic, which makes me all the more curious to see how Abrams will handle Star Wars. But plot holes/inconsistencies, and the way they handle most of the characters is sub par at best, therefore leading this to just be a slightly above average summer movie. The main takeaway from this movie is that-----well there wasn't one. This is one of those movies where you'll give your hard earned 2+ hours of attention, and essentially forget about it when you leave. Sure it's mostly fun while your watching it, but the best kind of movies are one's that create a dialogue amongst fans and moviegoers afterward -for weeks, months, or even years later. Which is a disappointment, because you would/should expect it from a director like Abrams. Abrams is notorious for admitting he never liked Star Trek growing up, and was always a Star Wars fan at heart, and it shows in this film--- for better, or worse.

Grade: C+

P.S.--This movie probably has the most tears/crying of any summer blockbuster in history.