Film Review: Star Trek: Into Darkness

In 2009, Star Trek was "rebooted", successfully remixing aspects of the classic Trek universe and making it all fresh, new, and exciting again. At the same time, it remained true to the classic characters and the spirit of the franchise. In the film's first sequel, Into Darkness sets forth to do the same thing most other sequels do: introduce more characters, raise the stakes, and take the audience on a (hopefully bigger and "better") thrill ride.

This film definitely retains the thrill ride aspects; like its predecessor, it still has some great action scenes, some jaw-dropping special effects, and the occasional bits of humor (which has been toned down from the last film). The film does its best to present scenes that are bigger in scope and scale; the action setpieces are pretty massive. More importantly, however, it's the emotional scope and scale that's blown up: the film tries harder to tug at some heartstrings, and to make the characters count.

Therein lies the film's most interesting and redeeming values: where the characters stand at this point. The first film introduced the Enterprise crew in a fresh new light, using Kirk's flirtation with death as a thematic pillar. In this film, the theme is expanded tremendously, pitting Kirk against death in a twisting series of events that constantly calls for him to make the hard choices. At multiple moments, everybody is called upon to question the value of human life, the value of the mission, and the morality of self-sacrifice. Oh yes, fans of the classic films will recognize these same aspects from The Wrath of Khan and The Search for Spock, because Into Darkness takes the same aspects and remixes them in interesting new ways. Some might call it a retread, but it does give the characters a strong emotional depth, and it helps to reinforce the themes of facing death.

That being said, this Trek adventure does suffer a little from feeling like more of the same. Parts of it are predictable. Parts of it play it safe. Parts of it are clearly ripped straight from other Trek films (there are even some aspects that reminded me of Star Trek: Nemesis). Despite the plot twists and the emotional depth, the film still doesn't take any really bold moves. The ultimate climax felt really short and small in scale, and afterwards, the movie ends abruptly. In the end, I didn't feel that Into Darkness was any better or worse than the 2009 film; it's just more of the same.  That's not to say it's bad, but I was hoping for more.

In spite of that, the film continues to exhibit some jittery camerawork and plenty of lens flares, which will irk many viewers. Some of the camera movements are pretty brilliant though. Acting is the same as before: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Anton Yelchin, John Cho, and Simon Pegg all inhabit their characters comfortably, and are a joy to watch. Bruce Greenwood is still good, Alice Eve is quite appealing, and I felt that Peter Weller's role is appropriate. The biggest draw to this film will be Benedict Cumberbatch as the villain; the man definitely establishes the proper screen presence and gives his character plenty of nuance. Writing for this film is pretty decent. As before, the film uses some clever camera trickery and unique settings to give the film a unique and authentic-looking edge. All the sets, props, costumes, and special effects are good. The music score offers much of the same as from the first film, but with unique new variations.

4.5/5 (Entertainment: Very Good | Story: Very Good | Film: Very Good)