Dir. J.J. Abrams
133 Minutes
Rated PG-13
J.J. god damn Abrams. He's probably made billions of dollars, has dozens of TV shows with his name slapped on the front of it, and now he's at the helm of the two biggest sci-fi properties of all time. I don't know whose dick this guy's sucking to get these gigs, but it's certainly the right one. I'm barely familiar with the Star Trek mythology and I personally wasn't a huge fan of Abram's Star Trek reboot in 2009 (I'm definitely in the minority there). It's not that I didn't think it was any good, it was just exactly what you would expect and nothing more. Just a hero's journey wrapped up in a ton of space fights and explosions. It was solid enough. But the thing that got me excited for the sequel, and this may be controversial, was that Damon Lindelof was writing the screenplay. It seems in the nerd world Lindelof inspires either a lot of love or a lot of ravenous hate, but I think he's an amazing writer. Lost is one of my favorite TV shows of all time and I appreciated the finale, and I even thought Prometheus was one of the best movies last summer despite all the hate it received. And it wasn't just a simple "eh, I didn't care for that film" - people legitimately got violent and angry over that film. Lindelof writes challenging material filled with philosophy and humanity, and isn't afraid to trek into non-convention. But Star Trek Into Darkness, as serviceable a Trek film as it is, still suffers from the "vanilla sci-fi" I experienced the first time around.
It's hard for me to criticize the film, because for the most part it's the most logical, precise thing I could imagine for a follow-up. All the characters you loved from the first one are back, and they all have their moments to shine (Kirk is still a womanizer, Scottie is still funny, and Spock is still dealing with his non-emotions). All the action scenes are well done, albeit a little too "shaky cam" for my taste, while furthering the plot instead of just being used to interrupt the story. It's not a boring movie, there are a bunch of nods to previous movies and TV episodes, and I'm sure general audiences and diehard Trekkies alike will eat it up. But for some reason I just can't dig it. I think this is more of a taste thing than an actual criticism, but I prefer the flawed but challenging aspects of Prometheus to the more "PG-13," "four quadrant" feeling of J.J.'s Star Trek films. I know one is literally rated R and the other PG-13, but I think you know what I'm talking about. It's just this glossy, neatly-packaged, "accessible," lens-flare filled adventure. And I don't like it. Sorry.
It's hard to accurately analyze the film without delving into spoilers, but I will say fans of the first should 100% enjoy this one. I feel about the sequel the same I did of its predecessor. I thought the actors were all in top form, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and Benedict Cumberbatch were great in their respective roles, and I really enjoyed the banter between the characters (especially between Spock and Kirk, who are still at odds with each other). I think Quinto especially steals the show, even away from the "larger than life" villain played by Cumberbatch. The fact that Quinto makes Spock have these interesting layers of emotion even when he has a straight face, as his character literally can not have emotions (kind of), was great. Cumberbatch, does his thing very well, but his detached, deep-voiced genius/menace character seemed almost too similar to Spock in some aspects. The special effects as you could have guessed were magnificent as well. So much of the movie that you know had to be CGI actually looked completely real - every year these blockbusters get more and more impressive. In essence, it's good work all around, but not my cup of tea. It's just such an "obvious" movie. The villain's true identity is supposed to be this big reveal, but even I, who only has the vaguest sense of anything Star Trek figured it out. Certain characters look like they're going to die only to have some MacGuffin save them. I felt the thrill, but not the peril, if that makes any sense. This kind of makes me scared for Star Wars Episode VII, but hopefully Michael Arndt's script is amazing and J.J. takes some risks. Though I know that will never happen.
Rating: C+
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How can you let this go on?
Nice review. I haven't seen all the original Star Trek films, so there were a few references I picked up on, but there were parts where judging by the reaction of the audience, some other reference was made that will please Trekkies, even if I missed it. Overall, the fans will be pleased.
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