Movie Review #23: Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

From the trailers alone I had a gut feeling I would like it. It turns out I was wrong. I love it.

In Star Trek Into Darkness, Benedict Cumberbatch plays a terrorist who goes around committing acts of terror and it's up to Kirk, Spock and the crew of the Enterprise to stop him. It's a pretty straightforward plot, but it's much more complex than that. I am not going to spoil this movie because for me, half the fun is going into this with an open mind.

This movie, like that last starts out like a firecracker. The crew of The Enterprise is on a planet of Native aliens and they have to save the planet from an impeding eruption of a volcano. From the get-go you can't get your eyes off the screen! Now that is how to make a movie.

The relationship between Kirk and Spock is still one of the biggest strengths of the film. I was really hoping that in this movie they wouldn't argue about who the captain of the Enterprise is like they did in the first one. Even though that showed the strength of their relationship, it would feel overused in a sequel. They ended up not doing that again but highlighting their friendship in multiple other ways. I won't say how because if I did so I would ruin the movie for you and that's half the fun! The supporting cast is still great. Bones still speaks in metaphors, Chekov still gets his V's and W's confused, Scotty steals every scene he's in and Sulu and Uhura are still great. Although the biggest strength of the film is comes in the form of none other than Sherlock.

Benedict Cumberbatch killed it in this movie! His role in this movie made Eric Bana as Nero look like a girl scout. He's not only menacing and sinister, but he's down right evil! By the third act of this movie, you want to see him dead. He's that evil. Okay, maybe I was the only one who thought that but I am fairly sadistic when it comes to evil movie villains.

Like the last film, the original timeline is rewritten but since I'm not the biggest Trekkie I wasn't bothered by that fact. Michael Giachino's score is as great as the first. The visuals are stunning as usual. When they go into warp, it's the coolest thing ever. The ship leaves a trail of what looks like blue sparkles. Even though that wasn't in the first one, I think it's a nice touch. It's basically the space equivalent of skid marks and it's super cool. And yes, there are enough lens flares to go around. I didn't notice them as much as I did in the first one, but they're still there and I'm still not complaining.

Final Report: Star Trek Into Darkness is a rare sequel that exceeds the incredible standards set by its predecessor. For me, this was The Empire Strikes Back of Star Trek movies. It may seem like a crime to compare Star Wars to Star Trek but I can't explain it any better. It's just incredible!