Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

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nTitle: Star Trek Into Darkness

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nDirector: J.J. Abrams

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nCast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban,nSimon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Peter Weller, Benedict Cumberbach

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nReview:

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nI’m not a Trekkie in the pure sense of the word, because Indon’t know every single episode from every single series that ever came out andnthere have been a few series. I did see every episode of Star Trek the NextnGeneration which for non Trek connoisseurs is the series in which PatricknStewart played Captain Jean Luc Picard. Now that one I enjoyed all the waynthrough! I’ve also seen every Trek film ever made and have enjoyed them forndifferent reasons. For example, I love the old ones starring William Shatnernbecause of the chemistry between the characters, the interactions between themnand the banter they play off each other, this by the way is an element that thennew films are delivering as well. The new actors channel their older counternparts rather effectively in my book; which of course makes the whole film thatnmuch more enjoyable, cause a huge part of what audiences like in these StarnTrek films is seeing Kirk and Spock quibbling about “gut reactions” and whethernsomething is logical or not. I think audiences agree with me on this respect, thenaudience I watched Star Trek Into Darkness with giggled at the comedic elementsnin the dialog, especially when they brought in those old phrases like “DammitnJim! I’m a doctor not a miracle worker!”. There’s lots of nudges here and therenthat Trekkies will eat up, it’s a film that’s mindful of its core audience whilenat the same time attempting to appeal to a broader audiences in order to breaknwith old stigmas.

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nThis time around, there’s a mysterious terrorist inflictingnfear upon the population of earth, by blowing up landmark buildings. Thenterrorists real purpose is to kill the leaders  of the federation! When the terrorist successfullynkills some of them, Kirk and his crew have to head to the Klingon home planetnin order to find the one responsible and make him pay. Along the way,nrelationships will be tested, friendships will clash, and the enterprise willntest its limits! Can Kirk and crew bring this megalomaniacal madman to justice?

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nIn this film connoisseur’s eyes the Star Trek films have alwaysnbeen cool, I have always loved them; but I know this is not the way everybodynsees them. To the rest of the world Star Trek is synonymous with the freak and geekncrowd, you know, those guys that dress like Klingon’s in comic book conventionsnand have discussions on Star Trek lore speaking in the Klingon language. What J.nJ. Abrams wants to do with this new series of films is change all that, henwants to make Trek sexy, make it cool. Not an easy task when we consider that StarnTrek has never cared to be sexy. They’ve never been about beautiful lookingnpeople. In fact, in the first series of films we followed a crew that wasnpopulated by fat, old, bald people. Not so with these new films where the crew ofnThe Enterprise is young, beautiful and sexy. Hell, on these new films Kirk’snalways getting some action, he is portrayed as a womanizer! There’s a scene in which a character needlessly strips to her under wear which many people seem to think went “too far”, a comment which I find absolutely stupid, hollywood has never been shy about showing skin, especially when it will get more butts in theater sits. The scene is surely gratituous, I agree, but no big deal. Certainly not something to make a big deal about. Pretty ladies in underwear aside, I think all these changes serve to make the film more entertaining.nJ.J. Abrams wants you to be amazed by a Star Trek film, he wants people to gonsee Star Trek Into Darkness more than once! Well, if you ask me he has successfullynachieved his goals, I know I’ll be seeing it again. This is the biggest StarnTrek film ever, what’s not to celebrate? I mean, this here Star Trek film is ansummer blockbuster of gargantuan proportions!  I was wowed. First up, the visual effects are sheernperfection, you should be impressed. I mean you will see gigantic spaceshipsntraveling through the universe, alien planets and civilizations, a futuristicnversion of earth, these vistas offer us bucket loads of escapism. If you wantnto escape to another world, here’s the movie for you to do it with. 

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nI wasn’t aware that in some ways this film was going to be anpseudo-remake of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn (1982) a film that is heraldednby legions of Star Trek fans across the world as the best Star Trek film of thenfirst series. That film is a flat out revenge film, and Kahn, as played bynRicardo Montalban is without a doubt the best of all Star Trek villains. Not ansingle actor has been able to reach Kahn’s memorable villain status. Consideringnthat Wrath of Kahn is one of the best Trek stories ever told, what did J. J.nAbrams and his crew do? They basically remade Wrath of Kahn. I wasn’t awarenof that going into the theater, but damn, with a few alterations here andnthere, the second half of this movie is basically a remake. But, to be honest,nit’s a damn good one and it doesn’t play out the same exact way that it did innWrath of Kahn. The film also borrows heavily from episodes of the television show.nStill, even when we take these things into consideration, the film manages tonoffer us many innovative ideas, one after the other. There’s this awesome chasensequence that takes place as two ships are traveling at warp speed that was sonawesome! So be ready for a film that has similarities with other stories ofnTrek lore while at the same time blowing your brain to smithereens with coolnnew ideas. Even the aliens who have minor scenes look freaking cool!

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nThematically speaking this film is all about terrorists attacks and what makes them happen. Why does a terrorist decide to attack a country and kill innoncents? What fuels that hatred? Is their anger somehow jusitified? The film addresses the terroristnattacks that took place during 9/11 and it also plays with the notion that these terrorist attacks might have been self inflicted in order to provoke a war. It alsonspeaks about how the government trains individuals to become stone coldnkillers, and then, when these trained killers have to return home, they arenunable to continue functioning properly in society because they are used toncarnage and death. Soldiers just can’t go back to buying cereal at the supermarketnand mowing the lawn, kind of like what we saw in First Blood (1982). They also talk about weapons of mass destruction, a fearnthat has recently shown its ugly head again in society and as a result, these fears are now reflected and discussed in films as well; so we get contemporary themes on this film. Above all, what I enjoyed the most about IntonDarkness was how fun it was, it’s never boring, not for a second. So far, thisnis the most exciting movie of the Summer 2013 season, it’s even more excitingnthan Iron Man 3 (2013), which kind of lacked in action a bit. If it’s not thenentertaining banter between the crew (how charismatic and funny are these guys?)nthen it’s the amazing action pieces. Bottom line is this is one big, fun ride!nNow, we all know that J.J. Abrams is the director behind the next Star Warsnfilm (Episode VII) and all I could think of was what J.J. Abrams will do withnthe Star Wars universe; I say strap your selves tight, if Star Trek IntonDarkness is any indication of what J. J. Abrahams can do with a science fictionnproperty, then were in for an exciting ride through hyper space!

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nRating: 5 out of 5   

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