Star Trek Into Darkness

Star Trek Into Darkness

Predicted Rating: 4 Stars

Directed by: J.J. Abrams (Super 8). Starring: Chris Pine (Smokin' Aces), Zachary Quinto (Heroes) and Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock).

After an ill-fated mission, Captain Kirk (Pine) is demoted to first officer of the Starship Enterprise and Spock (Quinto) reassigned to another vessel. A terror attack in London prompts the Starfleet captains to hold a meeting, attended by both Spock and Kirk as well as the new captain of the Enterprise, Chris Pike (a very good Peter Weller). Rogue Starfleet agent John Harrison (Cumberbatch) proceeds to attack the meeting, gunning down Captain Pike. Harrison then flees to the Klingon homeland Kronos and it is up to Kirk and Spock to take back the Enterprise and capture Harrison.

As I cannot write this review without revealing something that essentially made me cream my pants, I will write two reviews; one for those who haven't watched the movie yet and one for those who have.

For those who are yet to watch Star Trek Into Darkness

Go and see this movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
5 Stars

For those who have watched Star Trek Into Darkness

All I can say is well done Paramount Pictures. As an avid Trekkie, I did a fair amount of research on this film before it was released, in particular on the villain, John Harrison, played by Benedict Cumberbatch. There were absolutely no hints about the true identity of Harrison, which of course is the one and only Khan Noonien Singh. The regular readers of this blog would know that Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan is one of my favourite movies ever and my close friends will know how much a talk about this film. Heading into Star Trek Into Darkness I was hoping that there would just be a mention of Khan, allowing the set up of him as the villain in a sequel. When it was revealed that Harrison was in fact Khan, essentially all my dreams came true. In my opinion, Khan is one of the greatest movie villains of all time and I have been counting down the days until his return. As a result of my love for Khan, it was important that the new movie did his legacy justice.In my opinion this was achieved. Cumberbatch's performance was simply sublime. Given he didn't have the pectoral muscles possessed by Ricardo Moltalban but what he lacked in muscle mass he most certainly made up in pure evil. My only criticism was that there needed to be more Khan, really exploring his back story and really bringing out his pure evil. On occasions he was almost pushed aside by the special effects. Even though they were amazing, this is reflective of the path modern cinema has taken. However, hopefully Khan will return for a sequel, allowing his true genius to blossom.

The recent Star Trek reboot is an interesting series. They are supposed to be the Star Trek movies that aren't Star Trek movies. There is a certain social stigma involved with Star Trek. People assume that only the super nerdy enjoy the series and being seen enjoying something Star Trek related is essentially social suicide. This is extremely unfortunate because the Star Trek universe is something that should be enjoyed by young and old. The original series was ground breaking television and despite a few anomalies, it is still extremely scientifically accurate. Many common pieces of technology used today, such as the mobile phone and tablet, were inspired by Star Trek. Also, despite a couple of poor attempts, the movies are amazing. I believe that Wrath of Khan is one of the greatest movies ever made. So in the end I am a huge supporter of what J.J. Abrams is attempting to do and open up Star Trek to a wider audience and now hopefully more people will appreciate Star Trek for what it actually is.

I was going to write a concluding paragraph further enhancing how much I enjoyed this film but I will just end with this: KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Overall: I would love to give this film a million stars because I loved it so much but I should tone it down. 5 Stars