Runtime: 2 hours, 12 minutes
Rating: PG-13
Director: J.J. Abrams
Quick Impressions:
As a young child (before kindergarten), I had a very clear idea of who the world’s most attractive men were. The first, of course, was Sean Connery. The third was the guy who used to do those 7-Up commercials in the early 1980s. (His name is Geoffrey Holder.) Clearly, pre-school me had a thing for distinctive male voices. I don’t think I should mention which actor filled the #2 slot on my list, but I’m definitely thinking of him tonight (especially because I’m watching him on DVD right now). (It’s not a member of the
Enterprise crew.)
But let’s move forward to the present day. I love Benedict Cumberbatch (especially on Sherlock), and I love just about everything J.J. Abrams does (which is amazing because he does just about everything), and I loved the first new Star Trek movie. So I was pretty excited about Into Darkness, definitely the 2013 release I’ve been most impatiently awaiting. Normally, I’m not quite this excited about a movie going in, so I was a little bit worried that I would be horribly disappointed by the film. But I wasn’t. Not horribly.
Although there’s a lot I can’t (or shouldn’t) say about this movie, I can reveal that Star Trek Into Darkness is pretty great. Although I’m not sure that it improves on the 2009 Star Trek (which in my opinion may be marginally better simply because it has manages to surprise the audience with something novel more successfully), Star Trek Into Darkness is extremely entertaining and makes great use of the fantastic ensemble cast. It doesn’t exactly “boldly go where no one has gone before,” but in fairness, going there may be where the franchise plans to head next.
On the way to the theater, my husband remarked on how amazing it is that J.J. Abrams always manages to keep so much about his projects a secret. In honesty, I’m not sure that he’s managed that so well this time since everything I ever heard about this movie (from basically the beginning and certainly since Cumberbatch was cast) has turned out to be completely true. But I don’t judge movie based on how successfully its director manages to withhold key plot details, so that’s all well and good. In fact, I think an unexpected plotline would have disappointed me far more than the relative lack of surprises.
One thing about Star Trek Into Darkness is that it leaves you craving more, and I hope that future installments don’t disappoint now that J.J. Abrams is headed to a galaxy far, far away.
The Good:
As a child, I was one of the few people I knew who preferred the original Star Trek (which I watched in reruns) to The Next Generation. (I was just raving about this in the car on the way home from the theater. “‘We don’t have conflict now! We don’t have money now!’ The most human one on the entire show is the android!’” I realize that’s a little harsh and that I’m in the extreme minority, but when I was a kid Picard, Data, and Geordi were really the only characters who interested me, though I envied Wesley.)
On the original series, on the other hand, everyone is passionate and crazy and spouting great literary quotes all the time. On the show and in the films, there’s so much camaraderie among the characters, such great relationships. And then behind the scenes there’s so much drama! The original Star Trek is spectacularly entertaining.
And what the new film franchise does best is first to recapture those fantastic characters and then to take them in new and exciting directions. The casting of the 2009 film is almost too good. Every single member of the Enterprise crew is perfectly cast. Chris Pine makes a great Kirk. Zachary Quinto is perfect as Spock. As McCoy, Karl Urban is clearly channeling DeForest Kelley. And Zoe Saldana, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, and Simon Pegg all have the opportunity to make more of their characters than their counterparts in the original cast. I’m not in any way disparaging Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, Walter Koenig, and James Doohan, all of whom are fantastic. My point is that while the original Star Trek series and films mainly showcased only McCoy, Spock, and Kirk, these new films also give plum moments to the others. I love what they do with Sulu’s character in this movie. It seems particularly fitting if you’re a fan of the original films.
In the old movies, you feel like Spock and Kirk are always taking turns saving the day with McCoy on-hand to deliver a well-timed surly comment. (To be fair, more of them do get expanded screen time in Star Trek IV.) But in this new Star Trek reality, all of the major characters contribute to the success of the mission. Every one of them makes a significant contribution that nobody else could make (as well). Even if these new Star Trek films fall apart a little after J.J. Abrams exits, I’ll be happy to continue to watch for the characters alone.
I also like the way this film series places so much emphasis on Spock. It’s a refreshing way to present the story. I like Kirk. He’s a good character, well played by both William Shatner and Chris Pine, but Kirk isn’t the center of the universe. It’s nice to see him as the co-protagonist instead of the undisputed lead.
The guest stars in this movie are also great. It’s always nice to see Peter Weller and Bruce Greenwood. And Alice Eve is very compelling. I liked her as the Young Agent O in Men in Black 3, but in this movie, she actually gets something to do.
This movie has everything we’ve come to expect from a summer blockbuster—lots of action, ambitious visuals, a solid score, and a serviceable story.
Benedict Cumberbatch is very good in his role. I only wish he could have been in the film a little longer. He’s in it quite a bit, but somehow, it never feels like enough. I hope we see him again in the future. Somehow, I’m sure that we will. My four-year-old daughter really liked his character. She said, “He reminds me of Scar. This part is a little bit like Lion King.”
She loved the music, too, observing, “This song sounds a lot like Fringe.” She knows her Michael Giacchino, I guess.
Best Scene:
For a reason I find myself at a loss to explain, I really enjoyed the scene that took place on the surface of Kronos. It’s sort of like John Cho’s Sulu fencing in the 2009 film.
It’s interesting to see a character besides Kirk, Spock, or McCoy take charge and use a skill to try to do something useful. Plus the way the scene ends threw me into doubt for the first time. Were my assumptions going into the film incorrect? (They weren’t, but I had fun feeling that fleeting uncertainty.)
The other scene that got my attention was one that will get the attention of everyone who has seen the original Star Trek films. At first, I wasn’t sure what to make of this moment. Of course, I saw it coming, but at the moment when I first saw it coming, I felt this surge of genuine surprise. The 2009 Star Trek was more of a reboot than a remake, but this moment feels like something in between. So what is this we’re watching? I found myself wondering.
When I was little, I was particularly drawn to a very similar moment in a previous Star Trek movie. That scene (as well as a gruesome, scary one earlier on in the same film) really held my attention and moved me emotionally. Watching the similar scene that happens in this film, I didn’t feel any comparable surge of emotion. Of course, maybe that’s because when I was watching the earlier film I was a preschool aged child who hadn’t yet seen all of the original Star Trek films (because some of them had yet to be made). This time around, I just thought, I hope there’s a way out of this that won’t require an entire feature length film.
Everybody else I was watching the movie with had already figured out what was going to happen, but I was so mesmerized by what the scene was doing there and its implications that I forgot all about something I had previously realized.
This moment still fascinates me, though—in fact, more so with a little distance. Of course, I’m currently in the middle of watching Fringe for the first time (midway through season 3 on Netflix and quite obsessed with it), so this type of thing really appeals to me at the moment. I’m not sure how others will react.
Best Scene Visually:
The opening mission—on that vibrantly red and blue planet shown so often in the previews—has a great, super-saturated look. I also particularly liked the trip from one ship to another. At first I thought skeptically, This looks an awful lot like Tron Legacy.
But the scene definitely grew on me, so much so that I can’t really get it out of my head.
Funniest Scene:
My stepson laughed so much when Chris Pine’s Kirk asked, “What’s that even like?” in a conversation with Uhura. I’m not sure that the moment is as funny as it felt at the time because my son was so amused that his laughter was contagious, but the Uhura/Spock conflict—while much more than mere comic relief—does generate quite a lot of humor.
As Scotty, Simon Pegg also adds a lot of humor.
Best Action Sequence:
I’ve already mentioned what I loved the journey from ship to ship. I also liked the pursuit scene at the end.
The Negatives:
There’s a moment in this movie that I thought was “too cute.” It is clearly meant as a little something extra to bring a smile to the faces of hardcore Star Trek fans. The problem is, a serious fan of the original series may be more annoyed than pleased because this little homage presents a certain logistical problem.
Afterwards, I complained to my husband, “If you had a [Thing X], then you wouldn’t want to do anything that might y it because then z, which would be a very serious problem.”
He was like, “That’s an interesting take,” not at all convinced.
I told him, “I guarantee you that I am not the only one who’ll have a problem with that.”
The trouble with X is, the type of people who will appreciate seeing X are the same people who are going to find fault with its casual use. Nobody else will really care.
That said, the moment is still kind of cute (I guess). And it does later prove to be integral to the plot (thank goodness, I say as a child who adored Star Trek 2 but thought Star Trek 3 was so boring and inferior by comparison (though I liked it much better than 2010).
Everything else that I can say against this movie could also be considered a point in the film’s favor. For example, the premise is not terribly original. However, on the flip side, if the premise had been more unexpected, I think a lot of people would have been disappointed because people have been predicting a lot about Benedict Cumberbatch’s character right from the beginning. My mother mentioned that the film seemed overproduced, especially in comparison to the original Star Trek films, and it’s true, there are not very many scenes featuring dialogue only with no background music. But we came home and watched one of the original Star Trek movies immediately, and I’m positive that my stepson preferred the one we saw in the theater.
I do wish that the story had arrived somewhere sooner—anywhere! The plot is so fast-paced that by the time we understand what’s going on, it’s already over. I would love more time to linger over Benedict Cumberbatch’s character, and I wasn’t sure that Peter Weller’s character was adequately explained, and we’d better see more of Alice Eve’s character in the next movie.
Overall:
As I left the theater, I wasn’t so sure that I liked Star Trek Into Darkness as much as I’d hoped I would; however, while it’s true that much of the enjoyment of a film like that comes in the anticipation, the farther I get from the viewing experience, the more and more I like the movie.
Star Trek Into Darkness confused me for a second when it got to a place—very quickly in terms of the character’s lives—that I didn’t know it was headed. But I’m glad it did that because the parallel is quite interesting. (It seems a little forced that such a thing would come up at such a time, but it is, after all, a movie).
With a great cast, fantastic visuals, lots of action and a lovely score that even my four-year-old could recognize as the work of Michael Giacchino, Star Trek Into Darkness is an excellent film that provides lots of food for thought and seems almost infinitely re-watchable. In fact, I suspect that it would improve on a second viewing.