Movie Review by Nigel A. Messenger
Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Benedict Cumberbatch, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, John Cho, Karl Urban, Alice Eve
Director: J. J. Abrams
The second of the new incarnations of the STAR TREK film franchise thrusts Kirk, Spock and crew straight into the action right from the movies beginning. In a daring rescue of a primitive planet about to be destroyed, the Enterprise breaks the ‘prime directive’ to only observe and not to interfere with less advanced civilisations.
Back on Earth at Starfleet Command, Kirk loses his Captains rank and Spock is reassigned to another starship. Meanwhile in London, England a seemingly innocuous public library is bombed in a terrorist attack and a meeting of Starfleet command is called.
This meeting also comes under attack by a character any Star Trek fan will know as the genetically engineered super-human Kahn.
Kirk is quickly restored as Captain of the Enterprise and sent on a mission to kill Kahn who has fled to Kronos the Klingon homeworld, by using a new more powerful photon torpedo. Kirk, under orders to attack Kronos, is faced with a decision to obey orders and start a war with the Klingons or to attempt to capture Kahn and return him to Earth for trial.
There is no doubt in my mind that STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS could be described as nothing less than sensational. From beginning to end the film never fails to excite and the 3D, something I am not always impressed by, is one of the best uses of the format that I have seen.
While the action rarely lets up the fast moving story constantly evolves and intrigues, a quality that a lot of blockbuster type films seem to lack.
What did surprise me were the parallels with the second of the original STAR TREK film series THE WRATH OF KAHN. This was by no means a bad thing however, just really that the introduction of Kahn at this stage as the main instigator was also the villain in the second original movie (although this took up from a storyline from the original TV series), and that an event towards the end of the movie was a role reversal from the THE WRATH OF KAHN. This was actually a very nice touch!
I also really enjoyed the reappearance of Leonard Nimoy, if only briefly as the original Spock who as you will remember now lives in this new timeline.
Chris Pine shines now as Kirk and seems far more settled into the role in his second outing as the iconic character. In fact the whole crew really gel together this time around and I look forward to hopefully their many future adventures together.
