Director: J.J. Abrams
Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, Benedict Cumberbatch, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban
Running Time: 132 minutes
Certificate: 12
Extras: The Enemy of My Enemy, Ship to Ship
In J.J. Abrams follow-up to 2009’s STAR TREK, the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise embark on a mission to find the villain within, following an attack on their base, and along the way encounter an unstoppable force of terror.
With all of the original cast returning for this “sequel” fans of the series will be pleased to hear the relationships built by Abrams’ reboot continue to evolve. Kirk (Pine) and Spock’s (Quinto) enjoyable and moderately sexually-charged relationship is again the highlight within the crew, whilst the much more prevalent Scotty (Pegg) and Bones (Urban) add a very welcome comedy element to the otherwise serious tone, the main reason for this tone being the spectacular villain Khan (Cumberbatch) whose only fault is a sparsity of screen time.
Abrams has again filled the screen with beautiful visual flashes, camera swoops and enough side-scrolling to drive you insane, but it is the technical element that impresses most. From the futuristic portrayal of San Francisco to the battles in space each scenario and building is wonderfully realised by the ILM geniuses.
Within the film there is unfortunately an unnecessarily convoluted feeling at times. The script, co-penned by Roberto Orci, Damon Lindelof and Alex Kurtzman, offers some fantastic, whip-cracking dialogue exchanges at times, but there are far too many passages that are less whip-cracking and more skull-crushing. As with many of todays blockbusters there seems to have been a want to spell everything out for the audience and this part belongs to the entirely unnecessary Carol (Alice Eve). Not only is she part of the most chauvinistic and questionable scenes in recent years, she is a walking plot-spoiler. Obviously the writers felt the reason for the nemesis’ attack wasn’t strong enough without her but it’s hard to agree when you’re having a spoon shoved down your throat.
STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS is a visual treat featuring a fun element and an smattering of seriousness. Sadly the two become muddled at times and the lack of faith in the audience shown by the writing team stop it being a classic. This being said it is still a film that will have you smiling, laughing and take your breath away at times, and if that’s not what blockbusters are about than we may as well all quit now.
STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS is released on DVD and Blu-ray 2nd September
