After the crew of the Enterprise find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction.
Ok, this review will include spoilers, if you haven’t watched it yet, DON’T READ THIS REVIEW!
Ok, let’s do this review a little differently… The good points:
This film looks stunning, apart from Dredd last year, this is one of the few 3D movies that actually use 3D brilliantly and looks gorgeous.
The storyline is great, it has fun, humour, loads of action and oodles of good drama.
It’s Star Trek, and any good Star Trek, especially a movie, has to cover a sensitive topic going on in the world right now… And this one covers terrorism
It uses LOTS of plot and character devices the various series bought up to drive the story, like Section 31, the shadowy Starfleet organisation that’s off the books. Mr. Scott’s transbeaming equation that Spock Prime used in the last Star Trek film to get Scott and Kirk back onto the Enterprise.
Now the bad points…
I don’t like the reboots so far, I’m sorry I don’t.
There are so many things about both the reboot films that go completely against Star Trek canon. Little things that could be overlooked if there wasn’t LOADS of them.
Like…
Why is the interior of the Enterprise like a huge power factory now, instead of the clean small rooms we are used to from the original series and the TNG series like TNG, DS9 and Voyager. The rebooted Enterprise warp core is fecking huge and looks like a turbine, not the sleek, throbbing beast we are used to from the old universe.
Why is the Engineering deck so fricking huge? Yes the warp core is 7 decks high, but why is it in the middle of a refinery?
The shuttlebay, why does it look like an aircraft hanger (which in theory it should) and not like the clean bay from the original universe?
The outside of the Enterprise, I don’t like it, I’m sorry, I really don’t… I know this is a new alternate universe, but why change the design, even subtely? Bring it upto date yes, but the DS9 episode, “Trials and Tribbleations” proved that a CGI’d original series Enterprise looked fantastic, the Constellation class Enterprise, considering it was designed and built in the 60’s is a beautiful design, why is the reboot version looking like a whale?!?
Physics… Throughout ALL the series and movies, we’ve heard that going to warp IN a solar system is bad… but both of the reboots have done this, all the ships going to warp in earth Orbit…
Ok, rants over, let’s go over the characters…
***EPIC SPOILER ALERT!!!***
Into Darkness is J.J. Abrams take on Wrath of Khan!
Sorry, it had to be said straight away
The reboot version of James T.Kirk (Chris Pine) is not the grounded hero that James T. Kirk Prime (William Shatner) was in the original series. He’s In the captains chair too early, he’s too green and he is riding his natural luck and something is about to break. And it does, in a way he is doing a great job, while in the centre seat, he has not lost a single member of crew to injury, etc. BUT, he doesn’t follow the rules. Kirk Prime changed the rules in every situation to make it a win win, this Kirk knows how to, but he’s reacting to situations rather than analysing them and changing the game.
Reboot Spock (Zachary Quinto) is still suffering from the destruction of Vulcan, he is a bubbling mess ready to lay down his life to easily, compared to Spock Prime (Leonard Nimoy) who is on hand to give some sage advice. This is something that stands out in the movie aswell, Spock is in the position that he CAN second guess everything, as Spock Prime is available to discuss the situation, albeit grudgingly, but he has previous experience to make a more informed decision on. But he and Kirk are not playing well, they are not jelling like Kirk Prime and Spock Prime did, because they were thrust together in battle rather than slowly through command like in the Prime universe.
Out of the secondary cast members, Uhura (Zoe Saldana), Bones (Karl Urban), Sulu (John Cho), Scotty (Simon Pegg) and Chekov (Anton Yelchin), the only member of the secondary cast that is a lot different to the Prime universe is Uhura, she’s more ballsey than Uhura Prime (Nichelle Nichols), but this is easily accepted as the original series couldn’t do as much with the character due to the time it was made in and the society it was part of. Now we can EASILY accept Spock and Uhura not only being a couple and fighting on screen (brilliantly played too), but kissing. This is still talked about as being a watershed moment for the original series of Star Trek and the Shatner/Nichols kiss was the first interracial kiss on TV.
Simon Pegg gets to shine as Scotty this time, after not getting a lot of face time in the last movie. He has that perfect mix that he can do both funny AND serious in the same scene and it feels totally natural. He plays Scotty perfectly.
Karl Urban works well as Bones aswell, but this is a more action based version of McCoy than McCoy Prime (DeForest Kelley) who was older by the time he was part of the crew. Remember, this McCoy is still a late thirty something in a crew of early twenties, he’s the bedrock and the stead fast voice for the younger crew, including the captain.
Chekov and Sulu are still slightly left in the wings in this film, they are the youngest of the bridge crew and their characters are still maturing into the story, just as they did in the Prime universe, we’ll see more of them in the new films I’m sure.
New faces John Harrison/Khan (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Carol Marcus (Alice Eve) change the dynamic completely from the original series, or really Wrath of Khan…
Carol Marcus is a much younger version than we saw in Wrath of Khan, this is even before Kirk Prime and Marcus Prime got together to make their son David who helped create the genesis device. But there is instant chemistry between the two characters. Could we see this romance play out in the reboots?
Khan… This is the most major change to this universe since the death of Kirks father at the beginning of the first film (remember, in the Prime universe, Kirks father was alive and was Kirks influence in not only joining Starfleet, but also Kirks inspiration to rise up the ranks and become the historic captain that changed the face of the Prime Federation)
The Botany Bay (although never named in this film) was instead found earlier by Admiral Marcus (Peter Weller) and Khan is pressed into joining Section 31 and using his enhanced skills and intellect to try and turn Starfleet into a military instead of an exploration force. But in the process gives him the tools and knowledge that Khan Prime didn’t. In Wrath of Khan, the Prime Enterprise crew used Khans lack of experience in starship command against him. This Khan has not only got this experience, he’s designing weapons and super class starships… (A definite, “WTF are you crazy?!?” Moment for the fans)
Khan Prime was dangerous, just because he was dangerous and imposing and he had a grudge against Kirk Prime.
This Khan has a grudge against the whole of Starfleet and he not only has Starfleets resources, but he designed most of them and is using those resources against them too. Cumberbatch does an amazing job with Khan, the character is properly worrying now. There are moments that you are genuinely scared by him.
So, the story… I already spoiled that this is The Wrath of Khan Reboot. But its not just a reboot, its a juxtaposition. There are even key moments of wrath of khan totally replayed in Into Darkness. But some around turned 180, they are the same moment, but backward. It’s very strange, it works, but some points although they work, feel wrong, just wrong… “KHAAAAAAN!!!”
If you’re a fan you will enjoy it, but if you love Wrath of Khan, it will leave you feeling like there’s something a little wrong with the world that you can’t put your finger on.
If you’re a newbie to the Star Trek universe, its a fantastic movie that looks amazing and has a pretty good story.
8/10 A must see, but has issues for the die hard fans that will nit pick issues
~Lonesamurai
