“I hate this!” shouts Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy (Karl Urban) to Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) as they hotfoot it through a forest of vermilion trees and away from an angry, indigenous alien tribe. “I know you do!” Kirk quips back, before the duo plunge off the edge of a cliff.
There’s no need for any backstory here; Star Trek (2009) re-introduced audiences to the crew of the USS Enterprise and left them heading into warp with Kirk as the newly promoted skipper. Star Trek Into Darkness barely lets you settle into your seat before it hurls you (thrusters firmly on full) back into the action.
After joining the crew mid-mission on the planet Nibiru – where Kirk and Bones do the running away thing and Zachary Quinto’s Lt. Spock enters an erupting volcano – we head back to Earth. Renegade Starfleet agent John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch) has bombed London and declared war against the Federation. Kirk’s job? To hunt him down and take him out.
A task easier said than done, as Harrison proves to be a menacing, highly intelligent, seemingly indestructible villain. Cumberbatch is absolutely the “one man weapon of mass destruction” we were promised; violent, merciless and purring out his chilling discourse with a compelling intensity. He makes Nero look like a puppy.
Star Trek Into Darkness is very much the story of how Kirk learns to be a captain. His cocksure attitude and disregard for the rules continually put his crew in danger and, facing a nemesis like Harrison, he’s forced to grow up. Vulcan Spock too is on a learning curve, attempting to connect to his half-human side and understand the complexities of his relationship with Lt. Uhura (Zoe Saldana).
It’s a shame that the motivation behind Harrison’s attacks is somewhat complicated and blurred in pages of technical dialogue, but such is the risk of upping the scale in a universe beloved by sci-fi-savvy fans. Alice Eve is an interesting addition as Dr Carol Marcus, a character with much potential but who unfortunately fizzles out near the end.
Despite this, it’s a stunning piece of film. If you want space-porn, you get it, if you’re hoping to see much more of the Enterprise, you get it. If you love high-octane fight sequences with phasers, lasers and whatever else – you get it. The wispy blue trail left behind after the ship goes to warp is reason enough to see Into Darkness in 3D. Props to cinematographer Dan Mindel for making sure the visuals perfectly complement the magnitude of the movie.
Though Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof’s script doesn’t dispel entirely with the comedy, the film certainly isn’t as light as Star Trek. Scotty is there to serve as the comic relief when the moments do come though and Simon Pegg does a fine job punctuating the tense scenes with a bit of well-needed humour. It’s also worth noting how well they’ve made sure each character gets their moment to shine, whether its John Cho’s pilot Sulu threatening Harrison or Chekov (Anton Yelchin) struggling with an unexpected promotion.
In the special features for Star Trek, Orci admits that a movie is only as good as its bad guy. Luckily, Harrison is a tremendous foe – thus Into Darkness is bigger, better, cleverer and much more ambitious. It’s Abrams at his best. With cracking action and clever references to The Original Series it should please the established fanboys and girls as well as the newcomers, and serve as a show reel for what we can expect from Abrams when it comes to Star Wars VII.
★★★★★
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