Star Trek: Into Darkness Review
This was my most anticipated movie for the summer and it came like an early Christmas present!! The trailers left me breathless and I was stoked to see the movie. I need to preface this review to let all you gentle readers know I have not seen a single Star Trek tv episode or movie, unless Picard was in it. So know that I know nothing about Khan, his relationship to Spock, so a lot of the references people talked about went over my head. So if you are looking for a review that honors the connections, this isn’t it!
The movie opens with Kirk leading his crew into unnecessary danger, which we as an audience, are prepared for. I liked this opening scene because it felt like we were meeting old friends again–Kirk’s brashness, Spock’s uber-rationalism and the banter between the crew. It was like coming home. I was slightly disappointed that Spock was still rational to the point of self-sacrifice, I was hoping he had grown in the first film enough to see some small changes. But as it turns out, this is going to be a continuous issue with him.
After the first scene, the movie sinks its teeth into its viewers, and the action kicks in. Terrorist attacks, pieces of a larger puzzle handed out, important characters in jeopardy, new characters introduced. All great stuff! The action in this movie was off the charts–it met all my expectations, which is huge considering how big a fan I am of the series. I was impressed with the the vision of futuristic London and its destruction. The scenes in space were as visually stunning as the first film. The fight scenes were very cool and I liked the character Khan a lot. He was fierce, intelligent and you were always trying to figure out his motives. He was a great challenge for Kirk and Spock, as he challenged both of them, if very different ways. I only wish I knew more about him. Hopefully we can revisit his character in future movies?? A girl can hope.
This movie didn’t have the same amount of character growth as the first movie. It was more mystery solving/action-centered. Which is fine! But one of the main reasons why I liked the first movie so much was the overall character development that we saw. Kirk’s beginnings and motivations, as with Spock. You see Uhura grow, get feisty, be her own character. Same with Sulu and Scotty. This movie was less dimensional for its characters, minus Spock. Spock’s growth as a character might have saved the movie for me. I was disappointed that the new female character, Carol Marcus, was mere eye-candy and not given more meat to her role. Uhura only had one important scene and was relegated to being a useless significant other for Spock.
But all things considered, I enjoyed the movie a lot. The action was fun and made the movie pace itself well, the villain was fascinating and it was great to be reunited with an old family I love a lot. If you are a fan of the 2009 flick and haven’t seen it yet, honestly why not??? Get your ass to the theatre now!!!
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