Star Trek Into Darkness Movie Review       BY IAN TAN

‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ is the highly anticipated sequel to the acclaimed 2009 blockbuster remake/reboot ‘Star Trek’. J.J. Abrams once again sits in the director’s chair for this sequel. What worries movie-buffs and Trekkies, though, is how well this second film in the franchise lives up to its hype, and whether it is a worthy installment to the series.

Fortunately, many can say that ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ bests its predecessor in almost every way possible. The movie starts several months after the events of the first ‘Star Trek’ and reunites the likable cast of the first film. The plot of this film is more straightforward and arguably more interesting than the first’s, testing the limits of our main characters and seeing Captain James T. Kirk’s journey to truly earning the title of ‘Captain’.

There are great and lovable performances all round this film. Chris Pine digs deeper to the James T. Kirk character and adds a greater sense of responsibility and humility to the USS Enterprise captain. Zachary Quinto again delivers a logical Spock and is given more chances to emote and embrace the half-human part of his character this time round, especially in one particular scene towards the climax of the film that may induce tears. Returning crew members Dr. ‘Bones’ McCoy (Karl Urban), Lieutenant Nyota Uhura (Zoe Saldana), Hikaru Sulu (John Cho), Chekhov (Anton Yelchin) and Scotty (Simon Pegg) all deliver likable and sometimes funny performances as their characters and are given more to do in this sequel. Alice Eve is also a nice addition to cast who gives a smart and sweet performance as Dr. Carol Wallace. Every character is given more depth and proper character development here than they have in any other ‘Star Trek’ TV series or film. This results in probably the most character driven ‘Star Trek’ movie made, which ultimately helps tie the story threads and events in the movie in the best way possible.

The standout performance, as predicted months before the film’s release is without a doubt Benedict Cumberbatch as the villainous and conniving criminal John Harrison, who provides the film with an antagonist that is not only ruthless, cunning and highly intelligent but also one that is given an interesting backstory and purpose to be the adversary he is. He is the ‘Loki’ of Star Trek. Kudos to writers Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof who provided ‘Into Darkness’ with a smart script that favoured its characters as the most important part of the movie, without forgetting the big scale action sequences that a summer movie of this stature should be coupled with.

Speaking of the action sequences, J.J. Abrams has directed multiple action set pieces that totally outdo that of his previous ‘Star Trek’ installment. Volcanoes, deep space jumping and ship versus ship combat are all added into the mix perfectly without losing the audiences’ attention on the film’s characters. An IMAX 3D screening of this film would definitely be recommended as the version to watch this film in as the 3D gives much depth to the movie’s spacey atmosphere as well as planet environments and ship interiors. The overall realism of things is exponentially multiplied with the added dimension and definitely takes you (boldly) ‘out of this world’ and to places “no one has ever gone before”. Another plus point about the film is that it is filled with references that long-time Trekkies would very much appreciate, something the first film lacked that left Trekkies slightly underwhelmed.

One nit-pick that I would have about the film is that it wraps up a tad bit too quickly for my liking and might leave action junkies wanting. It seemed as if most of the film’s budget was used in the first three quarters that the filmmakers had to restrain the action towards the end of the movie. Then again, the climax of ‘Into Darkness’ is a very character driven one and a big scale action finale might have drawn the audiences attention away from mattered more: the fate of the characters.

Overall, ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ is a worthy sequel that deserves much praise and provides moviegoers with a sense of fun, well developed character drama and a memorable villain that steals the show. Both fans and non-fans would most probably be pleased with what J.J. Abrams has to offer with his latest flick that is probably his biggest and best film yet, with almost everything a moviegoer would want to see in a summer blockbuster, albeit some restrained action. This movie also gives ‘Star Wars’ fans an assurance that the future of the ‘Star Wars’ film universe could not be in better hands. The Force is strong with Abrams.

8 out of 10 stars.  Hehe, stars, Star Trek, heh.