Review of Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) by Mrmoviebuff — 21 Jul 2016

'Star Trek Into Darkness' is a massive step below its predecessor in terms of its story. This film takes everything that would have been so great about this franchise, and turns it on itself.

We see James Kirk (Chris Pine) return along with his crew including; Spock (Zachary Quinto), Uhura (Zoe Saldana) and Bones McCoy (Karl Urban), but Kirk is removed from the USS Enterprise after saving the Nibiru from a volcanic eruption and getting their ship exposed to the population there.

The main plot of the film revolves around a mysterious man named John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch), who ends up killing Admiral Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood), and Kirk vows revenge on him. Kirk and his crew travel to find Harrison in Kronos, and hold him as prisoner where he is able to tell the crew about the torpedoes that they are not meant to fire simply because there are people frozen inside of them.

It becomes clear that Harrison is someone he doesn't want one to think that he is, he reveals that he is Khan (an iconic "Star Trek" villain from "The Wrath of Khan") and that this shocking revelation, doesn't seem so shocking the more you think about it. Cumberbatch is a good actor to be playing a villain, but his performance mostly channels that of Alan Rickman when he was Professor Snape in the "Harry Potter" franchise. Cumberbatch is almost not so memorable, as well as underused in this role.

It also turns out that the USS Enterprise is compromised as the USS Vengeance is attacking them, the leader of that ship, Admiral Marcus (Peter Weller) wants the crew to bring Khan to him.

The Enterprise is now in some form of danger, and Kirk tries everything he can to bring the ship back into function, in the exchange for his own life. After witnessing Kirk die, Spock, in angst, vows revenge on Khan and goes after him. It turns out that Bones discovers that Khan's blood can revive a dead being when tested on an animal. They soon realize that Khan's blood can do the same to Kirk, so they need him alive. Spock brings Khan back, alive, and they were able to use his blood to revive Kirk as well as freeze Khan inside a torpedo.

The film can still be a great, visually dazzling and fast-paced experience for fans of this new take, but the way the plot gets resolved and the overall solution feels a bit of a step down from any form of struggle. The fact that the villain's blood can bring a dead being back to life seems a little off, and is the easiest solution for any film plot, whatsoever. The screenwriters; Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Damon Lindelof try so hard to create an intense third act, and try hard to end it as quick as they can, but result in just rushing the solution and everything is resolved quickly and easily. Don't forget Bones' cheesy lines of dialogue like "Damn it, I'm a doctor! Not a..." and so on. The dialogue for some reason sounds forced and unreal.

J.J. Abrams' direction is still as fantastic as ever, and the cast of actors still do a tremendous job of committing to their roles. The script is what let this film down...it will please casual sci-fi fans and maybe some "Star Trek" fans, here and there...but for most dedicated "Star Trek" fans...this will not suffice.