Review of Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) by Scarecrow007 — 14 May 2013

I suppose it’s only logical that after the success of the “Star Trek” reboot, back in 2009, we see a sequel to it enter “Star Trek: Into Darkness” a bigger and bolder sequel, but does that guarantee success?

Like the movie’s predecessor it follows the adventures of Kirk and Spock. The movie starts off pretty fast with Kirk and Spock already on a mission on primitive alien planet. After the mission Kirk is relieved from duty and at the same time John Harrison, the movie’s main bad guy, blows up a Starfleet library this kicks in the movie’s main plot and this is where I’ll stop, because that would mean to go into spoiler territory.

I wouldn’t call the plot mind-blowing, because it doesn’t reinvent the formula if you’ve seen movies like “The Dark Knight Rises” or “Iron Man 3” you’ll find a handful of similarities here. Though, the plot does have a few nice moments taken from the original films which would make a fan smile.

The part which “Star Trek: Into Darkness” nails are the characters, for the most part at least. Chris Pine feels like a different Kirk by having to face the fact that people can die during his mission and that there won’t be anything he can do to save them. Zachary Quinto is also a different Spock due to his relationship with Uhura. Though, the standout performance here is from Benedict Cumberbatch. His character (“John Harrison”) is the thing that was missing from the previous film a strong main antagonist. Despite being a quiet dreadful villain he still has his moments of sympathy where you feel sorry for him.

I think J.J.Abrams’s work should be also noted here. It was really nice seeing all the big and small nods to the original films and also it seemed as if the lens flares were toned down this time around. Good work Abrams.

One thing that I sort of didn’t like was the ending. At one point it felt that the movie would actually have the balls to do something that big, but “nope”, said the movie 10 minutes later and pulled a “Bruce Wayne”. Another (smaller) thing that I didn’t like, was the lack of depth which the older "Star Trek" movies had.

To sum things up, “Star Trek: Into Darkness” isn’t only a great sequel, but also a great standalone film, because you don’t necessarily need to have seen the previous movie to enjoy this one.