Star Trek: Into Darkness

I'm not a Trekkie. I never was. I just never got into it. I didn't watch the first J. J. Abrams Star Trek movie until I was on a plane. I was blown away. It was exciting, new, and really put in perspective how enormous the universe could be, something many sci fi movies just don't do for me. And even though I never watched Trek in the past, I absolutely loved the idea of an alternate universe to allow for enormous twists in what was canon Star Trek.

This movie continued the twists and turns, and really had me intrigued and invested. It had amazing visuals, great moments and the fun sense of adventure of the first. But unfortunately, the first movie had done an amazing job at making me like Star Trek. I watched all the previous movies. And that was this film's biggest problem.

Sure, it's not the same. But it really mimics the plot and takes moments directly from a previous movie. And while it's not necessarily obtrusive, it does become a little annoying to hear a particular character scream a particular name at the top of his lungs. Moreso, I loved the sense of adventure and size of the galaxy from the previous movies, and this lacked. Sure, a few planets were shown, but for the most part this all happened on or near Earth, which was disheartening considering the already shown scope of the galaxy.

The other sad problem was found in dialogue. Some character interaction was forced, such as Uhura's anger at Spock for potentially sacrificing his life, or the love (?) between Kirk and Marcus. Even more frustrating was the lack of Simon Pegg, who had his moments but was sadly not involved for the vast majority of the movie. And even though I loved his portrayal as a frustrated man doing what he believed was his job correctly, it seemed forced that he would leave and forced that he would come back (really, there's no one else in Star Fleet who could help?)

But when all of that is said and done, this movie is incredibly exciting, gorgeous eye candy, and actually rather emotional at points. It has dynamite performances from everybody in it, especially Mr. Cumberbatch and Qunito. It's one that I'd love to have seen in an enormous IMAX theatre and really soak it in. If only I had the money...

Rank: 4.5/5