This brings me to my second point, that this review will be completely, unabashedly SPOILERTASTIC, so be warned of that, too.
Finally, since this blog didn't exist in '09 when the first of these new Star Trek movies came out, I feel that I need to talk a bit about what I liked and didn't like about that movie, since my instinct in this review will be to reference my feeling about it. I won't review it completely, but I will be discussing the bare bones of it.
So let's get started. I want to preface by saying that I adore J.J. Abrams as a director (aside from his overuse of lens flares), and I really like the writing team he's put together for these movies. I respect what he's done with Star Trek, bringing it into the public eye again after almost 30 years. Star Trek is a difficult franchise to tackle. Not only does it have so much lore, most of which is pretty confused and conflicting, it also has a rather intriguing purpose, that being to deal with difficult to address current events issues in a futuristic setting, making them a bit more palatable to the everyday viewer. Not to mention Star Trek's existing, highly demanding fan base, of which I am a part. While I have some very large, fundamental issues with the '09 movie from the perspective of a pre-'09 movie Star Trek fan, I will admit that it was still a good movie a provided a defibrillator jolt to the heart of a dying franchise that I desperately didn't want to see dead. It had great action and visuals, a compelling story that actually allowed both versions of the franchise, the new and the old, to exist at once, and a cast that managed to successfully invoke the original. The way that Chris Pine plays James T. Kirk is reminiscent of how Bill Shatner played him, for example, without being a direct rip-off, Quinto and Urban are dead on as Spock and McCoy, and the rest of the cast has managed to breath new life into the often-underplayed "minor" characters.
Geez, what's with all of the resuscitation references today?
Anyway, however, there are still things I didn't like about the previous movie. First, and foremost by a wide wide margin, I hated the destruction of the planet Vulcan, one of the most important worlds in the Star Trek franchise as a whole for the entirety of its existence. Not just that it was destroyed, either. Under certain situations, I could live with it. No, I hate that it was destroyed and remained that way, with Spock from the original continuity available with all of his advanced technical knowledge, including his knowledge of time travel. He wouldn't even be damaging the timeline if he went back to save Vulcan, he'd be restoring it. Seriously, he gave Scotty the miraculous Transwarp Beaming technology, which wouldn't be invented for hundreds of years, but he thought that going back in time to save billions of people was going too far? No way. Sometimes plot can get away with overriding logic, but this is just a little too much for me.
Second, let's talk about the USS Enterprise. I want to point out early on that, unlike some long-time fans, I absolutely love the new design for the Enterprise. She's my baby. A model of that ship is a main centerpiece in my toy collection, right alongside the Diamond Select Toys release of the original version (and an original ship of my own, because I'm a geek). I also want to remind you that I did say I'm a fan of Abrams. All of that being said, the portrayal of the Enterprise's size in the '09 movie was ridiculous. The Enterprise of that time period wasn't very big as far as sci-fi spaceships go, at just around 300 meters long, and in many shots, that's how she's portrayed. Then, in some shots, she's portrayed as something much bigger than any Starfleet ship we've seen even far in the future of later series. The new movie being in a different timeline isn't enough to justify the ship being so much larger than it should be. And while we're on the subject, the decision to make the engineering section of the ship a brewery was just stupid. There is really no other way to put it. Stupid. I mean, seriously, even if the ship were super-huge, there's still no way that room would fit.
Finally, and by far my most minor complaint, there were times in the '09 movie when the actors really felt, to me, a long-time fan of the franchise, like a group of people playing the characters from Star Trek, not the characters themselves. They all played there parts extraordinarily well, they just didn't yet feel like those people to me. It also probably didn't help that the '09 movie was primarily an action movie, while Star Trek isn't primarily an action franchise.
Wow, this review is going long...
Anyway, all of this being said, now I can talk about Into Darkness. Sorry if some of what I say here is a little confusing. As I mentioned above, I will be referencing the old Star Trek movies A LOT here, so if you haven't seen them, there might be a few things that you have trouble following. Why must I reference the old movies? One word (well, one name): Khan.
Yes, that's right, after months of rumors, speculation, denials, and heated fan "discussions" (to use the kindest term), we finally know who Benedict Cumberbatch plays in Into Darkness. He does, in fact, play Khan Noonien Sing, the superhuman nemesis to Kirk introduced in the original Star Trek series, and finally defeated in the fan-favorite movie of the franchise, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Wrath of Khan was, at the time, the greatest success that Star Trek as a franchise had ever had, and as far an '80's sci-fi movies go, it holds up fantastically. The decision to make the new universe's version of Khan the villain in the second of the new movies was very dangerous on Abrams' part, as the smallest of mistakes would have alienated the portion of the existing fan base that Abrams had already secured. Abrams, though, did exceedingly well. Khan in the original timeline was a brilliant, ruthless, determined, powerful villain played by a hammy as hell actor. Khan in this timeline is a brilliant, ruthless, determined, powerful villain played by a brilliant actor who is easily one of my favorites. It is his performance alone as Khan which makes the character's inclusion in this movie okay. He doesn't play Khan the same way, he plays him close, but better.
Now, Cumberbatch's performance probably would have been enough to save the movie in the eyes of Star Trek fans, but the writers take things up a notch and give us so much fanservice. Dr. McCoy makes constant metaphors, as he is known to do, the secret division of Starfleet, Section 31, introduced in Star Trek: Deep Space 9 is referenced, Harry Mudd, a comedic villain from the original series is referenced, the Ketha Province, an area of the Klingon Homeworld known from previous series, is the location to which Khan escapes after his attack on Section 31 early in the movie. Lines, situations, and even an entire scene (with a new twist) are lovingly borrowed from Wrath of Khan. So much of this movie feels like a love letter to those of us who have been watching this show our entire lives, while still managing to be unique enough to be interesting to us who have been with the franchise for so long. Hell, Kirk even flat-out steals a primitive species' "god" for there own good, a reference to several classic episodes, as well as something that is undeniably in character.
On the subject of performances, let's talk a little about the other characters as we move on to the story. Another new character is Admiral Marcus, the "other" villain of the movie. He was frightened by the events of the first movie and decided that he wanted to strengthen Starfleet, even going so far as to find and wake Khan, an ancient war criminal, from cryogenic stasis, hoping to glean military insight from Khan's warrior mind. He does, developing new weapons, and even a new super starship, the awesome USS Vengeance, which completely wrecks my baby in a short but intense space battle sequence. Marcus, however, betrays Khan, pushing Khan to his terrorist actions by taking Khans fellow super soldiers, still frozen, hostage in the very torpedoes that Khan helped Marcus to develop. Marcus, who is a hammier villain more akin to the original Khan, is still fantastically portrayed by Peter Weller. After Khan attacks Starfleet, Marcus must put his plan to militarize Starfleet very hastily into action. He uses the fact that Khan has escaped to the home planet of the hostile Klingons as an excuse to send the Enterprise there, with the torpedoes that secretly house Khan's people, in the hopes of starting a war and getting Khans people killed, punishing Khan as well. Luckily for our valiant heroes, Marcus has a much less villainous daughter, Carol (another Star Trek II character), played by the sexy and adorable Alice Eve, who realizes that something is amiss with her father's motives and comes aboard the Enterprise, helping our heroes to discover valuable information that would help them to overcome their enemies later on. Khan's, Carol's, and Marcus' stories and motivations are all brilliantly interwoven, creating an intelligent, interesting plot that is just as smart as one would expect from a Star Trek story of the highest caliber. It feels like a Star Trek story, too, as it is good sci-fi, placed in a well-developed futuristic setting, which deals with current issues, mainly terrorism, and for this I couldn't be happier.
Of course, this is just the bare bones of the story. There is a lot more to it (a strong contrast to the simplified story of the '09 movie). Going into more detail, the movie begins with the Enterprise on a survey mission to a planet with red plant life, and a badass, giant volcano that is about to erupt. Now, the prime directive of Starfleet is to explore without directly influencing the development of primitive alien cultures, but of course Kirk and his crew want to save the planet's people from death by magma, so they decide that as long as the aliens don't see them, their development won't actually be altered. Of course, the magnetic field of the planet doesn't allow for beaming from space, so the crew must launch their operation from the surface of the planet, and when Spock is put in danger, Kirk ignores the Prime Directive completely and allows the ship to be seen by the natives in order to save him. This leads to some of the best visuals of the movie, including an almost scientifically accurate volcano interior, and a truly amazing shot of the Enterprise rising up out of the ocean where it is hidden, something that is just barely cooler than it is preposterous. Of course Spock, being half-Vulcan, rats Kirk out for breaking the Prime Directive to save him, and Kirk loses the Enterprise to his mentor, Admiral Pike, who keeps Kirk on as First Officer. Meanwhile Khan enlists Mickey from Doctor Who as a suicide bomber with the promise that he will save Mickey's daughter, who is dying of unnamed incurable disease #3, with his Deus Ex Machina superblood. Mickey from Doctor Who destroys a Section 31 facility disguised as the Kelvin Memorial Data Archive, and every senior command officer in the solar system is gathered at Starfleet command to discuss the situation, including Kirk, Spock, and Pike. Khan has been working with Starfleet, however, so he knows that this will happen, and knowing that Marcus will be at the meeting, he steals an atmospheric jump ship and starts killing the attendees through the window from outside.
Told you this was a complex one. This is just the first fifteen minutes.
So Kirk destroys the jump ship, but not before Pike is killed in the assault, leading to one of the most genuinely touching death scenes I've seen in a long time. Kirk actually cries. It was awesome, in the way that sad deaths in movies are awesome. Anyway, now Kirk and Spock are very pissed off (though Spock less visibly so). They soon discover, with Scotty's help, that Khan has beamed to the Klingon home planet of Kronos using the Transwarp Beaming tech from the '09 movie. They tell Marcus, and he sends them on their mission, claiming that if they use the long range torpedoes and just kill Khan, that they'll return without angering the Klingons. Kirk, however, isn't cool with murdering a guy, even if he is a terrorist, so he goes to Kronos is person in the shuttle they secured in the "Mudd incident from last month", disguised as a weapon dealer, while the Enterprise threatens Khan from space with the torpedoes. Khan of course knows that his people are in the torpedoes, and so, after a fantastic fight with some Klingon patrols, he surrenders to save his peoples' lives.
Back on the Enterprise, the warp engines are down due to a mysterious malfunction that will keep the ship from running away. Meanwhile, Kirk sends a message to Marcus that he's captured Khan, who is still using an alias, Commander John Harrison. He then goes to speak with Khan, who reveals his identity, more to us than to Kirk, since Kirk doesn't even know who Khan is. Khan tells Kirk all about Marcus' plan, and challenges him to open up a torpedo to prove it. Because the torpedoes are so mysterious, to the point that they are classified, a detail that led to Scotty leaving the ship back at Earth, Kirk has McCoy and Carol open a torpedo, and they find one of Khan's men within. Not ready to believe Khan outright, Kirk contacts Scotty on Earth and asks him to check out some coordinates near Jupiter that Khan gave him. Scotty borrows a federation shuttle and flies to the coordinates just in time to board Marcus' USS Vengeance as it is launching.
Marcus warps to Klingon space to confront Kirk. He didn't expect Kirk to let Khan live, and has guessed correctly that Kirk has learned of his plans from Khan. He demands that Kirk hand over Khan, but Kirk refuses and, his engines finally working again, warps away toward Earth. As far as he knows, the Enterprise has the most advanced engines in Starfleet, and therefore the Vengeance can't catch him, but he's wrong. Marcus catches him near Earth and shoots my baby out of warp, overwhelming her defenses in an instant with his ship's advanced weapons. In fact it's only the fact that Carol is aboard the Enterprise that keeps him from destroying her outright. Of course Marcus just beams her off the ship and prepares to kill them anyway, which leads to a truly amazing scene where we see Kirk react to a threat that he simply can't deal with, a true no-win situation, and we can see it humble him before our very eyes.
Of course Scotty is a thing, and he's on the Vengeance, so just before the Vengeance can destroy the Enterprise, Scotty manages to bring her weapons down from the inside, though only for a little while. Kirk teams up with Khan, who knows the layout of the Vengeance, and without use of the transporters, needs to find a way to get aboard the Vengeance and take Marcus down. This leads to a ridiculous but still visually amazing scene where Kirk and Khan space jump from an Enterprise airlock to a Vengeance airlock. Khan even saves Kirk, which is, like, trippy as hell for me.
Kirk and Khan team with Scotty, but Kirk correctly assumes that rather than Khan helping them, they are in fact helping Khan, and plans to stun Khan as soon as they find Marcus, but Khan overwhelms them anyway, kills Marcus, and takes Vengeance for himself. Meanwhile Spock does what I would have done hours ago in his place: contacts his future counterpart on New Vulcan. Spock Prime, again played by the geek-legend Leonard Nemoy, understands the danger presented by Khan, and tells Spock how he and Kirk defeated him in their timeline. So, when Khan calls up Spock on the Enterprise, demanding his torpedo-encased men in exchange for Kirk, Scotty, and Carol, Spock gives him exactly what he wants. Of course he removes Khan's men from the torpedoes and then arms them first. The Torpedoes go off, disabling the Vengeance completely, and thus Khan is, more or less, defeated the same way he was in Star Trek II, though in this one he doesn't blow himself up (and it doesn't create a scientifically implausible planet this time around).
Everything seems well, until the Enterprise finally succumbs to her damage and her power fails. She begins to free-fall toward Earth. This leads to a blatant rip-off of a scene from Wrath of Khan, but an excusable one. As any classic Star Trek fan knows, in Wrath of Khan, Spock sacrifices his life to restore power to the Enterprise just in the nick of time, has a touching death scene where he delivers to Kirk the famous line "I have and always shall be your friend". This time around, it's Kirk who sacrifices his life, causing Spock to admit for the first time that he and Kirk are friends. Of course, like Spock in WOK, Kirk will be revived, but Spock doesn't know this. He chases Khan to Earth and fights with his alien strength against Khan's superhuman strength in a truly impressive fight sequence. With Uhura's help, they retrieve Khan and restore Kirk with the same superblood serum that saved Mickey from Doctor Who's daughter in the first act. Khan is re-frozen, he and his men are sealed away somewhere where they can do no harm (no doubt guarded by top men), and the Enterprise is repaired. Kirk is given back command, and he and his crew go out on the first Five Year Mission in Starfleet history, though this isn't the same mission they were on in the Original Series. In fact, it is the Five Year Mission that Pike took the Enterprise on in the original timeline, before Kirk took command. They play the remixed Star Trek theme, and roll the credits.
So that's the story, and it's awesome! This movie is smart, quick, it has great character moments, especially between Spock and Uhura, who are dealing with the issues of dating on an interspecies level, and Spock and Kirk, who are just coming into their friendship. Sulu gets to command the Enterprise while Kirk is off ship on Kronos, nodding to the fact that he becomes a successful captain later down the line. Spock gets to show off his Vulcan powers. It's nostalgic. It even has a proper engine core set! It hits so many notes that I find it hard to say anything negative about it, but of course this is a review, so I must.
First of all, though the ship's exterior size is established pretty consistently, its interior size is still a little off. There is a throwaway line about a "shuttlebay two", even though the ship obviously has only one shuttlebay (though this could be a clever injoke poking fun at the fact that the same mistake was often made on Star Trek: Voyager). The torpedo launchers are never shown to be in the same place twice. Some technologies are still portrayed inconsistently (such as warp speed being considerably faster than in the original timeline), though not so much so as in the '09 movie, thank Glob. The engineering scenes outside of main engineering are still filmed in the same brewery, too, and some scenes are clearly just there to look cool, and to pad the movie, and not always to the movie's benefit. There are several issues, though they are far outweighed by the things that this movie does right, including finally elevating the new actors to a point where I no longer see them as actors, but as the classic characters I know and love. While I liked the previous movie as a movie, I loved this movie as a Star Trek movie. While I understand that there are those who would disagree, I feel that I can happily give Star Trek Into Darkness a 9 out of 10.
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