Written by / 5/16/2013 / 4 Comments / , , , , , , ,

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS

year: 2013 cast: Chris Pine,  Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Peter Weller rating: ***1/2
The Starfleet Federation often gets in the way of the intensely intrepid and equally stubborn James T. Kirk. He’s the Captain of a Starship, sure, but as a risk taker he tends to land himself, and his crew, in loads of trouble. So now he’s really in his element as the Enterprise winds up on a classified mission that has nothing to do with Federation rules or having to stick by them.

First we begin with another mission – one gone completely haywire. Thrust into a perilous situation, director J.J. Abrams lets us know this won’t be anything short of a rollercoaster ride. Thankfully there are enough cerebral elements further along that... reminiscent of the original series that relied more on chess match precision than adventurous gusto… brings us back into an old school aura including prosthetic aliens and various references to other characters from times past – or in this case, present…

Where Kirk, after putting the Prime Directive (to not interfere with the internal development of alien civilizations) in jeopardy... and following an act of domestic terrorism... the Enterprise ventures to a planet to find the culprit, a mysterious superhuman named Harrison, who did undercover work for the Federation – Marcus (Peter Weller) in particular, the man responsible for bringing Kirk’s mentor, the endearingly lecturing Admiral Pike, into the Federation.

The second half roars with unbridled energy: a resilient Enterprise shuttle lands on a planet replete with the usually combative Klingons. Yet these fallback foes mean little to our story: it’s Harrison – who we eventually learn is the infamous warrior Khan – holding most of the cards... Within this constantly shuffled deck are twists and turns (while another important antagonist lurks in the shadows) that shouldn't be spoiled. And the way all secrets are revealed gel smoothly with the action sequences, each pivotal to the story and with little downtime in-between.

While not entirely flawless... The awkward post-romantic banter between Spock and Uhura feels contrived; one particular scene is way too similar to a past TREK movie; and  Kirk eventually becomes a brooding Marvel style superhero… Thankfully the other crew members, especially Spock... tempted to follow his human emotions… and Scotty, given his own subplot that ties loose ends together… has important footing in this sequel to a reboot of a franchise that hasn’t neglected its primal roots and doesn't completely adhere to a video game generation.
Share This Post :
Tags : , , , , , , ,

4 comments:

  1. Weller was even more bland than Bana's Nero, imo. Cumberbatch blew them both out of the water

    ReplyDelete
  2. *SPOILER ALERTS*

    I can't comment without spilling the beans but how is it spilling the beans when I've heard about this for months (but was in complete denial)

    I can only say that Abrams is Clever. With the role reversal of Spock and Kirk in this movie compared to - come on now let's say it out loud children, SPOILER ALERT if you don't know it already, WRATH OF KHAN, had me shaking my head. Clever clever clever. Even switching up dialogue almost word for word - at least in good faith. But when *SPOILER ALERT* Spock yells out Kirk's famous shout from Wrath of "KHAN", "KHAAAAAN!" - I lost it, I couldn't hold it in any more. I started laughing, and I couldn't stop laughing. I haven't laughed so hard since DUMB & DUMBER and PORKY'S. But still I was impressed - they killed off...anyway I was impressed until they didn't kill off...

    I'm sorry I was so freaking irritated to find out it was Khan. I had heard and read rumors that it was supposed to be Khan, but refused and didn't want to believe that they would take THE ICONIC Star Trek villain and reboot him - can't these Hollywood (a word used to describe women who accept money for doing the naughty naughty) come up with something original without ruining our memories of something that had meaning to our younger selves? Is it possible at all for them to come up with a single moment of originality?

    I freely admit that SPACE SEED is one of my favorite all-time Star Trek (the original series or any other of the Trek series) episodes - that would be the one with Khan in it of course. And WRATH OF KHAN is my favorite Star Trek movie and one of my all-time favorite movies. So I'm a tad bit biased.

    I love the current cast, the director can direct - why do you have to bring back Khan - for what reason? No one 30 years old or younger was born when Star Trek II Wrath of Khan came out - us old fuddy duddies don't need another Khan movie - we had it - AND LOVE IT! DO SOMETHING ORIGINAL - you got the cast, the money...

    I didn't feel like I wasted my time or money, so that's all I can really hope for from Hollywood these days. To get an original movie I love...I guess that what my DVD's are for.

    Here's to hoping that the next one is an original. And this guy is in control of the Star Wars movies?

    I'll be in down in my bunker. Let me know when next year's movies start coming out. I've been seriously underwhelmed with this new batch.

    ReplyDelete
  3. how about the imitation ending from WRATH OF KHAN?

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

All Time Popular

Featured Post

ROBERT BEATTY WITH TERRY MOORE IN 'POSTMARK FOR DANGER'

Title: POSTMARK FOR DANGER Year: 1955 Rating: ** Twenty years before Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, involving a first-act wher...

WWW.CULTFILMFREAKS.COM

WWW.CULTFILMFREAKS.COM
Movie Reviews, Interviews, Articles and Pop Culture from White Heat to Blue City

RIP ACTOR KEN HUTCHISON

TOTAL HITS

Popular Trending

FOUNDED BY JAMES M. TATE

FOUNDED BY JAMES M. TATE
RANDOM QUOTE: "The Love Generation... Vicious little creeps!" Peter Strauss, Rich Man Poor Man

FILM NOIR & NEO NOIR CRIME

FAVORITES SHORTLIST

1)OTLEY 2)HELL IS A CITY 3)ROBBERY 4)THE FEARMAKERS 5)CANYON PASSAGE 6)VIOLENT SATURDAY 7)HOT CARS 8)JUNGLE STREET 9)THE CROWDED SKY 10)THE ROARING TWENTIES 11) ANATOMY OF A MURDER 12)SHARKS' TREASURE 13)SWEENEY TWO 14)RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA 15)HARDCORE 16)THE BREAK 17)WHITE HEAT 18)AL CAPONE 19)HIDDEN FEAR 20)FALLEN ANGEL 21)NIGHT CREATURES 22)THE ASPHALT JUNGLE 23)ASH WEDNESDAY 24)THE SYSTEM 25)AIR PATROL 26)THE STONE KILLER 27)EASY LIVING 28)WILLIAM CONRAD'S BRAINSTORM 29)FRENZY 30)THE MAN FROM LARAMIE 1)DANA ANDREWS 2)JAMES CAGNEY 3)STANLEY BAKER 4)MARLON BRANDO 5)CHARLES BRONSON1)VIRGINIA MAYO 2)SUE LYON 3)GENE TIERNEY 4)MERRY ANDERS 5)FAYE DUNAWAY DIRECTORS 1)JACQUES TOURNEUR 2)RICHARD FLEISCHER 3)VAL GUEST 4)STANLEY KUBRICK 5)OTTO PREMINGER 6)ORSON WELLES 7)JOHN GUILLERMAN 8)JOHN LANDIS 9)JOHN CARPENTER 10)MICHAEL WINNER

BRITISH NEW WAVE CINEMA

RARITIES AND EXPLOITATION

HAMMER HORROR & THRILLER

Popular This Month

CHARLES BRONSON CINEMA

CINEMA OF DANA ANDREWS

WESTERN GENRE REVIEWS

PEAKING INTO THE SIXTIES

KICKING IN THE EIGHTIES

TALES AND REFLECTIONS

REVVING THE SEVENTIES

FOR HORROR MOVIE REVIEWS

Most Popular Last Year

RETURN TO THE HOMEPAGE