Star Trek: Into Darkness Review

Star trekkin'
Across the universe.

Always going forward,
Still can't find Reverse.

                   - The Firm


I've seen "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" and you, "Star Trek: Into Darkness", are no "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan".  It's a fun movie, though.  Wait, let me back up a bit. . .

There are all sorts of tie-in products (but mostly comic books from IDW) which are considered canon nowadays, and they're mostly worth delving into.  Here's a quick wrap-up review of the first movie and its satellite stories (these are the ones I've looked up - it is by no means a comprehensive list).


Spock: Reflections

Taking place shortly after Kirk's death in "Star Trek: Generations", this comic follows Spock as he escorts his old friend's body back to Iowa for a proper burial.  During the journey he reflects on his time in the universe and we get to witness various events and turning points in his life which we never got to see in any of the movies or T.V. shows.  It's a great story, simple and moving, enriching the already rich life of one of Trek's best loved characters.  I recommend.


Star Trek: Countdown

This is the direct lead-in to the 2009 movie.  It's set sometime after "Star Trek: Nemesis" and concerns the Hobus star, which has gone super-supernova and is threatening to wipe out most of the galaxy.  Enter Ambassador Spock and a Romulan mining ship captain named Nero, who must team up and slog their way through intergalactic politics in order to force cooperation between the empires and save the galaxy.  Naturally, things go wrong.  Nero is the one who benefits most from this story.  We follow him as he transforms from hard working, patriotic family man into hate-filled, facial-tattooed, vengeful fanatic, and we can kind of sympathize.  If you thought his character was underdeveloped in the '09 movie, well, here's where all the development is.  This comic is also a better farewell for the Next Generation than Nemesis was, even though only about half of the cast shows up in the story and Worf gets his ass kicked.  Again.


Star Trek (2009)

I've already said enough about this movie so I'll be brief.  It's a fun, perfectly cast alternate universe reboot of the Original Series.  Director J.J. Abrams applied the "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope" template to a Trek story and came up with something that felt fresh and invigorating.  Despite some really dumb shit (why, if exploding red matter creates a black hole, do the Romulans bother to drill a hole to planet's core when detonating the stuff right next to the planet would produce the same result?), it's great summer entertainment, light on ideas but full of heart and good times.


Star Trek: Nero

Were you wondering what the hell Nero and his crew were doing for 25 years while waiting for Spock to pop out of that black hole?  Here's your answer in comic book form.  They were chilling on Rura Penthe.  Based on and expanded from scenes shot and deleted from the movie, witness as Nero and company weather incarceration on a Klingon prison planet, until their daring escape in which they destroy 47 Klingon ships (remember that from the movie).  They also make a little side trip to say hello to V'Ger from "Star Trek: The Motion Picture".  This is an uneven story, but it fills in the blanks nicely for those who are curious.


Star Trek: Volumes 1-5

These are the voyages of the rebooted starship Enterprise.  After the Trek '09, NuKirk and crew boldly went where the Original Series has gone before and rediscovered new life and new civilizations.  Most of these comic book tales are NuTrek versions of Original Series episodes like "The Galileo Seven", "Where No Man Has Gone Before", "Return of the Archons" and others, but they all play out differently from the original episodes.  There are a few original stories, like one concerning a Vulcan revenge plot against the Romulans (which references TOS episode "Balance of Terror") a Mirror Universe tale (taking place in a parallel universe of the parallel universe) and some nice back story issues focusing on characters not named Kirk or Spock (i.e. everyone else).  Two of my favorites are the back stories centering on Hendorf ("cupcake" from the movies) and Keenser (Scotty's scaly little helper).  I found the Keenser story to be particularly touching and very Trek-esque.  He should get his own movie.  There are also lots of interesting trivia bits sprinkled throughout the volumes, such as a journey to the home planet of the tribbles, the fact that Sulu was offered a job with Section 31, and ADMIRAL ARCHER'S PRIZE BEAGLE!  It's a mix, but there's good stuff to be found here.


Star Trek: The Video Game

Glitchy as hell.  That's the consensus, and it's apt.  Overall I found it okay, with a couple of very positive aspects, but the buggy AI, sloggy controls and derivative nature of the gameplay make this the worst of the tie-ins.  The post-credits coda would have you believe that this is a direct lead-in to "Into Darkness", but I disagree.  It messes up continuity, so I mute that final scene and pretend that the events of the game take place sometime during the previously mentioned Volumes 1-5.  Vulcan scientists (led by Vulcan legend Surak and his hot daughter T'Mar) are using something called the Helios device to help with the terraforming of New Vulcan.  Unfortunately it malfunctions and tears a rip through space into a galaxy conquered by the reptilian Gorn, who see our galaxy as prime real estate.  Now it's up to the crew of the Enterprise to keep the Helios out of Gorn hands and plug that cosmic bunghole for good.  The graphics fluctuate from excellent to crappy and the gameplay is an unbalanced retread of elements from other, better games, but it does feature the entire voice cast of the movies (who do a good job), an excellent score from Michael Giacchino (composer for the movies) and allows you to explore areas of the Enterprise and interact with them.  There are also a variety of styles among the levels which provides some freshness, from ship-to-ship battles (only one level, too short) to space diving, to climbing around "Uncharted"-style, to one level which echoes "Arena", the Original Series episode which introduced the Gorn.  If you can take a lot of bad with your good, check out the game.  Otherwise skip it.


Star Trek: Countdown to Darkness

Okay, here's the direct lead-in to the new movie.  In this comic book prequel, the Enterprise gets caught up in an alien ground war when it's discovered that former Enterprise captain Robert April (seen only once before, in the "Star Trek: The Animated Series" episode "The Counter-Clock Incident") is assisting one faction of a pre-warp society defend themselves against another faction.  Lots of Prime Directive discussions abound, doublecrosses happen, Harcourt Fenton Mudd's half-Bajoran daughter makes an appearance, Klingons show up, Spock and Kirk butt heads, and Admiral Marcus (a major character in "Into Darkness") is given some enlightening back story.  All-in-all it's a heady story and an appropriate setup for the sequel.


Star Trek: Into Darkness

I will try to remain spoiler-free.

Since the appearance of the Narada and the destruction of Vulcan, the United Federation of Planets has stepped up its A-game and gone aggressively militaristic.  Understandable.  But when a Starfleet agent turns terrorist, the Enterprise is enlisted to hunt him down only to become embroiled in a plot which may result in interplanetary war.

The Good:

The new cast is still spot-on perfect.  Their characters are still rather unformed, compared to the more seasoned veterans of the Original Series, but that's the point.  They're evolving.  Peter Weller is awesome and should be in everything.  Benedict Cumberbatch is slimy and dangerous, yet a bit sympathetic as a villain.  And Alice Eve, while not given much screen time, does a fine job reestablishing an old character for new times.

Heart.  The movie wears its guts on its polyester sleeve and is not afraid to show it.  This new crew is becoming a family and everyone is invited to dinner, including the viewers.  Trek has rarely been subtle.  It's a giant series of metaphors wrapped in sci-fi skin and brimming over with optimism and humanistic spirit.  And that's why it's lasted 50 years.

The action sequences are bold and exciting, like a good summer movie should be.  There are a nice variety of them, too, from ship chases on planets and at warp, to space diving in thruster suits, to running up the walls of a tumbling ship, to good old-fashioned fist fights on top of hovering garbage trucks.  Woo hoo!

The special effects are awe inspiring.  Probably the best in the entire series of "Star Trek" movies, complemented by some nicely utilized 3-D effects (lots of depth in the outer space sequences).

Another great score by Michael Giacchino.  I love the NuTrek theme.  The villain themes are always a bit more obvious and "black hat", but still good.

Humor.  From the title, most people think that this new movie will be all gloom and doom, but nothing could be further from the truth.  It's almost as funny as the original, and most of humor comes from Spock, of all people.

Meaning.  Unlike the last movie, there's more on this movie's mind than just breezy entertainment.  There's a post-9/11 discussion about militarization and revenge going on underneath the surface.  It's not terribly deep, but it's there if you want to see it and it adds a bit more meat this time around.

Surprises.  Everyone and their mother has heard who the identity of the main villain is by now, but there are a few other surprises for both Trekkers and non-Trekkers alike.  I will say that some of the alternate universe twists on old Trek stories are kind of cool and different.  For fans of the tie-in comics and game, there are also many references to those as well.

The Bad:

I kind of miss classic Trek.  Slam-bang action is entertaining and all but, to me, the best Trek stories are the "talky" ones.  "Measure of a Man", "Who Watches the Watchers", "City on the Edge of Forever", "Duet", "The Visitor", "The Inner Light", I could go on and on.  Action has been a part of Trek's DNA since the beginning, but it isn't the primary ingredient.  Maybe if another T.V. series comes along. . .

Rehashing old plots and characters.  While I enjoy seeing alternate versions of the classic Trek stories I grew up with, I'm really jonesing for more original content.  Unless there is a new television show, however, I just don't think that's going to happen.  I guarantee you that we will be seeing a NuBorg movie in the next few years.  Or possibly a time travel story where the crew travels back in time to modern day America.  Just you watch.

Plot holes and stuff.  Every movie and T.V. show has plot holes.  If you're enjoying yourself enough, you rarely notice.  Sometimes, however, the holes are too damn glaring.  Like when a Federation starship is hanging around the Klingon homeworld in plain sight for hours on end and they don't take notice, even when said starship gets in a space battle with another, even bigger Federation starship!  Or the fact that you can warp from the Klingon homeworld directly to Earth (in a straight line, no less) in about two minutes at high warp.  Or. . . okay, I'm stopping for now.  My evil twin, Nitpicky Nerd, is beginning to surface.  Focus on the positive -

The Big Emotional Climax.  It just doesn't work for me.  While I get what the filmmakers were attempting to convey with that scene, I think they shot themselves in the foot with far too much undercutting.  If you don't know to what scene I am referencing, it's a remake of a very powerful and emotional scene from "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan".  While I understand that the filmmakers were trying to solidify a friendship in their version (in the TWOK, it was the end of a friendship), it is, due to the very fact that it's a rather young relationship, less powerful by nature.  The emotional outburst by a certain character at the end of that scene which, while it would have been cool if placed in a different moment, elicited laughs of joy from many audiences members thereby undoing much of the drama which came before it.  Add to that the "super blood" plot line.  Any sci-fi fan worth their salt will quickly realize that the outcome of the Big Emotional Climax will shortly be undone, further sucking all remaining drama from the big sad moment.  Lazy filmmaking, people.

Then there's a decent action sequence and a denouement which ends the movie on a great note.  Frankly, I can't wait for the next one.  It would be nice if Abrams and company gave up the helm to a new collection of filmmakers, but I don't think that's going to happen (for one more film, at least).

Overall, it's a great movie.  It doesn't have the replay value of the first one, but I liked it slightly more than "Iron Man 3" and far more than "The Great Gatsby".  Some plot elements just felt too wonky for me.  For all you hardcore Trekkers out there, it's about equal, quality-wise, to "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock".  It's a good time at the movies, with reservations.