About a year after Kirk (Chris Pine) becomes captain of the USS Enterprise, the crew is charged with exploring and classifying distant civilizations, but Kirk gets court-martialed for breaking protocol and loses his captain rank. At a meeting involving high-ranking members of Starfleet, they are attacked by a ship commanded by a rogue Starfleet officer, John Harrison. Kirk’s position is reinstated but with a new purpose, kill Harrison. Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the USS Enterprise must do so without starting an all-out war with the Klingon race, as Harrison is hiding in their territory. What follows is an epic sci-fi action thriller filled with space fights, betrayals, tragedies, and some comedy thrown in the mix.
While there are many things set up in the story to make this a truly standout film, most of the movie’s idea are never truly fleshed out, feeling mostly like a retread of the first film. Kirk is immature, no one trusts him, there is a bad guy doing something evil on a far planet, they fight between two ships for a bit, then its pretty much over. No sprawling worlds to explore like the USS Enterprise is supposed to. No “boldly going where no man has gone before,” except for the first scene on a primitive alien world, which is probably one of the best scenes in the movie. Kirk and Spock go through the same arcs they did in the first film, the conflict is resolved far too quickly, and ultimately it just feels like nothing happened. There is virtually nothing different at the end of this movie than the end of the first. This movie never quite lives up to its potential, except for the superb cast.
Director of the first movie, J.J. Abrams (“Lost,” “Super 8”), returns for the sequel after revitalizing the franchise with the incredibly fun blockbuster. With his massive success with the first film, and his extensive background in sci-fi television shows, he seems well suited to the task. Unfortunately, maybe it was time for someone else to take the reins. J.J. Abrams is known to having never been a fan of Star Trek prior to his commitment to the first film, so it’s impressive enough that he made the first movie so good, but it looks he couldn’t quite pull off “Into Darkness.” With Abrams being the official king of sci-fi, as he’s also directing “Star Wars Episode VII,” I can’t say he’s quite the right man for the job. I hope his being a bigger fan of Star Wars than Star Trek means that he’ll do a better job with that one.
Chris Pine reprises his role as the fun-loving, rule-breaking, obstinate yet heroic Captain James T. Kirk. He does a solid job here of making Kirk a very human and flawed hero. He is always trying to do the good thing, even if he isn’t always the most level-headed about things, which is where his crew comes in the balance him out and help him be the best he can be. He makes Kirk feel like an everyman, yet still a badass action hero and someone to respect. If only the character had a better story arc for this film, as it’s basically the same as the first. His chemistry with Zachary Quinto is his highlight of the series.
Quinto (“Heroes”) as the half-human, half-Vulcan Spock is possibly the best part of this movie, just as he was in the first. He does a fantastic job of keeping Spock as stoic, emotionless, and calculating while still retaining subtly retaining the deeper emotions hidden inside that make him so compelling. Quinto is also good at bringing out the humor in the character, making him less boring than he could be, and very endearing. Despite all of these qualities, when Spock gets mad, you can see why his coldness is necessary, as Quinto really makes Spock someone you wouldn’t want to mess with when he’s angry.
Benedict Cumberbatch (“Sherlock,” “Parade’s End”) plays his biggest movie role yet as the main antagonist, John Harrison. With his incredibly deep voice and skinny frame making him feel off, yet imposing, and his uncanny ability to play stoic geniuses proven by playing the stoic genius in “Sherlock.” He provides a lot of depth to the character, while making him truly threatening and unpredictable. He is at times sympathetic, someone you can root for, misunderstood, and completely evil and it all fits. Too bad he ends up feeling fairly underutilized, not truly becoming the main villain until too far into the movie.
The rest of the Enterprise crew do their best with what they’ve got, which isn’t much. The cast isn’t as well balanced as it was in the first, with Zoe Saldana as Uhura, John Cho as Sulu, Karl Urban as Dr. McCoy, and Anton Yelchin as Checkov having limited screen time and no character arcs or development of their own. Oh, and Alice Eve is there too now, with no real lasting impact. It isn’t the actors’ fault, they just weren’t given much to do. Simon Pegg’s Scotty is the only crew member who gets some sort of an arc and a true impact on the story.
Overall, being a fan of the original franchise and a bigger fan of the reboot than I expected to be, I was disappointed. Oddly, when I left the movie, I was content with it, but once I started talking about it, I started noticing all these little distractions that took away from a potentially great movie. The action was good and the jokes were funny, but the story is very thin and it’s nearly a carbon copy of the original. With Abrams now moving on to Star Wars, let’s hope this rebooted franchise can get back on its feet with the next one.
