Sheer brilliance! Abram's Star Trek might be the best flick of the summer

Rating: 9/10 (27 May 2013)

When Abram's rebooted Star Trek he had perhaps the most uphill battle ahead of him of any director...ever. Millions of the most die hard, obsessive and fastidious fans ever would be staring at him. For many...he ticked them off there is no doubt. However, for most he knocked it out of the park! The first film was a brilliant sci-fi epic reboot. How would a second outing fare? Well let me tell you...JJ Abrams has set a standard of Sci-Fi action that few others will ever touch. But beyond that the film sets a standard for action films and summer blockbusters. Into Darkness is a riveting, brilliant, adrenaline fuelled masterpiece. The characters that we all love are given such a range and when you think it couldn't leave you on the edge of your seat anymore, it does again and again. The film gives us an incredible villain that is so vital to a film like this. The special effects, much like the first one, were absolutely bang on. CGI can be so tricky and completely overused and even worse done poorly but Into Darkness is breathtaking to look at and the CGI and special effects are very near flawless. Every time you see the Enterprise it is epic and just awe inspiring.
Chris Pine returns as the iconic Captain Kirk. He is absolutely a different Captain Kirk than Shatner and that's a good thing. He is a star and his charisma on screen is perfect. His hero is a flawed one and makes many mistakes but is always first there to the rescue. Pine carries the film effortlessly. I'm sure I raved about him in the review for the first film but Zachary Quinto is amazing. As far as I'm concerned this was an Oscar worthy performance from him and I truly mean that. His Spock is so brilliant and captures the essence of the iconic Leonard Nimoy while making his own mark on the character. Spock has such an incredible and emotional arc in this film and Quinto is brilliant at it. The chemistry between him and Pine is near perfect. The whole Enterprise crew returns once again. Its just incredible that Abrams or whomever cast this film was able to find a group of people that work so well together. Not only do they work well together but they completely embody these characters that we were created so long ago and are so iconic. They pay a respectful homage to those original characters and create a whole new persona as well. Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, John Cho and Anton Yelchin are amazing in their roles. The film does a great job at balancing everyone as equally as possible so that everyone can find their favourite character. Bruce Greenwood also returns in a cameo type role as Pike but a very important character and he's great as well. It was a pleasure to see Peter Weller in a major supporting role. He is a terrific adversary to Kirk and the guy just looks villainous. This is certainly one of his best roles in a very long time. Alice Eve is also a new addition to the cast and the one very big downside to this cast. I have said many times before in reviews that Alice Eve is gorgeous...I have a huge crush on the girl, however...she isn't a great actress. She tries hard enough but I have yet to see her in anything impressive. Her character is unnecessary in the film and she sticks out amongst the cast. And finally we have perhaps the best performance hands down is by Benedict Cumberbatch. Now, the spoilers of who he is has been dredged all over the internet and ticked off legions of fans. I won't specifically do that again. But he is a villain and an incredible one at that. His presence on screen is epic and perfect and one of the best villains I've seen in a very long time!
Abrams rebooting of this franchise making back to back blockbusters like this makes him one of the best directors in my books. It makes me feel completely confident for Star Wars. In the first film I think he paid a very respectable homage to the original content. This is coming from a non-Trekkie but I am still learning about the little Easter Eggs from that first film. Now with his one, he upped that ante and paid such incredible respect to the original series. The entire scene near the end of the film with Kirk and Spock was done in such an incredibly moving and well done way. Obviously it is hard for people to go into this without astronomical expectations, especially die hard fans but I encourage everyone to go and see this and have fun because this is the type of summer Blockbuster to be thrilled over!! I go with my gut and for me this was near perfectly executed. 9/10