Creating characters fit to tell the tale of our times.

Rating: 10/10 (1 June 2013)

Although before there was a war the journey had already begun, the first true conflict began in the wake of 1977; and two camps were created.
They had very different totems: pretending to swing a stick in the air and humming metallically, and equally incompressible to the uninitiated - attempting a hand gesture with raised palm with middle and ring finger parted in a half representation of the Hebrew letter "Shin".
One had visions of totalitarian empires, the other a united federation.
For many years I had a foot in both camps, leaning slightly towards the clashing of red and blue lights and the mixture of asthma attack and artificial lung.
For now at least, the battle has been won. Most importantly to me, a decisive victory for story narrative and the journey of the hero/heroine has been achieved. Here at last are characters that suffer and face adversary for values beyond jingoism, truism and unquestioning patriotism.
"Star Trek, Into Darkness" is nothing short of a work of wondrous fiction, thick with meaning and an unabashed examination of our current times.
Please, do yourself a favour and see this spectacular film. If you are a pathetic wimp like me, you might consider not seeing it in 3D. I found the violence a bit too confrontational, as it appeared to be happening right in front of my eyes. But that's just me. No doubt most of you out there are far braver and are able to separate reality form fantasy a bit more convincingly than I can. :P Considering George Lucas dwelt in the company of Joseph Campbell of Hero with a Thousand Faces fame, the last three movies he penned himself revealed very little about either the human condition, or the journey of the hero. Ironically, J. J. Abrams, in wanting to drag Star Trek into the Star Trek mould has effectively created something far more meaningful.
Considering the weight of recent political events that the movie casts us into, I feel very comfortable to join the crew again, as they journey out and go boldly where we have seldom seen recent movies go before.