Great Movie That Casual Movie Fans Will Like & Trekkies Will LOVE

Rating: 9/10 (16 May 2013)

What's great about "Star Trek Into Darkness" is that it does what few Treks ever do....it will (for the most part) unite the Trekkie and casual movie goer alike in their enjoyment of it.
First off, I'll confess that I did like the original series and saw quite a few of the Trek movies. I'm not going to get dressed up in Klingon garb or some other BS for a convention, but I did enjoy the show and see the movies on VHS or in a theater.
Here's the thing....there certainly is a devoted group of Trek fans who will NEVER be satisfied with anything but an exact recreation of the original. Heck, one guy on here wrote a review ripping the movie for callously violating the prime directive, invoking God, etc. These type of people....are morons. Yes, Star Trek occasionally told some culturally relevant tales, but it was, at it's core, still just a TV show and, for every great episode full of morality, it had it's episodes with scantily clad women or clunkers that were meant to do nothing more than try and boost ratings (or were just lazy efforts). And for the "it's not Trek because it's a big budget mainstream flick", well yeah, and guess what, the original Trek went there too in it's very first effort (The Motion Picture). And it failed so critically it nearly killed the franchise.
The reason that film failed, Wrath of Khan & Into Darkness work, and also the reason moron Trekkie is an idiot, is that Star Trek is all about the CHARACTERS. Whatever the story, whatever the moral, it's the iconic characters of Kirk, Spock, McCoy et al who drive it. The Motion Picture spent, in it's day, a lot, but was all about special effects. Wrath of Khan not only had the stories, but it brought out the same characters that we'd seen in the series and it in the process revived the franchise.
That's what J.J. Abrams has done best. The original series cast will always be the most beloved, but remember, they had 79 TV episodes together before the movies. This cast has only been together twice, yet they've recreated (and in their own ways put their own stamps) the same chemistry. And they get the viewer to care. The death scene (though a clear homage in many ways to Wrath of Khan) is amazing. Again, Nimoy and Shatner will never be topped as they originated the characters, but Pine and Quinto have the chemistry down and it is a very good piece of cinema.
In many ways, Into Darkness is a mirror of Wrath of Khan. Wrath of Khan had themes of age, how do we deal with growing older or past our prime. After all, those characters were in their 50s by that point. In this film they're obviously younger and the theme is reversed, it's more about the aging and maturing into a man, into a leader. Some of called it an homage, others a remake. It's really more of a companion piece as these "Wrath" and "Darkness" are essentially separate sides of the same coin-in one we see these characters in the beginning of their development....in another we see them at the end. And yes, there are other contemporary themes woven into the plot in regards to terrorism, drone strikes, and the morality of how we react when we've been attacked. But the movie certainly also has all the loud noises and action that will attract the casual movie watcher.
Now, it's not a deep pic or anything like that. It has it's holes and nitpicks. Though I'm a fan of the original series, I think sometimes they made a few too many references to the classic Trek (and truth be told they even had a reference to the Deep Space Nine series too). I mean, hasn't Shatner's "KHAAANNNN!!!" line been parodied or done enough? And to me, if there was one flaw, one thing that really could have been done to set this movie over the top, and into a really dark place, it would have been making the death permanent. That's what made Wrath of Khan such a big hit. When Spock died in that film it looked permanent, it felt real, and few movies to this day take that chance, especially considering how beloved the character was. At the time they did it because, after the bomb of the Motion Picture, there didn't figure to be many more Treks, if any. Of course, when the movie became a surprise hit and spawned more, they had to bring Spock back to keep making money (see Trekkies, even the original series people weren't that saintly that they didn't chase the almighty dollar). In many ways, that's the same case here. CLEARLY this rebooted Trek has more life after the way the first one performed and this one will, so killing off a central character for good would be a HUGE risk, and one they're not willing to take. But had they done it, and made it stick, it would have put this on a par with a Dark Knight or Godfather II type sequel.
In any case, the flaws and nitpicks are minor compared to just how much fun you have watching this flick. In many ways you wish it were a TV show because you want to see another new adventure. Something the moron Trekkies almost fail to recognize, ironically, are some of Gene Roddenberry's (creator of the original series) last words before he passed away. He'd been interviewed and said he hoped over the years people would take Trek and reinvent it, not copy his vision to the letter, but put their own spin on it and keep it going in it's own contemporary time. Abrams really has done that while still keeping to what can make Star Trek fun and special.