Boldly falling flat on its nose

Rating: 3/10 (5 September 2013)

Star Wars is back - force abundant - parading around in Trekkie uniforms and supplanting Wookies with a miniature sidekick Keenser. Any semblance of a cohesive and immersing story has been supplanted by an onslaught of special effects and epic battles, which fail to hit the mark (both logically as well as visually). The flimsy hatchet job script supplied by a trio of vastly overrated scriptwriters Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof, flings the Enterprise into a story much bigger than its bite.
With the opening sequence the intent is clear: the spectacle itself trumps all. Despite the action being totally illogical the script has the Enterprise resting underwater as part of a reconnaissance mission to a pre-warp civilisation. The idea of the Enterprise emerging from the ocean was just too mouth-watering for Abrams and his crew, but honestly: what happened to waiting quietly off planet and teleporting when necessary? And don't get me started with teleporting... The 'new and improved' Star Trek can teleport people light years away onto vessels moving at warp speed, but can't teleport people off a volcano? Ke?
But enough of that for now, as there will be enough banter following regarding the ineptitude of the story. Spock (Zachary Quinto), having almost perished in lava, and Kirk (Chris Pine) return back to Earth, where both are demoted for breaking the cardinal rule of non-intervening into the development of pre-warp species (remember that thing with the Enterprise resting underwater and having to emerge from the ocean? Connect the dots.). The situation however soon changes when the deviously enigmatic terrorist and exceptionally British gentleman Commander John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch), bombs an underground facility and then attacks Star Trek command central. This new opponent may yet prove Spock and Kirk biggest foe... and his real name is... da da dam! Guess!
Within the framework of script-working gaffes and borrowing of concepts or even entire scenes from previous Star Trek movies, "Into Darkness" is a less than enjoyable piece of commercialised Star Trek hogwash. As much as I understand the need for Star Trek to update itself to the modern crowd, dummifying it and amplifying the volume towards a less cerebral Star Wars direction, is clearly a misstep and possibly a damaging hit to the franchise.
That said the one thing that works immaculately and offers hope that with a less superficial team of director and scriptwriters the franchise may yet hit warp speed, is the immense cast. Both Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto have immersed into the characters flawlessly, now almost forming their own new legend. The standout character however is Karl Urban as doctor Bones, nailing everything about the character to perfection, with one of the performances of the year. Nonetheless - with detriment to the dynamics of the crew - Bones is underutilised, rarely functioning as the contemplative voice of emotive reason, which made him arguably the best character in all Star Trek history.
And naturally there is the baffling revelation: After years of promising that the sequel won't feature Khan Noonien Singh, Benedict Cumberbatch ultimately reveals himself to be the famed Sikh via Mexico (as previously portrayed as Ricardo MontalbÃ¡n). Naturally true Star Trek fans - to which I do not belong - had cognitive clicks the moment 72 missiles were mentioned, but this big reveal was evident pretty early on. Given the distinctly English features and traits, Cumberbatch must be widely held as a weird actor choice and awkward retcon of the origins of Star Trek's most famous villain, possibly in a vain attempt to deflect suspicions away from Khan as to the true identity of Commander John Harrison. Additionally Khan's more complex motivations, as presented in the original series and film, were supplanted by hints of genocidal warfare, making him a paper-thin villain dedicated solely to mindless destruction and death. What's worse Khan's preference of brain over brawn, as a preferred weapon of choice, gets hijacked.
It would have however served a better purpose to just stick with the original Khan or just forgo the notion of using this character at all. Especially if you don't intent to retcon the famous genetic wars of the 1990s (remember those times?). With this superficial usurping of Khan, J.J. Abrams further damages his own reboot, underlined by a ridiculous "Khaaaannnn!!!" moment during the final act. Furthermore after the idiotic re-imagination of Star Trek science and the introduction of trans-warp teleportation (which unfortunately was not buried away into oblivion, but actually utilised by Khan to escape from Earth into Klingon territory), Abrams throws in the kitchen sink by giving Khan's blood the power of guaranteeing immortality and resurrecting the dead. Naturally the implications of both 'discoveries' are devastating: What's the point in trekking, if you can teleport yourself across the galaxy within seconds? And where's the drama, if all sickness, death and so forth have been rendered null and void? Whether or not future instalments will somehow manage to avoid falling into the grave dug out by Abrams is questionable, given the only surefire ways of surpassing these problems are either rebooting the reboot or just magnanimously intentionally avoiding any mention of their existence.