Star Trek: Into Darkness ... 8/10

Rating: 8/10 (6 June 2013)

I never thought I'd be saying this, but the new Star Trek installment is truly a cinematic experience. I did not enjoy Star Trek (2009) nor do I have any strong feelings about the originals. I was very worried about Star Wars Episode 7 when I went into this movie, simply because I felt Abrams was the wrong choice. I breathed a huge sigh of relief as the end credits rolled; he has done it, he has proved himself. That is not to say it is perfect, the film contains several sex jokes/references that I felt were unnecessary given this films genre. Aside from that though, everything I didn't like about the first installment has been almost completely eradicated, one being the love story. The controversial decision to make Spock and Uhura an item made fans angry, its still in the film however the writing has been improved dramatically and Uhura is once again a secondary character with far less screen time, the way she should stay. The most important change is that of the villain, if a film like this has a weak villain then its a weak movie. Abrams has replaced a bland and loud Eric Bana with a composed, focused and most importantly menacing Benedict Cumberbatch. His scenes are by far the most compelling however the film does stand on its own two feet without him, the relationship between Spock and Kirk is now the focal point and its executed with skilled writing and honest performances. I saw the film in 2D so I'm not able to comment on the 3D however from what I could gather it isn't worth the extra money, the film looked great in 2D and I didn't need to worry about brightness reduction. Abrams even reduced the amount of lens flares, say what you want but he clearly listens to criticism.
What can I say, I was pleasantly surprised by Into Darkness and would highly recommend you see it in the cinema...this is not a DVD movie. Also, for the record I thought Spielberg would have been a good choice for Episode 7.