Star Trek By Numbers

Rating: 2/10 (5 March 2016)

Star Trek Into Darkness feels sadly like a film that was created shortly after someone read a book on how to write screenplays and then another on how to direct action movies. Just about everything in this film is prefaced with the obligatory set-up scene then punctuated with an equally obligatory action sequence and carried off with a frustrating lack of passion, commitment and subtlety that left me groaning in despair. Performance and direction are in full automatic mode for the entire two hours.
For some inexplicable reason Star Trek Into Darkness eschews the tradition of raising the moral and ethical issues that are the life blood of the franchise, preferring instead to settle for a series of mindless stunts and action sequences that are simultaneously unoriginal, unconvincing and unengaging.
There are ancient clichés here that reminded me of TV cop movies from the Seventies. I won't go into them but, trust me, you'll recognise them when you see them.
In truth I couldn't have cared less whether Kirk, Spock and the rest of the crew lived, died or warped into hyperspace only to disappear up their own black holes.
This is Star Trek by numbers. It's tiresome, repetitive and, in my view, an insult to the franchise. This is two hours I would much prefer to have spent playing Sudoku. And boy do I hate Sudoku.