A Star Trek for the 21st Century.

Rating: 9/10 (31 May 2013)

I have seen every episode of the original Star Trek series multiple times and every single movie thereafter, but I do not and never have considered myself a Trekker or Trekkie or whatever the hell they call themselves; I am simply a fan of good storytelling and great adventure.
And I must say that STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS is up there with the best of them for the following reasons:
The cast, which takes these iconic characters and makes the roles their own by echoing the original actors, but never stooping to an imitation. Chris Pine's Captain Kirk is brash, and reckless, while Zachary Quinto's Spock is a Vulcan to the core with a repressed human side that is always just under the surface. We stop comparing them to Shatner and Nimoy (who makes a pertinent cameo)and let them fully inhabit their characters. The same for Karl Urban (McCoy); Zoe Saldana (Uhura); Simon Pegg (Scotty); John Cho (Sulu); and Anton Yelchin (Chekov). With STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS the characters from the Trek universe take a huge step toward ascending to the level of Gulliver, Victor Frankenstein, James Bond and Sherlock Holmes.
Which brings me to the second great thing about the film: The villain. In Benedict Cumberbatch's "John Harrison" the crew of the Enterprise is given an epic foe equal to the story's great heroes. Of course anyone familiar with the Trek canon will quickly figure out "Harrison's" true identity. The casting of Cumberbatch is spot on and a another great example of how an iconic character can be made fresh and new again. It also proves how it is not always necessary to cast a big star in the villain role; just get an actor who is perfect in the part i.e. Gert Frobe as Goldfinger.
The third great thing about STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS is the way it takes WRATH OF KHAN and turns it on its head, rewriting the original and keeping the most memorable moments, while at the same time making it all seem fresh and original.
The final thing that makes INTO DARKNESS so great is J.J. Abrams's direction, which pulls off the difficult feat of making a big budget science fiction epic that never allows its characters to be overwhelmed by the special effects, which are always there to serve the story and not the other way around. Of course there are some gaping logic holes in the script (Why are children still getting ill if a potential cure has been around for three hundred years?). Let it be reiterated: the science of the Star Trek universe was never meant to be factually sound. And does every movie have to be a comment on the War on Terror?
Still, Abrams has done the legacy of Gene Roddenberry proud; let's hope he does the same by George Lucas. No, let's hope he improves on the legacy of George Lucas.