The more things change...

Rating: 7/10 (16 May 2013)

...the more they remain the same.
Star Trek-Into Darkness is the Superman Returns of the franchise. While it'll get very few marks for originality considering that its plot is a smörgåsbord of episodes and movies past, the movie chugs along at a blistering pace and is riveting and thrilling to boot. It helps that the actors have internalized the quirks and mannerisms of their original namesakes. A great watch for Trekkies like me but I'm not sure how much a first time viewer will like it or even BELIEVE a certain ridiculous plot twist adapted from an earlier movie. (Seriously! Out of all the plot twists out there they had to choose the weakest one?)Come to think of it the movie pays homage to more than one movie starring the original crew - saying more will be giving it away.
Nonetheless, J J Abrams manages to keep things interesting throughout and Benedict Cumberbatch owns the scene whenever he's on screen and makes an otherwise flimsy story work. The bromance between Quinto and Pine lends a much needed human (or is it Vulcan?) touch to the proceedings and prevents the film from degenerating into mindless action and set pieces. Too bad Abrams won't be returning for Episode 3 and will be concentrating on Episode 7 of another well known sci-fi movie series instead. Despite that, the franchise should live long and prosper if the new director builds on this movie and continues with the story arc. Despite its lack of originality it's still one of the better Star Trek movies to come out in recent times.