The movie delivers almost everything die-hard Trekkies and movie buffs want!

Rating: 9/10 (17 May 2013)

'STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS': Four and a Half Stars (Out of Five)
Current Sci-fi king J.J. Abrams returns to direct the second installment in the 'STAR TREK' reboot/alternate universe series (and twelfth 'STAR TREK' movie) 'INTO DARKNESS'. It's sort of a loose remake of 'STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN' but due to the fact that a time traveling Romulan, with a vengeance, changed the entire 'STAR TREK' universe in the last film things of course happen differently this time around. The new Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto) and the rest of the Enterprise crew are back to battle a genetically engineered super being (Benedict Cumberbatch), with a vengeance of course (against all of Starfleet). Other new additions to the cast include Peter Weller (one of my favorite actors) and Alice Eve (of 'SHE'S OUT OF MY LEAGUE' fame). Abrams produced the film with his long time buddy and partner in crime, Damon Lindelof, as well as the first film's writers (and other frequent Abrams conspirators) Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman. Orci and Kurtzman once again wrote the script, this time with Lindelof (one of the greatest film and TV writers there is) as well. Michael Giacchino (who does the music for all of Abrams' movies and TV shows) once again did a breathtaking score for the film as well. The movie delivers almost everything die-hard Trekkies and movie buffs want; but for me it didn't quite live up to it's predecessor or the original classic ('THE WRATH OF KHAN') it's trying to emulate (it does beat all other films in the series hands down though).
After narrowly escaping death and saving the primitive people of the planet Nibiru from extinction Captain James T. Kirk (Pine) returns home to Earth to find he's been demoted for being a hotshot loose cannon, once again, and not following Starfleet's Prime Directives. Admiral Pike (Bruce Greenwood once again) replaces him as captain of the Enterprise and Spock (Quinto) is reassigned to another ship. But when a genetically engineered former member of Starfleet, by the name of John Harrison (Cumberbatch), bombs a Starfleet installation in London and attacks a secret meeting at Starfleet Command Kirk is reassigned to Captain of the Enterprise in order to carry out a revenge attack on Harrison (who they learn is hiding out on the Klingon home planet Kronos). Spock is once again assigned to the Enterprise as well and questions Admiral Marcus's (Weller) motives for giving Kirk 72 torpedoes to kill Harrison with, without a trial. Kirk, Spock and the others soon learn there's much more going on than they originally thought as a possible war with the Klingons could result from their actions and there could be corruption among high ranking Starfleet officials.
The movie is brilliant in how it incorporates current politics into it's plot and overall message but that's what 'STAR TREK' has always been well known for. As opposed to 'STAR WARS', 'STAR TREK' has always been thought of as the more thinking man's science fiction (I prefer 'STAR WARS' though and disagree with this assessment; I'm also not a Trekkie). With the films (and especially these last two installments) the franchise has grown more and more towards action and spectacle but the thing that Abrams has always been good at is not losing sight of what's most important (the film's characters, heart and themes). This movie is probably the most action packed and visually stunning one yet but it still does have a lot of character development, drama and political ideas. The drama does feel a little more forced this time around though and while the action is exhilarating the movie is not nearly as much fun as being reintroduced to all these characters was last time around (it's also just not as classic as 'WRATH OF KHAN'). While the movie is still a great action film, and stunning sci-fi enjoyment, it disappoints (just a little) by not living up to the two greatest 'STAR TREK' movies. This was perhaps an impossible feat though and Abrams is still one of hottest directors around (he's now in charge of both of the most popular science fiction franchises in history; being given the opportunity to direct the next 'STAR WARS' film as well). This is still an amazing film and is about as much as one could possibly ask for or expect.
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