Spectacular!

Rating: 7/10 (6 June 2013)

J.J. Abrams' 2009 reboot was slightly disappointing for me. I felt that it needed a little bit of an extra boost of action to keep science-fiction\action film lovers (like me but except I like not love it) occupied with the system. After 4 years, it's surprisingly and (I think for many) expected sequel arrives to prove that a follow-up to a successful movie could be more successful and approval over the first outing and yes J.J. you've done it this time!
"Star Trek Into Darkness" is a knockout sequel which overlaps the action and excitement of it's predecessor. I never watched the original "Star Trek" series but anyone who's a newcomer, like me, to "Trek" you should give this a go.
The ensemble cast return again as the young vision of the Star Trek team (Chris Pine: Kirk, Zachary Quinto: Spock, Zoe Saldana: Nyota Uhura, Simon Pegg: Scotty, Karl Urban: "Bones" McCoy, John Cho: Sulu, and Bruce Greenwood as Christopher Pike) with 'Trek' newcomer Alice Eve (Carol Marcus) on board. "Sherlock"'s Benedict Cumberbatch portrays Kahn, the next suspicious and dark villain (after the strange and average villain Nero, portrayed by Eric Bana in the predecessor) who wants to destroy Earth, without making any spoilers at all. I must admit he's quite good at playing Kahn and even especially for Simon Pegg, who plays Scotty. He's got a bigger part in this than the first entry, even funnier, in which is what Pegg's normally like. He isn't as brilliant as in his films with Nick Frost (Paul, Hot Fuzz and hopefully in the upcoming The World's End) but he's still quite good.
The special effects are dazzling. You see shots of CGI London in 2000 years away from skyscraper view which works well with the 3D. You can see St. Paul's Cathedral (I didn't see it) still hanging there if you take a lookout (this isn't a spoiler it's a hint). There's many futuristic buildings lying around to make it look like a typical futuristic city unlike in present day.
Did I mention the 3D? Yes I did. And just to let you know the 3D is incredible. Like with the special effects it stands out with the film and introducing the world of "Star Trek" to non-Trekkies (like me) in an exciting way. According to Abrams, they shot the film in Imax (which probably has some very good Imax shots) and converting the film into 3D during post-production, expecting the experience to be slightly ruined by the unnecessary use of 3D because believe me, I seen many films at the cinema that have bad uses of 3D (like Gulliver's Travels and Narnia 3 and many more which I can't think of), but unbelievably, I've never seen any converted-3D film as good as this. And because of this, this is one of the best films I've seen in 3D, and the first 3D film in converted 3D which I like the most. Especially Abrams' lens flare trick (read Abrams' Empire issue for info) which works well with the 3D (look out for that as well).
Abrams boosts some exciting, thrilling and noisy action sequences to the film, more powerful than it's predecessor's. But UNLIKE it's predecessor, other than the gun and Enterprise fights, the face-to-face fight scenes are just brutal. Just punches until it goes too far. Probably Abrams' writers, Robert Orci & Alex Kurtzman (Transformers 1&2) and Damon Lindelof, wanted to add more violence to make it more thrilling. No luck, just unnecessary (you'll understand once you're watching it). Don't be disappointed. You'll agree.There's still plenty Enterprise ship battles, Abrams hasn't left those bits out. Goodness no he hasn't.
Just to remind you, this isn't Star Wars from George Lucas. It's Star Trek from J.J Abrams. Speaking of which, Abrams is going to helm "Episode VII" next. Don't you just think for a minute that Abrams slow down with science fiction?
It may be the start of Summer 2013 according to rumours, but "Darkness" could be part of the beginning of it. It's a summer blockbuster that packs a powerful villain (played by a professional actor) an understanding (and maybe sometimes be incomprehensibly confusing) plot and good and exciting action and 3D (that'll quite possibly turn up in upcoming action blockbusters (such as Pacific Rim, Man of Steel and more). Out of everything I've said about this film, it's a successful and must-see sequel you should catch in the cinema before it's too late because (I think) it's the only best experience for it (I saw this before May Half Term so I'm sending in a late review).