Star Trek Into Darkness

This past Friday we finally saw Star Trek Into Darkness. Whoo-hoo! Being a big Star Trek Fan who's seen most of the series' and all of the previous movies, I was excited to see this latest edition to the Star Trek franchise. I wasn't completely sure what to expect (after seeing the first trailer last year I decided not to watch any more or read any more about it so it wouldn't be spoiled for me), but I have to say J.J. Abrams did a fantastic job with this film and it was better than I expected.

Note: spoilers are included below.

STARING
Chris Pine as Captain Kirk
Zachary Quinto as Commander Spock
Zoe Saldana as Lieutenant Uhura
Benedict Cumberbatch as Khan
Karl Urban as Dr. McCoy/Bones
Simon Pegg as Chief Engineer Scotty
John Cho as Lieutenant Sulu
Anton Yelchin as Ensign Chekov

From the Into Darkness website:

When a ruthless mastermind known as Khan declares a one-man war on the Federation, Captain Kirk, Spock, and the daring crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise set out on their most explosive manhunt of all time. It will take everything in their arsenal to defend Earth and eliminate Khan's deadly threat.

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Usually I'm not a fan when they remake movies, mostly because the new cast just can't replace the original, but that isn't the case with this Star Trek reboot. In fact I actually like them just as much as the classic cast. Like Spock for example. I never would have guessed that someone would be able to play him nearly as good as Lenard Nimoy, but I was wrong. Every time there was a scene with Spock I kept thinking about how perfect Zachary Quinto was as him and how he is Spock. Overall the whole Enterprise crew is great. I never really liked Scotty in The Original Series I thought he was great in the new movies. And Bones, my favorite Character from The Original Series, was great as usual, but I think if they ever make another movie they should give him a bit more screen time.

You know at the beginning when they're on the planet Nibiru? And the Enterprise is underwater AND Spock is in an active volcano, and nearly dies, but doesn't? Yeah, that was a tad to far fetched to me. Leaving the Enterprise in orbit and beaming down seems far less complected to me, and I don't completely understand why it had to be underwater in the first place. Those red and white trees partly make up for it though! They looked really cool, especially when Kirk and Spock were running through the forest.

The fact that facility Khan blew up was actually Section 31 made me happy, 'cause we learned about that in Deep Space Nine, my favorite Star Trek series. It was neat to seen them integrate that.

Before seeing Into Darkness I already knew that Benedict Cumberbatch's character was Khan, so there were no surprises here. Khan was interesting and I definitely though he was better better than in The Wrath of Khan. I never expected him to surrender to Kirk though, but then again you never knew what he was going to do, especially when it looked like it was doing something "good". Unpredictability is good in a villain, since it keeps you wondering what's going to happen next. I also appreciated that the fight scenes weren't drawn out, which is one of my pet peeves in movies these days. Even though there were several fight scenes, they weren't super long, nor where they gory (the part where Khan destroyed Admiral Marcus' head with his bare hands was kinda gross, even though it was off screen).

I have to say I really, really, really, like the interior of this Enterprise, especially the bridge. The whole white theme with the blue electronic accents looks plain awesome and very space-y. And the way it lights up and sorta glows makes it look even better.

Visually this film is so stunning. The colors are so vivid and color scheme has a nice feel to it. I saw it on Blu-ray (which makes me super happy!) so it was very crisp and clear. The only problem is that with the way they edit it the actors with blue eyes end up having a really overly blue eyes. It doesn't look that real at all. And gheez, all the sun flares! I know J.J. Abrams is famous for them, but they really were overdone in my opinion.

The part where Kirk went in radioactive engine chamber to realign the warp-core and sacrificed his life so the Enterprise crew could live was one of my favorite parts. Kirk did what needed to be done, even though it nearly cost him is life. Then when he and Spock were talking and he tells him "It was only logical" and then Spock finally understands why Kirk saved him from the volcano, even though it wasn't logical, then they press their hands against the glass with the Vulcan salute. Best scene in the movie right there. The looks on Spock and The Captain's faces right then reminded me soooo much of The Original Series characters. I though it was cool how they used a scene from one of The Original Series movies (I have no clue which one), just with the Spock and Kirk rolls reversed.

Something I also really liked were the different Starfleet uniforms. The colored shirts are a classic of course, but the dress uniforms and jumpsuits were really cool as well. They made them their own, but still with the classic Star Trek look. And that white uniform Bones was wearing at the end in the hostpital or where ever he was after saving Kirk? Totally looked like something that would have been in one of The Original Series movies.

We all know how sequels usually pale in comparison to the first film, but that is not the case with Into Darkness. I will admit that it's been a few years since I've seen Star Trek, but it was just okay in my mind while the squeal blew it out of the water. The 2009 film was important though, since it set up the characters and the parallel universe, (I usually dislike the beginnings of TV series' for just that reason), so Into Darkness was able to focus more on a new story instead of filling us in on the back story. The casting couldn't have been more perfect and the story line was very well done and even during the more intense moments, there was still a sort of fun feeling to it. I personally like that, as I'm not one who enjoys movies that are really deep/intense the whole time.

And that's it! If you've seen it, what did you think? And if you haven't, are you planning on seeing it?