Reviewed: Star Trek - Into Darkness

After the crew of the Enterprise flirt with, leap-frog and then absolutely break the Prime Directive (albeit to save our favourite  volcano-trapped Vulcan), Kirk finds himself demoted away from the Enterprise and Spock re-assigned. As his mentor Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood) tells Jim, it’s one thing to be demonstrably lucky, but being a true Captain is about being responsible for ALL those under you command. 

However there’s very little time for petulance as news comes of a major attack on a building in London, hit by a suicide bomber.  It’s simply the beginning of a masterplan by a man identified as John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch), whom Kirk is told is a Sector 31 agent gone rogue. Following a further attack on Star Fleet Command, Kirk volunteers to hunt down Harrison on the edge of Klingon territory – a dangerous enough mission without the fact that Harrison seems to anticipate his every move.  As Scotty questions the exact mechanics of the new torpedoes that Admiral Marcus (Peter Weller) has ordered  be used to blow Harrison to kingdom come, Kirk also begins to question some of the information he’s been given about Harrison’s motives. It turns out that he may have just placed himself and his crew in mortal danger and in the middle of several dangerous, conflicting and explosive agendas…

Perhaps the most secretive film of the summer blockbusters arrives with much anticipation from not just Trek fans but the industry itself. After all, this is the latest from J J Abrams, the man who seems to have been handed the keys to every franchise with a ‘Star’ in its title.

Despite the foreboding title, Star Trek Into Darkness actually turns out to be more of an action-adventure romp than a hand-wringing lesson on morality and mortality – though it does its best strutting in windcheater black leather to deny that. It’s a good, solid value-for money movie that delivers on much of what its trailer promised. But it misses out on being truly ‘great’ because, despite wanting to tackle those darker elements, the film doesn’t quite have the courage of its convictions to fully follow through. For a film that looks as though it’s going to hone in on very complex moral questions about the nature of terrorism and betrayal throughout, it all too often seems to look at its watch and realises that  nothing’s exploded in a good ten minutes and feels the urgent need to rectify that. The lighter, fun moments largely work well – the new cast mostly walking the line between homaging the franchise icons (Quinto, Pine and Pegg all shining) but not being a slave to them. The darker moments are also effective… but the two tones don’t fit that well together when it ultimately comes to true consequence and fallout.

Yes, much as been discussed of the finer details of casting and plot twists and there are certain elements that we’re not going to confirm or deny in this review. It’s true to say that Into Darkness  tweaks the nose of those who think they have the story mapped out already and in the end it’s a solid, if subverting love-letter to franchise mythology in general. Like a Marvel Comics retrofit, Abrams has taken this altered timeline and used it as a playground to suggest a balance between destiny and free will. Certainly there are franchise echoes resonating through every frame of the film, some subtle, some less so.

Maybe there’s simply too much going on within the movie, too many characters to keep track of and some plot elements left frustratingly dangling.  It’s as if Abrams and writers  Alex Kurtzman, Damon Linedlof and Robert Orci have injected nostalgia into the warp drive with some unpredictable results. Broad strokes, yes... but vivid ones.

Ultimately metaphors and metatextual elements aside,  this a story of Kirk’s friendship with Spock and exactly what both of them will be willing to sacrifice for the needs of the many – with plenty of requisite bells, whistles and lens-flares as decoration. You may find yourself having trouble with quibbles, but the immediate momentum is fast enough that you probably won’t notice the fault-lines until after you leave the cinema. So buckle up, cling on and enjoy the ride…

8/10