Review - 'Star Trek: Into Darkness'

"You think your world is safe? 
               It is not.

                                                                              So....shall we begin?"

Star Trek: Into Darkness 
(Watch the trailer here)
Directed by J.J.Abrams
Starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Benedict Cumberbatch, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban

Words cannot describe how excited I was for this film.

I don't claim to be a huge Star Trek fan; I haven't watched any of the original films or series, and fully admit to jumping on the bandwagon when J.J.Abrams rebooted the franchise back in 2009. He is one of my favourite directors, and the sci-fi legend seemed so much cooler in his hands.

This is the sequel, and was heavily built up with a bigger budget, bigger cast and, following in the footsteps of Nolan's Batman (and as suggested by the name), was going for a darker feel.

Don't worry, you don't need to be a mega Star Trek or sci-fi fan to enjoy this film, it it just a genuinely brilliant watch. There's plenty of action, and it moves really quickly. The special effects are remarkable, and the whole film looks really bright and clean (with plenty of Abrams' signature 'lens flare' going on). It deftly balances a mixture of claustrophobia (and often panic) with the scenes aboard the Enterprise with the enormous beauty and scale of the universe and planets it creates.

Despite the aforementioned darkness, there is plenty of comedic moments; Simon Pegg is excellent (as always!) as Scotty, with some great one liners pulled off in a rather ridiculous Scottish accent. The whole ensemble (Kirk, Spock, Scotty, Bones, Uhura, Sulu, etc..) work really well together and bounce off each other, with the extremely hot Chris Pine doing a great job of combining both the cheeky ladies man and the conflicted Captain as James Kirk. I also liked Karl Urban, who gave a memorable performance as 'Bones' McCoy, and Zachary Quinto as Spock. Him and Pine have a great chemistry on screen as the legendary duo, and we get to see both Spock's human side and his logical Vulcan half (although my Dad did remark that Spock was a little too emotional for his liking). 

The real star of the show here is the guy with the best name in the business, Benedict Cumberbatch. He is probably one of my all-time favourite actors, and he does not disappoint here. He plays villain John Harrison so brilliantly that you don't know whether to hate him or pity him, and is the kind of actor that just draws you right into the moment on screen with his incredibly physical and intelligent presence. He provides the darkness and emotion here, causes both Kirk and the audience to question the morality of what his character has been through, and is most definitely the highlight of the whole film.

I do have one little thing to moan about though! Which I hate to do about such an enjoyable film, but here goes. The ending: why is it so rushed? The audience is being pulled and pushed through the real heart of the action of the film, and then it just seems to cut a load of the plot out! (Believe me, if you see this you'll know what I mean). The film didn't feel particularly long, so I just wish they had told the ending properly, instead of making it feel hurried and a little cliche.

(I know that paragraph was a bit of a riddle, but I don't want to drop any spoilers!)

Overall Star Trek: Into Darkness was a great film with an excellent narrative and fantastic performances, and one I'll watch over and over again: I'd highly recommend it to just about anyone!

Rating: 4.5 out of 5
So close to perfect, I just wish they'd took their time with the end!

Thanks for reading!


PS: Apologies for lack of posts recently, been swamped with uni work. But, my second year is all finished with now, so I should hopefully have plenty more time for blogging! And a big thanks to some new followers I've gained!

Sophie.