Star Trek Into Darkness - LetterboxD Review

Link to Original Review

Straight off the bat... strap yourselves in for the ride because J.J Abrams Star Trek Into Darkness is as fast paced an action film as you are likely to see all year. I won't mess around with any other hyperbole beyond that, all I will say is these are the reasons why I particularly liked Into Darkness.

First of all and to put this all into some context, I am a passive Trek fan, that is to say I watched and enjoyed some of the TV series and movies but never rose to the levels of obsession that would lead to the purchase of costumes, fake pointy ear wearing or remortgaging the house to do a road trip across america to visit San Diego for Comic-con. I grew up liking TNG, enjoyed retrospectively going back and catching old episodes of the original series and dabbled with DS9 and Voyager before giving up entirely on Enterprise. Abrams reboot of the series was great and one of my favorite films of that year and its fair to say, more because of Abrams than any past or present love of the series, that I was looking forward to Into Darkness immensely.

I had also avoided any spoilers (and don't plan to reveal any here) which certainly made the ride far more enjoyable... But what part of the ride specifically?

Firstly, Into Darkness looks spectacular, from its opening sequence to the final action set piece and everything in between, this is some of the best CG I have seen for a long time. I know Abrams will get ripped to pieces by as many people who will praise him for it but the "lens flare" effect that is served up in almost every scene, is a nice textual touch to the visuals ad far more aesthetically engaging (no pun intended) than the always obvious and increasingly boring "scale flock of birds flying past building in distance" effect.

The action... is breathtaking and relentless. The aforementioned opening scene is almost its own self contained episode within the grander tapestry and while there was nothing in Into Darkness to compare to the first two battles with Nero in the 2009 Star Trek, the sequences in Into Darkness certainly do rattle along frequently and at a great pace.

The cast are once again exceptional. as a big fan of Quinto, Greenwood, Pegg, Urban and Pine, I'm already in good hands. the additions of Alice Eve and Peter Weller were very good and Benedict Cumberbatch is a masterstroke, not least in terms of the character he plays (which ultimately is the films masterstroke and leads to the films standout scene(s) towards the end of the film.

I won't go into the plot itself as I don't think you can too much without getting into heavy spoiler territory and running the risk of giving away the best moments of the film... moments that are definitely best enjoyed through untainted and unspoiled eyes and mind. Needless to say, as a fan of the original Shatner / Nimoy led movie franchise, I came away glowing at how well they pay dues and respect to followers of those movies. The best thing though is that even without knowledge of those movies and the references and nods the film makes to them, it is still a great enjoyable romp that while not quite making perfect sense in the long run is still one hell of a ride.

Into Darkness is the sort of film that I hope SW Episode VII will become but ultimately I do hope that in another 4 years we can all be looking forward to another JJ Abrams led installment to the newly revitalised and truly spectacular summer blockbuster franchise that is Star Trek.

I rated this movie 5 out of 5!