Star Trek: Into Darkness

Plot: A rogue Star Fleet officer (Benedict Cumberbatch)  attacks several Star Fleet sites and then runs off to a far away planet. Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto), Uhura (Zoe Saldana) and the Enterprise follow minus Scotty (Simon Pegg). When Kirk catches him, the Enterprise does battle with a giant enemy ship, and the plot twists people's loyalties.  [imdb]    [photos]

Review: A top movie with action, personality, plot-twists and moral dilemmas -- I really liked it. Even though the special effects are gripping, the interactions between the characters are the best part. The close-up interactions between the crew and with the villain -- make this an action movie with people we care about. The Chris Pine/Zachary Quinto scenes are strong especially the facial acting. There is quarrel between Saldana's Uhura and Quino's Spock that is priceless and funny.

The special effects were excellent, we expected that. The music was boring however. I did not like the scene of the space ship crashing on San Francisco. The scale of everything wasn't right -- distracting.

Star Trek gets extra credit for having a moral dimension. In a Hollywood where there are too many mind-less shoot'm ups, I liked angst about the morality of killing enemies, for example using a missile to destroy a terrorist instead of capturing him and returning him for trial. I think this builds the notion of the Star Trek universe as being a utopian peaceful place.  The last Bond movie, Skyfall, also had a moral dimension.

There was a lot of "hat tipping" to old Star Trek episodes, and these were cute and lightened up the tone. Hard-core fans want the film to be dark and serious, but Star Trek has always been a mixture of dramatic and comic.

Since I am a fan, perhaps I love this movie more than I should, but I liked it a lot. I want to see it again.

Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Benedict Cumberbatch

Directed by: J J Abrams

Rating: 4.0 stars: I loved it. Fun to watch. Engaging. Thought-provoking. 

 

More: And it sets up years of sequels . . . 

Even more: I was very disappointed that the theater rescheduled our 3D screening into 2D. I really wanted see it in 3D. Nearly drove to another theater.

Spoiler: So why could Spock talk to Leonard Nemoy and ask him questions. What weird sort of time-travel is going on? I'm not sure what I think about young Spock getting his war plans from old Spock.
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