|
How entertaining? ★★★★★
Thought provoking? ★★☆☆☆ 2 May 2013
This article is a review of STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS.
|
“You think the rules don't apply to you. There's greatness in you, but there's not an ounce of humility. You think that you can't make mistakes, but there's going to come a moment when you realize you're wrong about that, and you're going to get yourself and everyone under your command killed,” Christopher Pike to James Tiberius Kirk
The sci-fi space opera blockbuster has a new action champion. The Star Trek franchise, born in the 1960s, had become a creaking old battleship, a tired warhorse, but in 2009 director J.J. Abrams and his writing/producing team reengineered and reinvigorated; they sewed into the fabric a sexiness, a breeziness and ample threat. STAR TREK can be talked of in the same breath as RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. The filmmakers did the seeming impossible, made a film that respected canon (acknowledging a near half-century fan base), but also bringing it to a wider audience keen to embrace quality crafted adventure.
The sci-fi space opera blockbuster has a new action champion. The Star Trek franchise, born in the 1960s, had become a creaking old battleship, a tired warhorse, but in 2009 director J.J. Abrams and his writing/producing team reengineered and reinvigorated; they sewed into the fabric a sexiness, a breeziness and ample threat. STAR TREK can be talked of in the same breath as RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. The filmmakers did the seeming impossible, made a film that respected canon (acknowledging a near half-century fan base), but also bringing it to a wider audience keen to embrace quality crafted adventure.
|
|
|
|
|
|
And that craftsmanship has been taken to a new level with STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS. The visual effects, production design and colour palette are state of the art, and bar one melee on a [redacted – to avoid spoilers] moon, the atmosphere is totally immersive. So technically the movie is gangbusters. After the herculean jump-start to the series, where were we going to be taken with the follow-up? Filled with anticipation that was the question asked. After financial and critical blessings, the universe was the oyster of the creatives. Again we are in territory already trod, giving much to previous ardent votaries, while newcomers to this incarnation of Captain Kirk and crew will have even more to gorge on. And that is the only real negative: There is a little too much mirroring and echoing. However, the continuance of the war on terror allegory intrigues in the same way as it did in ace TV show BATTLESTAR GALACTICA.
Wham-bam, opening on a mission to save an M-class planet (i.e. liveable for humans) from a tetchy volcano, the loveable crew of Kirk, Spock, Uhura, Sulu, Chekov, Bones and Scotty have their character traits quickly re-established. And Abrams deftly demonstrates, as he has done again and again in his projects (think ALIAS, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 3, SUPER 8), that a successful endeavour is more likely to be achieved with a group effort, rather than a one-man army. Maybe there is something socialist in the group taking on together tyranny and over-whelming odds. Plus a continuation of original creator Gene Roddenberry’s humanistic driving force, that the future is a better place, about peace and exploration and non-antagonistic learning. There is no coincidence surely that during the Cold War and Civil Rights movement there were a Russian and an African-American woman as part of the crew?
Back to that volcano, akin to a James Bond flick preamble. There are consequences for the crew as a result of the initial mission, but the fallout is swept aside in light of attacks on London and San Francisco by Benedict Cumberbatch’s John Harrison – a lethal rogue agent with a particularly vicious axe to grind. The Starship Enterprise is tasked to seek him out and bring to justice.
INTO DARKNESS is a technical marvel and an adrenal injection, forcing an almost immediate re-visit to soak up everything again. Not as initially beguiling as its predecessor, few things are; taken together though, the two films are a formidable double-bill. Bring on part three.
|
|
