Star Trek Into the Darkness
Paramount wanted director, JJ Abrams to make the film in 3D. Abrams wanted to shoot in 2D or IMAX format. A compromise resulted, making this the first time in history that a movie was filmed in the IMAX format and then converted to 3D in post- production.
I love 3D, but don’t waste your money on 3D for this show, it’s not going to make enough of a difference in the visual effect to warrant the extra money.
This time, the young Kirk (Chris Pine) is still brash, reckless and full of bravado and surrounded by basically the same crew as the 2009 film. Zachary Quinto (Spock); Zoe Saldana (Uhura), who was also in Avatar; Anton Yelchin (Chekov); Quebec born, Bruce Greenwook (Pike) were joined by Simon Pegg, a British actor, writer and comedian who’s comedic talents are well used. Christopher Doohan (son of the original Scotty, James Doohan) makes a cameo appearance as a transport officer along side the current Scotty, Simon Pegg.
The acting heavyweight of the show is Benedict Cumerbatch (Khan), who actually recorded his screen test in a friend’s kitchen using his iPhone. He was truly the antagonist with talent.
Leonard Nemoy makes his eighth appearance, briefly, as Spock and thereby breaks the tie with William Shatner for the most appearances.
So, a crisis on Earth calls the crew back and when a high ranking, trusted Starfleet officer proves to be the enemy, the fight ensues.
The young, Kirk once again takes the helm, played very differently from the skirt-chasing Kirk of old (I was always amazed that there wasn’t some sort of inter-galactic war after one of the old Kirk’s forays to another planet, considering he had not much respect for the laws of the species where women were concerned).
During the show, Kirk is given the space coordinates 23174611. These are the coordinates for one of the moons orbiting Jupiter.
Once a Trekkie, always a Trekkie, so I liked this one. Box office results suggest a less than stellar (sorry) first weekend opening at $84 million, but there are some big films out there right now.
I think it’s worth the money and I think that there will be another Star Trek coming to theatres in the future.
I might have wanted to see more gadgetry and a bigger presence by the Klingons (yup, they’re back), but overall it’s well done, it’s fun, fast-paced and it’s a show for the whole family—so what’s not to like?
I give Star Trek Into the Darkness three warp drive reels.
