Star Trek into Darkness (DVD REVIEW)
Star Trek into Darkness
DVD Review
by Kam Williams
It’s Kirk
vs. Rogue Commander in Intergalactic Spectacular
Star Date: 2259. Captain James T.
Kirk (Chris Pine) has just been called on the carpet following an expedition
to a primitive planet where, in the course of saving Spock’s (Zachary
Quinto) life, he violated the Starfleet’s
strict sanction against interfering with alien civilizations. Consequently, he
is demoted in rank and summarily stripped of
the command of the USS Enterprise only to be replaced
by his predecessor, Rear Admiral Pike (Bruce Greenwood).
Pike reminds his headstrong protégé
about the importance of following the rules. Soon thereafter, however, the
admiral is slain by friendly fire in a gunship attack launched by John Harrison
(Benedict Cumberbatch), a fellow officer ostensibly gone rogue.
The tragedy affords Kirk a second
chance in the captain’s chair, as well as an opportunity to track down the
intergalactic menace and to exact a measure of retribution for his late mentor.
As it turns out, Harrison isn’t really a
disgruntled colleague but, lo and behold, the reincarnation of Khan, a
recurring villain who has appeared before in both television and movie Star
Trek episodes.
Here, the slightly tweaked character
is the recently-defrosted leader of a race of genetically-enhanced super-beings
who’ve been cryogenically frozen for a few hundred years. The pseudo-scientific
explanation of his dormancy and revival is of less import than the fact that
he’s just fled to Kronos, home of the Klingons,
another regular nemesis of Captain Kirk and his crew.
Thus unfolds Star Trek into
Darkness, the twelfth big screen adaptation inspired by the classic, Sixties TV
show originally starring William Shatner. It’s also the second installment
directed by J.J. Abrams, who oversaw the reboot of the sci-fi series in 2009.
Truth be told, Abrams’ semi-autobiographical thriller Super 8, which he shot
between Star Treks 11 and 12, proved to be a far more scintillating summer
blockbuster than either of those.
At least he did reunite the
principal cast, including the aforementioned Chris Pine as Kirk and Zachary
Quinto as Spock, along with Zoe Saldana as
Uhura, Simon Pegg as Scotty John Cho and Sulu and Karl Urban as Bones. Are the
special f/x dazzling? Yes. However, the film’s fairly formulaic plot is apt to
capture the imagination only of young’uns totally unfamiliar with Khan and the
Klingons.
Still, Diehard Trekkies will
probably appreciate all the inside jokes sporadically sprinkled into the
dialogue for the benefit of loyal longtime fans. Overall, this safe sequel is
certainly engaging and entertaining enough to recommend, though it fails to
live up to the franchise’s daring, appointed mission “to explore strange new
worlds” and “to boldly go where no man has gone before.”
Very Good
(3 stars)
Rated PG-13 for
intense violence
Running time: 131 minutes
Distributor:
Paramount Home Entertainment
Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Extras: The Enemy of My Enemy: The
Ultimate Look at Khan; Ship to Ship: Filming the Extraordinary Space Jump
Sequence; The Klingon Home World: Recreating the Legendary Species; Creating
the Red Planet; Attack on Starfleet; Brawl by the Bay; Continuing the Mission;
and more.
To see a trailer for
Star Trek into Darkness, visit:
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