Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

4/5

I'm going to start this review by stating one thing: I am not a Trekkie. I've seen a few episodes of the original series and that is it besides "Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan". That being said, "Star Trek Into Darkness" is a damn fun movie. J.J. Abrams returns to the director's chair for this sequel to the 2009 reboot/alternate timeline to the aforementioned series and in great form too. Among the returning cast there are a few standouts among them. Simon Pegg is a comic gem as always and Karl Urban as Bones channels DeForest Kelley in the most perfect way. On the other hand, there are some moments that are not so great. The greatest offender being during what the writers probably believed to be the emotional high point, I can only describe what I experienced as a "cringe-laugh". It was really funny in a very bad way.

Jim Kirk (Chris Pine) has been captain of the USS Enterprise for some time at the beginning of the movie. After a failed expedition on an uncharted planet, unforgivingly reported by Spock (Zachary Quinto), Kirk is stripped of his captainship of the Enterprise. Meanwhile, a terrorist act destroys a classified Starfleet headquarters and the commanders convene to discuss the correct course of action. Kirk discovers that the culprit is John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch), a former Starfleet agent. After a second attack, Harrison escapes to the Klingon planet of Kronos. Kirk, and the crew of the Enterprise, must infiltrate hostile territory to bring the fugitive to justice. But is it possible that everything is not as it seems?

I have a problem when I watch a movie. No matter which one it is, I have difficulties turning my brain off for big Summer tentpoles. For some reason, though, it was never a question with this movie. As soon as I sat down in the cold theater my brain just went to sleep and let me have my fun. This movie was never meant to be analyzed. It was meant to be escapism, pure and simple, and in that it succeeds. So go, get some popcorn and Coke, and just let it take you away for two hours to the final frontier.