Star Trek: Into Darkness

Star Trek: Into Darkness

Director: J.J. Abrams

Starring: Chris Pine(Kirk), Zachary Quinto(Spock), Leonard Nimoy-cameo(Spock Prime), Zoe Saldana(Nyota Uhura), Karl Urban("Bones" McCoy), Simon Pegg(Scotty), Benedict Cumberbatch(John Harrison/Khan), Bruce Greenwood(Christopher Pike), Alice Eve(Carol Marcus)

Rating: PG-13 (for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and brief sensuality)

Running Time: 133 minutes

Overall Opinion. (4 stars)

“My name is Khan.” With those four words, audiences, both trekkies and traditional fans, are made aware of the new threat facing Kirk and crew on their new journey. Star Trek: Into Darkness (STID) brings about the second installment of director Abrams rebooted take on the franchise. Abrams who is reported to be the director for next Star Wars trilogy, continues to show his talent in the genre. As with Star Wars, the second chapter of Star Trek is given a darker tone to the movie, making things more personal to the characters and thus more impactful to the audience. And like the Avengers, STID while a large cast, manages its time well enough to give each character his/her due. From new comer Carol (Eve) using teaching Bones how to use surgical skill on a bomb, to Saldana going toe-to-toe with Klingons, each character has their moment of proving their worth, and in some cases going beyond it. But during this mission, where the crew of the enterprise is tasked with hunting down traitor and officer murderer John Harrison, while avoiding possible civil war with the Klingon race, the main emphasis of the story rests in the building brotherhood of Kirk and Spock. Spock, still played brilliantly by Quinto, though while trying to maintain his Vulcan reasoning and logic, continues to try to understand the behavior of human emotions and attachment. Kirk(Pine), all-or-nothing captain, to who the ‘logical’ rules don’t always apply, and needs to always come on top. These conflicting viewpoints, while having side effects on other crew members, aka Spock’s love interest Uhura(Saldana) and Scotty(Pegg), soon face the new threat of Benedict Cumberbatch’s Khan. By far the best performance of the movie, and one of the better movie villians I have seen recently, Cumberbatch brings forth a emotionally raw yet diabolical interpretation of the well-known Star Trek villain. Cumberbatch (fresh from playing the brilliant sleuth of BBC’s Sherlock), walks the line brilliantly between a man who feels for his crew, an emotion others can relate to, and a one-man machine that you should not mess with, physically or mentally. With the main antagonist established, cast and crew of STID live up to the title, carrying the Enterprise into a story of threatening war, political cover-ups, betrayals, and mistrust. One would be hard to miss the references that are made both for the amusement of regular trekky fan(Klingons to red-shirt jokes), and the small messages about the lives of military service men and women. STID takes audiences on a sci-fi adventure, while creating a timeless story depicting the values of good friends, trust, and what really defines good leadership. As with Iron Man 3, the intensity of the movie is kept just short of being tiring, not drowning out the characters or the plot. Though at times, especially toward the end, the rapid movement of the story loses some emotional moments(bad things that happen are given quick solutions before you can really feel for the bad thing even happening), the story in itself remains entertaining yet relatable. Like Star Wars, the second chapter takes ship crew and theatre audiences into unmarked, and sometimes uncomfortable areas, both in locations and secrets of their own fleet. While at times it shocks us, it makes us anxious for the next journey.

Good Message/Bad Message:

- Your crew is your family

- Wining is not always the top priority of a good leader

Content:

Violence – all sci-fi and hand to hand. Guys get shot by lasers, a couple bones get broken, and one head is crushed off screen

Sex – After-sex scene of kirk with two women with tails(seriously). Alice Green 5 second shot standing in black tight undies.

Language – typical swearing

Drugs – Alcohol is abused briefly at the beginning, then left out the rest of the movie

Family Rating: Action aside, the tone of this movie is dark and mature in content. To be taken seriously.

Christian undertones: (SPOILERS in this paragraph)

Friendship and Leadership. Those are the two main values addressed in STID. Spock and Kirk are very different beings, but with similar goals, the well-being of their crew. At one point of the movie, Spocks ‘logical’ thinking leads to an argument with Saldana, who seeing him being so unemotional about the aspect of dying, believes he feels nothing for such matters. Truth being Spock knows the emotions of death all too well, and wishes to avoid that pain when possible. Kirk and Spock share similar miscommunications, Spock never fully (nor at times wanting to) understanding humans, always gives logical answers, but answers with no meaning in them. Kirk, act first, thinking later. Yet throughout the these two learn off each other, and thus each in his own way learns to be a better server of the crew. Leadership in its true sense loses meaning to Kirk in this story. To him, a leader is one who sees that his ship always wins the mission, and that everyone makes it out. Having a perfect record of successful missions was key. Then his mentor chastises him for his cowboy behavior, trying to get him to see the real meaning of being a leader, since he knows Kirk has it in him. After his mentor is murdered, Kirk does what he does best, settle up the crew and save the day. His full-steam ahead approach leads to several errors (taking unidentified missiles, loosing Scotty’s friendship, etc). Upon meeting Khan, Kirk sees the first examples of what happens when you follow your own rules. Khan, while protective of his crew, his family, cares nothing of other life. Than the living of embodiment of Kirk gone bad comes in Admiral Marcus. Marcus, seeing a war with Klingons unavoidable, plans for war, and more importantly, victory. His desire for victory is so great, he is willing to take ‘necessary causalities’ even if those casualties are men and women in his own fleet. He even sacrifices the love of his daughter for the mission. Forced to think logically, kirk does what he can, managing to save his crew through the act of self-sacrifice, while Marcus in his arrogance his taken by Khan killed by a weapon of his own creation. Self-sacrifice. Christ is the captain of our ship, and he sacrificed himself for our sins. Like Marcus, we can believe that we are above the rules He gives us, fall blindly in self-righteous crusades, and risk losing the ship to our own failures. Like Khan, we can become lost in our own world, our own power, believing that we are the perfect specimen, and thus rulers of all other life. Or like Kirk, we can come to realize that His rules, his mission statement (“to boldly go where none have gone before”), is meant for us to embody. That the protection of our fellowship/friendships is the key, and that the exploring of new lives, and protecting them as well, is the true mission of our life voyage.

Scripture References: Ephesians 6:12, Joshua 22:2-4

Final Say:

Can’t miss seeing the Enterprise on the 3d big screen!