Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

The surprisingly belated sequel to J. J. Abrams 2009 reboot of the Star Trek franchise. Like the first of Abrams Trek movies this one has the hard core trekkers divided, but I like the balance that Abrams has struck between homage to the original and the freedom of a contemporary summer block buster. In tune with a signature tradition of creator Roddenberry's, though more particularly practiced in his television series then in his films, Into Darkness seeks to evoke and comment on important issues in the contemporary zeitgeist, so fittingly this is Treks comment on "The War on Terror" (can we still call it that?).

Early in the movie there are several terrorist attacks on the Federation, a suspect is quickly identified, but questions about what would constitute an ethical response are also raised. This plays well against a surprisingly well managed character arc relating to how Kirk and Spock respond to similar moral dilemmas they are both placed in during the coarse of the story. Though I have a lot that I could say about the story, there's not a lot I can say that wouldn't give to much away. There is a twist or reveal hear that has fans divided, and I must say I was fairly impressed with a misdirect perpetrated on many fans of the original series, and one accomplished with little more then some characters looks and a couple quotes let lose in the media.

I liked that a good portion of this film takes place on Earth, I always like to see Earth on Star Trek, and I really liked the production design for a couple of major cities in the 23rd century. One thing I didn't like was the inconsistences in warp speed and distance, this films is possibly the worse Star Trek film I've ever seen when it comes to collapsing a sense of distance. Ironically it also captures a sense of just how big space is, at list on a smaller planetary orbit scale. This is a film which I left excited to see the next installment, and that's always a good sign, I just hope the next chapter takes less then four years to arrive. ***1/2