Star Trek: Into Darkness

The first rebooted Star Trek film, four years ago now, was one of a slew of franchise reboots, ranks as one of the better iterations of the trend. I wasn’t hugely impressed, but I definitely enjoyed it and was happy a sequel was announced – though concluded my original thoughts with ‘it’s no Wrath of Khan’.  

Well, this was the new production company’s chance to make their own second film, their own Wrath of Khan. Ultimately, as with those original films, the sequel is better than the original. The plot is more consistent, the characters develop at a better pace, the effects are fantastic and the fan-pleasing moments are numerous – though I wanted to see the aftermath of that Tribble being alive! The audience is now familiar with the enterprise crew, with coolly logical Mr Spock, histrionic Mr Scott, grim Doctor McCoy, feisty Lt. Uhura and the rest. Chekhov basically has to make an appearance to get a laugh, and Spock showing his emotions will always be a crowd-pleaser. Chris Pine and Benedict Cumberbatch make an excellent pair, sparking off one another whether allied or baring their teeth, and the older contingent of the Federation have a more interesting side than in the old series – though after all, where there the founding stone was supposed to be an idyllic society where all the people of Earth are working together to benefit the universe and things like money have been abolished, here we still get drama driven by humans wanting to use one another, start wars for personal gain and sacrifice anyone who they deem unnecessary.

I left the film a little unsatisfied. Cumberbatch’s character was so powerful, so threatening and so manipulative that ultimately it seemed he should have been able to do much more in his position. He never seems like a mastermind unfurling a great plot – he gets what he wants, is tricked, then his grand plan is reduced to a vague suicide bomb plot that doesn’t get talked about afterwards in nearly as tragic terms as it should have been, has a bit of a fist-fight and that’s the end of him. I wanted him to seem like a real threat. I wanted him to get to those comrades of his and come within a hair’s breadth of shutting down the entire federation. Instead, he just…never seems to get very far, and the isolation of a nearly unmanned starship doesn’t help with the scale of things.

Ultimately, the film ends in a position that mirrors the start of the series, so it’s quite possible they could leave it at that. But with a money-spinner like this, I doubt that will happen.