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Star Trek Into Darkness
| Released |
9 May 2013 |
| Director |
J.J. Abrams |
Starring
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Benedict Cumberbatch, Chris Pine, Alice Eve, Zoe Saldana, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, John Co |
Writer(s)
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Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof |
Producer(s)
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J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof, Roberto Orci |
| Origin |
United States |
| Running Time |
132 minutes |
| Genre |
Action, adventure, sci-fi |
| Rating |
12A |
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Boldly going nowhere.
Following on from his 2009 reboot of Star Trek, JJ Abrams has returned to one of the most beloved series in science fiction with a sequel that follows very much in the mould of its predecessor.
After establishing the new crew of the Enterprise in Star Trek, a sequel could probably have been expected to see the crew travelling deep into unexplored space in search of adventure. Instead the opposite happens. A terrorist attack on futuristic London keeps events firmly focused on earth. When the perpetrator turns out to be a member of the Starfleet, Captain Kirk takes on the task of hunting him down, torn between his orders and the desire to seek revenge.
Any merit that this setup may have had soon denigrates into a banal series of unlikely twists – clearly aimed more at pleasing fans than having any kind of logical consistency. The time travel induced reset of the Star Trek timeline has created massive plot holes, but Star Trek Into Darkness simply powers through these rather than attempting to work around them. The result is but a haphazard series of events that segue mindlessly into one another.
Thus is comes as quite a surprise that almost the entire cast give such impressive performances. Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto work wonders as the antagonistic duo Kirk and Spock, but the real star of the show is Benedict Cumberbatch. Even though his part is scarcely any less one dimensional than Eric Bana’s Nero in Star Trek, Cumberbatch transcends this, creating one of the most memorable screen villains of the last few years with nothing more than a piercing stare and haunting voice.
Cumberbatch’s riveting, spine tingle-inducing performance aside, Star Trek Into Darkness does nothing but rethread elements of the original series of films or revisit tired plot points of the first reboot, all wrapped up in a CGI-laden effects fest. Despite some strong chemistry between Kirk and Spock, so much of what really set Star Trek apart from its earliest days has been excised. Roddenberry’s original series (and the films that followed) were an intelligent exploration of contemporary social injustices and ethical dilemmas in a thrilling futuristic setting. Star Trek Into Darkness is not.
Instead the film is typical blockbuster fare that uses big, loud special effect to gloss over both its lack of gravity and plot holes big enough to fly the Starship Enterprise through. And even in this it doesn’t succeed. Abrams is definitely not James Cameron, and seems out of his depth with such a big CGI toolbox to play with. This is nowhere more evident than in the baffling decision to convert the IMAX shot film to 3D in post-production (the first time this has been done). The effect is nothing short of disastrous.
The real problem with 3D is that it makes the image on the screen appear closer to the viewer, and as a result the image seems smaller. It might seem that using the wider IMAX image ratio would solve this problem. But instead it does the exact opposite. Never have CGI spaceships looked more like models. The Enterprise appears small and close-up, rather than large and far away. Add to this the fact that the 3D conversion has left the wide angle shots with lots of movement (of which there are many, given Abrams penchant for refocusing his angles mid-shot) horribly blurred and near totally unwatchable at times.
But it is possible the addition of 3D was unavoidable in the world of modern blockbusters. What could have been avoided is the fact that so much of the film is set on or around the planet Earth. Bar the opening sequence and a quick jaunt to Qo’noS (yes, there are Klingons, but they don’t get anywhere near enough screen time) the film spends too much time struggling to give the story a personal relevance to Kirk and crew to ever embrace the original purpose of Star Trek – to boldly go where nobody has gone before. The Enterprise doesn’t boldly go anywhere memorable at all, and neither does the film.
It is a lack of imagination that lets Star Trek Into Darkness down more than anything else. Every element every of the film has worked somewhere else before, either in another contemporary blockbuster, or as a plot point that has been borrowed from previous Trek films. It isn’t so much a reboot as retelling of an old story with a glossier coat of paint and no depth.
- Bernard O’Rourke |
