PG-13, 132 min.
Director: J.J. Abrams
Writers: Alex Kurtzman,
Roberto Orci, Damon Lindelof, Gene Roddenberry (TV series “Star Trek”)
Starring: Chris Pine,
Zachary Quinto, Zoë Saldana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Benedict
Cumberbatch, Alice Eve, Anton Yelchin, Bruce Greenwood, Peter Weller, Noel
Clarke, Leonard Nimoy
Whenever I award four stars
to a film, I anticipate naysayers. People telling me how preposterous it is
that I could find this movie to be so good. When it’s a film that was made to
be a blockbuster, rather than an award winner, that anticipation is even
higher. In fact, that very rarely happens. “Star Trek Into Darkness” is one of
the rare instances where a friend questioned my opinion. I think it’s important
to point out that I don’t for a second think that the rarity of anyone
vocalizing their opinions against mine means that my opinions aren’t constantly
opposed. I’m just speaking about opinions that are actually expressed back to me.
And this opinion in particular was expressed because so many people were
praising the film, not just me.
Anyway, the naysayer claimed
that “Darkness” failed to connect on an emotional level with its constant
referencing to already existing material in Star Trek mythology, and he had a
problem with the fact that San Francisco is virtually destroyed at the end of
the movie and there is little reverence held in that regard. I thought he was
correct with the second point and I supposed his first point might be valid for
people who aren’t familiar with the previous Star Trek material that is
referenced by the screenplay. I stood behind my four stars, however because it
sure worked for me.
It’s impossible for me to
just drop those differences of opinions once they’ve been planted in my mind,
so in such cases a second analysis is often required. Well, I finally got
around to watching it again, and… frankly, I was right. It’s a great movie. It
has all the emotional impact necessary. The only point in all of the Star Trek
franchise that has hit me harder than Kirk’s sacrifice here was Kirk’s eulogy
for Spock in “The Wrath of Kahn”.
Even the destruction of San Francisco didn’t seem quite so off handed as
it did the first time.
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