Honestly, I've ranted about new major blockbusters a lot. So perhaps it seems a bit odd that I'm going to take on a high budgeted sequel to a major franchise. Into Darkness truly shocked me, and not even in an ironic way. EVen though the 2009 reboot of the series was good, Into Darkness trumped it in nearly every way imaginable, creating a smarter, tighter, more exciting film all around.
Into Darkness delivers on its title, and delivers a much more morbid film, as much of it is focused around death- reactions and fears. Spock is externally fearless through his rational approach, but internally thinks about his demise and the demise of his friends as much as Kirk, who does not lack the emotional restraint. Kirk makes several brash decisions in order to avenge his fallen mentor, but ultimately will not let his rage betray his morality.
All three leads- Chris Pine (Kirk), Zachary Quinto (Spock) and Benedict Cumberbatch ("John Harrison")- excel in their roles and carry the film. JJ Abrams style fits the film like a glove, and I personally felt that his often mocked lens flares fit the style and content, definitely leaving a futuristic, other-worldly touch to the film.
Narratively, the script is an air-tight two hours, leading its audience to different planets and developments naturally, working equally well whether Spock and Kirk are together or separated. The films up and downs are marvelous, seeming to climax several times with knock-out drag-out action sequences frequently. But even without them, the film thrives. The do not carry a soggy storyline, but rather work with it, like strawberries in cereal. You like the cereal anyway, but the strawberries are damn good in it.
Perhaps the weakest moment of the film is the appearance of Leonard Nimoy- an older Spock from another universe, returning from the first film (even though he told his younger self they can never meet again). The entire scene is problematic- First, it's kind of dopey how Spock contacts his older self to begin with- it appears he just calls him. Second, and by far the biggest problem- Old Spock adds nothing to the film. He simply confirms to the audience (and the crew) that the main antagonist is evil, something already well-known. In fact, even without this information, Kirk prepares to disable the villain immediately after working with him. Young Spock asks his older self how the villain was defeated, and the scene cuts. We don't know what Spock says, but how on earth would Old Spock have any information about the current situation? Sure, the ending is a reverse of one of the original Star Trek films, but Spock does nothing to cause that. The entire appearance is like Nimoy wanted to be in the film, and the producers simply didn't have the heart to say no, so they wrote him into an already completed script.
But despite that one weakness, Star Trek Into Darkness is an exceptional piece of big budget Hollywood filmmaking- It's smart and covers some heavy themes without being pretentious, heavy-handed, or downright shallow, it's thrilling, and above all, it's just a lot of fun and is just a total rush.
No comments:
Post a Comment