STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS (2013) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS (2013) movie

Genre              |   Science Fiction

Classification   |   M

Running time   |   132 minutes

Released         |   17 May 2013

cast

Chris Pine ... Kirk
Zachary Quinto ... Spock
Zoe Saldana ... Uhura (as Zoë Saldana)
Karl Urban ... Bones
Simon Pegg ... Scotty
John Cho ... Sulu
Benedict Cumberbatch ... Khan
Anton Yelchin ... Chekov
Bruce Greenwood ... Pike
Peter Weller ... Marcus
​Alice Eve ... Carol Marcus

director

​J.J. Abrams

writer

​Roberto Orci ... (written by) &
Alex Kurtzman ... (written by) &
Damon Lindelof ... (written by)
 
Gene Roddenberry ... (television series "Star Trek")

cinematographer

​Dan Mindel ... director of photography

music

Michael Giacchino

film editor

​Maryann Brandon
Mary Jo Markey

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box office result

Worldwide             $​​​​467,381,469  

Australia                 $​​​​​15,972,623

North America       $​​​​228,778,661

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movie minutiae

According to J.J. Abrams, the time travel-alternate reality concept used in the previous film was a deliberate ploy to enable a clean slate for new films: "The idea, now that we are in an independent timeline, allows us to use any of the ingredients from the past, or come up with brand-new ones, to make potential stories."

​Heather Langenkamp, Nancy Thompson of the original horror film A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984), has an unrecognizable, yet small role as an alien crew member of the Enterprise.

There are a few actors and actresses from comic book movies in this film: Zoe Saldana played Gamora (GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (2014), and GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL.2 (2017)), Karl Urban played Judge Dredd (DREDD (2012)) Benedict Cumberbatch played Dr. Stephen Strange (DOCTOR STRANGE (2016)), and Chris Pine played Steve Trevor in WONDER WOMAN (2017).

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS was the first movie Pop Movee reviewed back when the site was Future Fantastique!

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related movies

STAR TREK BEYOND (2016)

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS (2013) MOVIE IMAGES

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STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS (2013) STORY SYNOPSIS

​The crew of the Starship Enterprise returns home after an act of terrorism within its own organization destroys most of Starfleet and what it represents, leaving Earth in a state of crisis. With a personal score to settle, Capt. James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) leads his people (Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoë Saldana) on a mission to capture a one-man weapon of mass destruction, thereby propelling all of them into an epic game of life and death.

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS (2013) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty   |   Review date 16 May 2013

​​Pop Movee Rating

In 2009, JJ Abrams successfully rebooted the Star Trek franchise with a cast of virtual unknowns playing the crew of the USS Enterprise. Part tribute, part spectacle and all-out adventure, STAR TREK became one of the break-out hits of the US Summer Box Office. Four years have passed... 2013 brings the follow-up: STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS.

The title is both literal and metaphorical. Since the end of the first film, the audience is brought up to speed fairly quickly that Chris Pine’s Jim Kirk promotion to Captain of the Enterprise has not been smooth sailing. The opening sequence is set on the alien planet of Nibiru and Director JJ Abrams drops the audience into the middle of Kirk’s escape from the local inhabitants. In a sequence straight out of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, Kirk and Karl Urban’s Bones McCoy narrowly avoid being skewered by the locals spears and a forced to plunge from the side of a cliff-face into the dangerous seas below, where the Enterprise sits waiting deep beneath the ocean. As the excitement of the opening sequence plays out, viewers of the first film will be feeling a sense of deja vu, as Abrams sets his characters on their thematic path for INTO DARKNESS.

As Kirk and Bones make their way back on board the Enterprise, the audience learns that Zachary Quinto’s Spock, Zoe Saldana’s Uhura and John Cho’s Sulu are elsewhere, navigating a shuttle through the innards of a volcano that is about to destroy the Nibiru’s world. Spock, with a cold-fusion solution in hand, is lowered into the volcano, but his tether is severed and he is left stranded awaiting a molten death. Spock prepares himself to die, but Kirk has other ideas. Against Spock’s protests and in contradiction to the Prime Directive that governs Starfleet’s interactions with alien worlds, Kirk brings the Enterprise out of the ocean and into full view of the Nibiru. Spock is saved and the Nibiru begin to worship a new deity – the USS Enterprise!

The story cuts away to London, where the audience is introduced to dying girl, a grieving mother and a desperate father. The little girl’s father is approached by a man who claims he can save the girl, but the audience knows there will be a price to pay… 

Back in San Francisco, Kirk and Spock have been called to a meeting with Bruce Greenwood’s Admiral Pike. Kirk speculates that it could be about the new program – a five year mission into uncharted space. Unfortunately for Kirk, he is unaware that Spock has submitted a report to Admiral Pike detailing his contravention of the Prime Directive during the Nibiru mission. After dismissing Spock, Pike advises Kirk that he has been relieved of command pending further action by Peter Weller’s Admiral Marcus. This is a great scene where Kirk and his mentor go head-to-head about the need to measure action with humility. It sets the scene for everything that is to come in the film.

At the same time in London, the father of the dying girl administers a vial of blood into her intravenous drip. The effect is immediate. Her vital signs stabilise and begin to improve. The man kisses his daughter gently on her head and takes one last look at his wife. He proceeds to a Starfleet facility in Downtown London and detonates a device that destroys the entire facility. In the split second before the bomb goes off, the man transmits a message to Admiral Marcus, its contents unknown.

Later that night in San Francisco, Admiral Pike finds Kirk in a bar. He tells Kirk that he’s convinced Marcus to make Kirk his First Officer. Before the conversation goes much further, Pike receives a communication advising all Captains and First Officers to report to Starfleet Command for an urgent briefing.

At the briefing, Admiral Marcus advises the group that the man responsible for the attack in London is Benedict Cumberbatch’s John Harrison, a member of Starfleet. While Marcus is talking, Kirk becomes suspicious of the images from the London bombing. Pike tells Kirk to reign it in, but Marcus wants to know what Kirk thinks. Kirk wants to know why someone would attack a facility that had no strategic value to Starfleet unless it was as a pre-tense to bringing all the Captains and First Officers of all available ships together at the one time in the one place. On cue, Harrison’s one man ship, equipped with some heavy artillery, opens fire on the meeting. In an instant, many of Starfleet’s best and brightest are cut-down as part of Harrison’s one-man vendetta. Kirk manages to escape the slaughter and get a good shot at Harrison’s ship. Realising he needs more than a phaser rifle, Kirk ties the rifle to a good old fashioned fire hose and hurls it out the window at Harrison’s ship. The turbine on the motor sucks the rifle in, then the fire hose and then the control board to which the fire hose is attached. It does the job; destroying the ship’s motor, but not before Harrison is able to beam out to a safe location.

In the aftermath of the attack, Kirk convinces Admiral Marcus that he’s the man to lead the mission to bring Harrison to justice. Kirk tells Marcus that Simon Pegg’s Scotty has recovered a trans-warp transport device from the wreckage of Harrison’s ship and its coordinates were set for Qo’noS, the Klingon home world. The Admiral authorises Kirk to lead a mission to terminate Harrison, providing him with an arsenal of advanced weapons to make sure the terrorist does not survive. Once the mission is underway, Spock voices his concerns to Kirk, reminding him that under Federation law, even Harrison is entitled to a trial. Realising that the Vulcan is right, Kirk decides to take a landing party to capture Harrison and bring him back to Earth to face justice.

Kirk, Spock & Uhura set off in a shuttle, but en route are intercepted by the Klingons. Outnumbered and outgunned, they set the shuttle down to try and talk their way out of trouble. Uhura tells the Klingons that they are looking for a man without honour, but this doesn’t persuade the Klingon Commander to spare her life. Suddenly, all hell breaks loose. It’s Harrison and he has some serious fire-power in hand. Kirk and Spock rush from the shuttle to save Uhura as Harrison takes down the Klingon forces. A savage battle ensues and, although out-numbered, Harrison easily defeats the Klingons. Kirk confronts Harrison and tells him that he has to face justice for what he has done. Harrison’s only concern is the advanced weaponry that Kirk has on board the Enterprise. He allows himself to be taken into custody when he realises that he would not survive if the Enterprise were to fire on his position.

Back on board the Enterprise, Harrison tells Kirk that he has committed his acts of terrorism because of what Admiral Marcus did to Harrison’s crew. Harrison tells Kirk that Marcus used his own crew as leverage against him, so that he would help the Admiral build weapons that would help them defeat the Klingons if war were to break out. The situation escalates when Admiral Marcus intercepts the Enterprise in a new, larger starship specifically designed for war. The Admiral tells Kirk that he must hand the terrorist over to him.

At this point, it becomes hard not to divulge story points without ruining the film, so I won’t.

So, how does STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS rate?

It’s a strong follow-up to the 2009 film. 

Is it as good? Yes. 

If you’re a STAR TREK fan, you’ll be pleased that so much of the canon has been woven into this story. There’s plenty of references and not just to The Original Series. One of the key background story elements is borrowed from the third Star Trek series DEEP SPACE NINE and will be a trivia point that divides fan opinion. To be honest though, this is not a movie that has been made for STAR TREK fans in the hope that others will go and see it. It’s a piece of entertainment that has been produced with the intention of getting as many people as possible to see it in a cinema.
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The story explores similar themes the last James Bond film SKYFALL, as well as Christopher Nolan’s THE DARK KNIGHT RISES. The theme of terrorism is strong throughout the film and the story does not back away from its depiction. This is the most violent STAR TREK film ever produced. For TREK purists, this may cause a level of angst. Star Trek’s creator Gene Roddenberry held a view that the 23rd Century was a more civilised time and that humans had moved beyond pure violence as a means of resolving conflicts. STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS eschews this and firmly places itself in the action adventure territory.

The overall performances from the cast are good. Chris Pine carries the film from beginning to end and is well supported by Zachary Quinto and Zoe Saldana. Although it was one of the more unlikely story elements from the 2009 film, both Quinto and Saldana continue to make the Spock-Uhura relationship interesting and it’s a useful mirror to Spock’s emotionless Vulcan heritage. The rest of the crew each get their own time on the screen, but are required to share it with Benedict Cumberbatch and Alice Eve, as both of their characters spend a fair amount of time on the Enterprise. Benedict Cumberbatch as John Harrison is a more sophisticated adversary than Eric Bana’s Nero from the 2009 film, leading Kirk and the crew to second-guess their every move as Harrison proves himself to be a master manipulator!

As expected, there’s a fair helping of effects to help move the story forward. From the opening sequence on Nibiru, it’s obvious that JJ Abrams and his production team want INTO DARKNESS to be bigger and better than their 2009 effort. At some points, the level of complexity created by the combination of action & effects is overwhelming. There is so much action that it’s hard to keep up!

One of the most pleasing elements of the film is its 3-D conversion. JJ Abrams had previously stated that he is not a fan of the 3-D process, but INTO DARKNESS is a film that must be seen in 3-D. (The Media viewing held in Sydney prior to the World Premiere was screened in 2-D; while the following night’s premiere was in 3-D. The difference is remarkable! )

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS is a big movie in every sense. JJ Abrams and his team have successfully translated the $185 million production budget into a follow-up film that is better than their 2009 effort and sets the scene for grander adventures in the future. STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS is a must see on the big screen event movie!

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS (2013) USEFUL LINKS

Star Trek Into Darkness - Wikipedia
​Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) - IMDb
​Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) - Rotten Tomatoes​

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