Out and Back: Star Trek Into Darkness (no spoilers)

Friends, I'm gonna be honest here. This was a difficult one to write.

It's not because I didn't like the movie. I did. Let's get that out of the way. It's partly because my writing is rusty and I'm woefully out of practice. This is the first action the blog has seen in six months, and the reasons for that are another story for another day. It's partly because, as a way to get back into it, I've been maybe trying too hard to say something that 50,000 other people haven't already said about it.

But the main problem I had is that it's hard for me to write about this movie without giving away half of it.

So I'll start with the heavier, more philosophical stuff. Kirk disobeys every single order he's given in this movie. But I think his decision to attempt to bring Harrison in alive rather than killing him from the ship and being done with it is his best moment in either of the new films. Whether it's a nagging feeling on its surface about the order he was given or an independent realization that "Hey, these aren't the ideals that we're supposed to be upholding," Kirk gets it here and that scene does a better job of showing that than his peace offering to Nero in Star Trek 2009 did. (and some would say that he didn't really "get it" in that scene at all.)

They continue to push the envelope with Spock, showing just what a Vulcan is capable of when things go pear-shaped. From managing tensions with Uhura after the events of the film's opening, to his own showdown with Harrison, Spock's continual struggle to reconcile his human side with his Vulcan side remains one of the better characterizations of the new films.

Are you a Simon Pegg fan? Did you like him as Scotty in the first one? Then this is the movie for you. In fact, like the first movie, each main cast member gets to do at least one awesome thing, even if it's just give a stunningly threatening speech.

I would very much like to ask Benedict Cumberbatch how the scenery tasted.

Speaking of Cumberbatch, once The Reveal happens, it turns into what you sort of expect if you're familiar with the TOS universe, with more than a few elements of this TNG episode thrown in for good measure.

Speaking of that, oh, the references. A Tribble shows up. There's a major reference that probably only Deep Space Nine fans will get. Dr. Carol Marcus herself is a reference to the original timeline and presents some delicious storyline potential moving forward. (Not sure why they had Alice Eve keep her accent for the part but whatever.)

This brings me to my biggest issue with the movie: The climax is... actually pretty anti-climactic. Star Trek fans have figured out what the filmmakers were going for by the time the movie reaches that point. But I think that even if you're not a fan, there's such a feeling of "they're not actually going to do this" that the moment loses a lot of impact. And that's without mentioning that the fix to the problem gets foreshadowed at least twice.

So I can't make this a completely glowing review. Still, it's worth seeing if you enjoy that sort of thing. Plus, there are Klingons.

Out and Back: Star Trek

I almost didn't bother.

That'll sound strange coming from not only the son of a Trekkie (Mom has the entire original series on VHS. VHS!) but from someone who has more friends that are into the franchise than any human being should be allowed to have.

I don't have to tell any of you out there that there's an inherent danger when you've given the keys to a franchise property. And if there's any group that's more fanatical about accuracy than comic book fans, it's Star Trek fans (Though both pale in comparison to Star Wars fans. Seriously.), and they've seen their franchise fall upon hard times (see: the last two feature films, the entire run of "Enterprise".) J.J. Abrams and company had to get this right. So when I saw the trailers, I wasn't turned off, but I was... concerned. It almost looked too - and I'm about to make up a word here because I'm not sure how else to say this - "actiony" for a Star Trek movie. But practically everyone I trust said this was worth seeing.

They were pretty much right.

In 1966, they couldn't make an original Enterprise that looks the way it does in this movie. It's a "modernized" look, but it doesn't necessarily outshine those that came after it. A move like this needs to look good, and this one does - sleek and shiny in all the right places; and dark, gritty and foreboding in all of those right places.

I don't envy Chris Pine at all. This movie with Lindsay Lohan in 2006 was his highest billing before getting the role of Kirk, and I'm not sure that ever saw the inside of a theater. So going from that to this... not exactly baby steps. But he's up to the task and plays well with everyone else in the cast, which is so important for these characters. Zachary Quinto plays the most conflicted Spock ever (they've done some playing around with Spock battling his half-human side in the movies, but that envelope's never been pushed like this), and everyone else falls into line. Also, and this is as spoilerish and I plan to get, I like when guest stars serve a purpose and don't just show up for the sake of showing up.

One thing I will say, understanding that you don't want the movie to be too long, is that now I kind of want to see a "Kirk at Starfleet Academy" series. Abrams and company did their homework and stayed true to the characters while freshening them up at the same time, so if that's on the horizon, I'll be there.

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