Star Trek Into Darkness

FLIX!

I was all set to name this review "The Trash of Con". I was a little perturbed that Paramount was forbidding any reviewer to actually give the name of the villain in this picture. I was going to unload if the producers and J.J. Abrams in any way harmed my beloved Star Trek.

From the beginning, and I mean the mid 60's, I would leave the Junior Varsity football games at halftime so I could get home and watch Star Trek. Yes, sports fans, I watched the original series on network TV in prime time. I saw all the episodes when they were first seen by the public anywhere. Years later, when it was announced there would be a follow-up series called "Star Trek - the Next Generation" I was dismayed. I just knew they could not do justice to the original. And although I and other "Trekkers" (not Trekkies if you please) were probably the most skeptical audience ever, TNG won our hearts big-time. That was a great show, that ended way too soon.

I must admit that I am not a fanatic, have never gone to a convention, and frankly got lost in all the Deep Space Nine, Enterprise, and other off-shoots from the original series. But Rodenberry's original vision was compelling then, and is masterful yet to this day. And that, my friend, is what a 'classic' is. Timeless. Not just for me. But for millions of others. Including, luckily, J.J. Abrams.

Into Darkness is the twelfth Star Trek film. J.J. Abrams directed the last one simply entitled "Star Trek". I loved it. Here was a guy that loved the show like I do, making a big budget Studio flick about it. Perfectly, Abrams chose to go back to a time before the original series took place to tell the back stories of all of the cast and how things became the way they were in Star Trek. Then as now, he uses young beautiful actors to portray the characters we love, and he thankfully also this time uses a compelling storyline that ties into not only the original series but the second film "The Wrath of Khan." But I was afraid that he would have to bend to the wishes of the 3-D-emons and make a flick that was more effects than story. Not the case. Whew.

First there is the cast. Remarkable. They are not only flawless in their portrayals of characters that were created by others, but they also very much look like younger versions of the original cast. Chris Pine as James Kirk is brash and unapologetic. Another words he is Kirk. Zachary Quinto as Spock is wonderful. Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, John Cho, and Anton Yelchin are all terrific as Uhura, Bones, Scotty, Sulu, and Chekov respectively. Add to the mix Peter Weller as Admiral Marcus and Bruce Greenwood as Christopher Pike and there you go.

This storyline basically goes back and sets the stage for what happens in a movie so long ago - The Wrath of Khan. And it does so beautifully. This film is packed with plenty of something for everyone. Action, wonderful effects, and a solid storyline. What can be better than that? My wife doesn't have a clue what Star Trek is about and she liked this movie a lot. That says something.

A couple things I really liked? Bones making the endearing and almost mandatory "I'm a Doctor, not a ......!" line. Trekkers love this. Also I really liked the presence of a Tribble, the fuzzy little creature that was a part of one of the comedic episodes of the original series. Please J.J.....never lose this sense of honor to the original series.

Things I didn't like? If one more character would have shed another movie tear, I swear I would have hunted Abrams down just to slap him. Please. Okay shedding a tear might be impressive to some actors, but until you can do the Joan Crawford "Which eye?" question to your director, calm down kiddos. (A director told her that shedding a tear might be nice in a scene, and she truly asked him "Which eye?").
And another thing: Abrams, dammit, it's okay to do a Star Trek movie without Leonard goddam Nimoy. C'mon! That was then, this is now. You know what this constant Nimoy inclusion does? It convolutes the storyline. It gets into that "me then, me now" contrived bullshit. That's what. Please before this life is over Abrams, see if you can do a Star Trek movie without Nimoy. That sir, is your five year mission. Also, with Pike dying, doesn't that somehow confuse we dyed-in-the-wools who remember that Pike was the primary figure in the two first episodes of the original?

But besides wishing someone could pry Abram's lips off Nimoy's ass, this was a great film. I can't wait to own it. And I hope that Abrams can finally be so sure of himself that he can make his own Star Trek movie without leaning on the casts of the past. That is the one thing that would truly make Gene Roddenberry happy. And maybe only a Trekker will understand that last sentence. But that's okay.

See this wonderful movie.