Four stars. Rating: PG-13, for intense sci-fi action and violence
By Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 5.17.13
Director J.J. Abrams’ audacious
2009 re-boot of Star Trek was clever and wildly entertaining, a delight for
both hard-core fans and newcomers. (Do the latter actually exist?)
This follow-up is just as
successful ... and perhaps even more fun. While also being deadly serious.
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| Trapped on a hostile planet at the fringes of the Klingon empire, Kirk (Chris Pine, left), Uhura (Zoe Saldana) and Spock (Zachary Quinto) try to figure out whether a cloaked and impressively powerful assassin is helping them ... or merely eliminating distractions in order to kill them himself. |
Which is an impressive balancing
act.
Considerable credit goes to
returning scripters Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman, this time joined by Damon
Lindelof, who understand that it’s all right to mess with Gene Roddenberry’s
original template — here and there — if such adjustments are made respectfully.
And if they make sense, both dramatically and in the greater context of
established Trek lore.
Thus, Spock’s home planet Vulcan
was destroyed in the 2009 film, signaling that the future of these fresh-faced
“Young Trek” characters wouldn’t necessarily unfold according to the Holy Writ
as laid down by Roddenberry and the various show-runners who augmented the
mythos during the subsequent TV shows and films.
On the other hand, blue-eyed
Chris Pine’s James T. Kirk remains an unapologetic babe-hound. Some things
can't change.
Star Trek Into Darkness opens
on the run — literally — as Kirk and Dr. McCoy (Karl Urban) flee from the
enraged inhabitants of Nibiru, a Class M planet (i.e. one that’s Earth-like). Kirk
has “liberated” a sacred object as a diversion, while Spock (Zachary Quinto),
Uhura (Zoe Saldana) and Sulu (John Cho) take a shuttle into a massive volcano,
hoping to prevent a cataclysmic eruption that could wipe out the entire
civilization.
Despite their efforts to
accomplish this clandestinely, Kirk and his crew clearly are violating
Starfleet’s sacred Prime Directive, which prohibits any “interference” with a
developing culture. (Needless to say, William Shatner’s Kirk violated that
directive almost every week, back in the day.)
Regardless of this mission’s
outcome — and things definitely don’t go quite as Kirk planned — the brash
young Enterprise captain gets a serious dressing-down from mentor Christopher
Pike (Bruce Greenwood), once back at Starfleet Command’s San Francisco
headquarters. The unhappy result: a demotion and loss of his ship, with Spock
assigned elsewhere and the rest of the Enterprise crew left to wonder who
they’ll salute next.
