Star Trek Into Darkness – I Wouldn’t Have Expected Anything Less

I am not a Trekkie.  But I have thoroughly enjoyed the reboot.  Hence, I have high anticipation of Into Darkness, also directed by J. J. Abrams.  Besides, the casting of Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto as Kirk and Spock is simply brilliant.  Before the movie, I was thinking to myself: How nice if I could see some Klingons.  The good news is, there were some Klingons.  The not so good news is that they did not last long.

So I lamented just a little bit with my movie buddies Cynthia and TK.  In a sci-fi movie like Star Trek, when human are exploring the frontier of the galaxy, should we not see more interaction with other alien species?  Like my favorite Klingons?

What we see instead is the conflict between the human in the future with the generically modified super-human in the past caught in the middle.  At first, I felt the villain Khan acted by Benedict Cumberbatch was a bit stiff and emotionless.  Then, when it is his part to shine, Cumberbatch delivers some of the memorable moments in this movie.  As for Kirk and Spock, the filmmaker has given them plenty of opportunity to showcase the unique characteristic of the two opposing figures.  Kirk who acts on his initiation versus Spock who is governed by logic and has chosen not to be affected by emotion.  In Into Darkness, both Kirk and Spock are being deeply challenged against their principles.  It is part of a learning journey for them to mature and take greater responsibility.  The filmmaker has nailed the character development aspect perfectly.

The ending plot is not without its loophole (or so I have observed).  Cynthia and TK did not notice until I have pointed it out.  It is like, why go into such great trouble to catch the one when there are plenty of stock back in the ship?  And if they have no idea how to unfreeze these stocks, why risk freezing the main character in it?  Anyway, that is minor on this pretty entertaining movie of late.