Sunday, May 19, 2013

THE WRATH OF KIRK: a review of "Star Trek Into Darkness"

"STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS"
Based upon "Star Trek" created by Gene Roddenberry
Screenplay Written by Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman & Damon Lindelof
Directed by J.J. Abrams
**** (four stars)

I believe that Gene Roddenberry would be proud to know that his creation is currently resting in great directorial hands.

Aside from the awkward title (shouldn't there be a colon symbol in between the two parts of the title?), Director J.J. Abrams has stupendously hit the jackpot again with "Star Trek Into Darkness," his adrenaline injected, two-fisted, phasers set to BLAST second installment in his richly executed revamping of the "Star Trek" series. Abrams is a filmmaker who has taken the very best from all who have come before him and has so beautifully found a way to make each foray into someone else's artistic territory an experience that simultaneously serves as homage and a full expression of his unique cinematic voice as evidenced in all three of his previous features, "Mission: Impossible III" (2006), his tribute to the early films of Steven Spielberg with the triumphant "Super 8" (2011) and of course, his warp speed brilliant "Star Trek" (2009). 

Returning to the "Trek" universe four years later has only sharpened Abrams' skills as he has created a film that not only runs at a relentless pace and contains a level of action that will indeed shake the movie theater walls, in the best "trek" fashion, he has given us a deeply provocative cultural and political commentary that speaks to the precarious urgency of our times in the 21st century. I love how J.J. Abrams understands, above all else, that just having the special effects, a great sound system and a built in audience are just not enough. That a heart, soul, emotional power and concepts to mentally chew upon are absolutely essential elements and Abrams delivers it all in spades.

"Star Trek Into Darkness" finds J.J. Abrams and the crew of the U.S.S Enterprise in full "Indiana Jones" mode as we immediately catch them in a ferociously paced mid adventure that brings us the very themes that will come to haunt everyone involved for the remainder of the film, most especially the impetuously reckless Captain James T. Kirk (played with increased riveting swagger by an excellent Chris Pine), who soon finds himself demoted to First Officer after the film's opening escapades.

Terror strikes in the form of former Starfleet agent John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch), who has been the mastermind behind a bombing in London as well as a blistering attack upon a meeting of Starfleet Commanding Officers, which culminates in the death of Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood), Kirk's beloved and trusted mentor and father figure. 

Fueled by revenge, Kirk is eventually reinstated as Captain of the Enterprise by Admiral Alexander Marcus (the great Peter Weller) and is instructed to take his crew to hunt down Harrison, who is reportedly hiding in Klingon territory, and utilize 72 brand new long range photon torpedoes to ultimately destroy him.  

"Star Trek Into Darkness" is as beautifully helmed and presented as anything you would expect from J.J. Abrams. Every penny of this budget is on the screen with its top flight production, including the tremendous special effects which offer surprise, excitement, breathless energy, horror and humor all along the way. The writing from Abrams team is uniformly excellent as they have crafted a new adventure strongly while also peppering it with nods from "Trek" folklore in most clever ways. The entire cast has slipped easily back into their roles from the first film and I have to say that Chris Pine, along with Zachary Quinto as Mr. Spock, the eerily perfect Karl Urban as Dr. McCoy and the terrific Simon Pegg as Scotty have all even improved upon their already excellent work by making the characters even more of their own and not solely stationed into "Trek" reverence. As for Benedict Cumberbatch, well...without going into any sense of detail, let's just say that he makes his commanding presence known through a fearsome, formidable malevolence that is intensely watchable and places him in the upper echelon of "Trek" villains. 

Now, with all of the film's brief trailers and scant information that J.J. Abrams has provided, I would be very remiss to give you any more information about the film's plot as I firmly believe that what I have described is all you need to get yourselves into this film. But I will offer to you that aside from being an excellent space adventure film, "Star Trek Into Darkness" functions on a series of deeply compelling additional levels as the film is also a war film, a cautionary tale, a political commentary and even as its own version of a parable, clearly inspired by the Greek myth of "Icarus" with James T. Kirk as the young man who own sense of arrogance and hubris forces him to face some truly disturbing and dire consequences.

Some viewers and fans of "Star Trek" from the very beginning back in 1966, may bristle a bit with the large amount of action and spectacle on display in this new film as laser battles were never really the focus of the original series, which was, at its core, something more philosophical. But that said, Abrams has full knowledge of this conceit as he even has one of his characters wonder aloud if Starfleet has become militarized and aren't they supposed to function as explorers? Very true and very smart to include that story driven critique. But, one thing to also remember with "Star Trek," and the very best of science fiction, is its ability to mirror, examine and comment upon what is happening in the real world. In the case of "Star Trek Into Darkness," this quality could not be any more prevalent. 

As with Shane Black's "Iron Man 3" from this summer to Director Christopher Nolan's "Dark Knight Trilogy" (2005/2008/2012), Steven Spielberg's "War Of The Worlds" (2005) and yes, I will still hold up M. Night's Shyamalan's "The Village" (2004) as an example, "Star Trek Into Darkness" wants us to take a close, hard look at our post 9/11 world, especially since the United States of America has been embroiled in some sort of war conflict for over the last ten years plus and our culture of fear has only continued to intensify. And in taking that close, hard look at ourselves, there is no better conduit to utilize as a guide than Captain James Tiberius Kirk himself.  

While Kirk is indeed armed with the best of intentions, move for move, he builds his own road to Hell, which is eventually paved with regret, sorrow and tragedy. Despite the constant presence of Spock, mere logic is rendered to be irrelevant to Kirk as his sense of honor, friendship, loyalty and love is fueled by his wrath, rage and punishing retribution, which in actuality gets him absolutely nowhere (as evidenced in a terrific and tense moment as Kirk valiantly attempts to beat the stuffing out of the terrorist Harrison to astoundingly no avail). 

Captain Kirk is ruled by his emotions, making one terribly fateful decision after another until he has boxed himself and his crew into a trap he just cannot find a way out of without making monumental sacrifices. In many ways, we can see that Kirk's reckless "shoot first, ask questions later" mentality makes him the perfect pawn for other's duplicitous behaviors, again mirroring our country's own driven march to war with Iraq based on pretenses that have been proven to be wholly false. "Star Trek Into Darkness" is the story of Kirk's evolution into true manhood and leadership, which then places the glimmer of hope in this surprisingly grim installment. For if Kirk can just grow up, perhaps he may be able to represent the best of us as we try to untangle ourselves from a fear driven society to one of increased understanding and the ability to find new ways to achieve the goals that we have always wanted. These concepts ensure that J.J. Abrams has given us a summer movie that has a brain and conscience while also having the massive ability to knock our socks off. 

I will admit that for much of the film's running time, and as much as I was enjoying myself, I was feeling that maybe I found the previous film to be a tad better as I remembered that I was enthralled from the first moments, while in this second installment, there was a familiarity with the setting, universe and some plotting that perhaps held me back from being completely on the edge of my seat. But then, the themes, concepts and emotional resonance of the characters congealed masterfully for the film's final third which utilizes and echoes crucial "Trek" mythology and flies into warp speed to elevate this experience into the first film's equal with one outstanding set piece after another. 

"Star Trek Into Darkness" is a sensational piece of work that again shows how summer movies can be consciously artful as well as enormously entertaining. With the success of this film, I feel even more that J.J. Abrams is the perfect filmmaker to take the reins of "Star Wars" from George Lucas as his "Episode VII" arrives two years from now. 

I just hope that Disney stays completely out of his way and allow him to work his movie magic on his own terms.

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