SYNOPSIS: In the wake of a shocking act of terror from within their own organization, the crew of The Enterprise is called back home to Earth.  In defiance of regulations and with a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads his crew on a manhunt to capture an unstoppable force of destruction and bring those responsible to justice.  

As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.  

REVIEW: J.J. Abrams, the man who rebooted the Star Trek film franchise four years ago to widespread and well deserving acclaim, has done it again with a new and exciting concept in this second installment. One could say that he has singled-handedly picked up the franchise and blew the dust of off it and given it relevance and appeal. It seems as though he embraced the chance to insert his magic in to part two of his mission to make Trek viable, vibrant and cool again. After the confident take-off of part one, I like how he keeps this franchise flying with a much faster, better paced, logically sequenced sequel that makes for the most thrilling Star Trek since First Contact. Also, there’s the sense of an expanded universe in this one, where the characters and plot are much bolder and mature, and might somehow indicate the direction of future installments.

Naturally Kirk and Spock are back, with Chris Pine (This Means War, 2012) and Zachary Quinto (Heroes – TV Series) still fitting the roles as comfortably as their Ly’cra-material jumpsuits. Then there’s Simon Pegg (Mission Impossible IV – Ghost Protocol, 2011) back in a much bigger, much funnier role as engineer Scotty (complete with a cabbage-headed sidekick), dropping exasperated one-liners that are off-the-cuff hilarious. He’s backed by Karl Urban (The Lord of the Rings trilogy) as medical man Bones, chiming in with his constant colorful metaphors (“You don’t rob a bank when the getaway car has a flat tire!” lol). Sulu, Chekov and the others are onboard also, but what’s most notable about the crew is the return of sexy Zoe Saldana (Colombiana, 2011) as Nyota Uhura (Spock’s love interest) and Alice Eve (Men in Black III, 2012) playing the sexy Dr. Carol Marcus: Weapons specialist. Wow, what eye-candy! Lastly, but certainly not least, we have Benedict Cumberbatch (The Hobbit, 2012), playing the badass rogue Starfleet officer called John Harrison. I thought his villainous role was awesome, but believe that they could have come up with a more outlandish name than that for a Star Trek villain. Even his real name ‘Benedict Cumberbatch’ sounds more intimidating than ‘John Harrison’. Nonetheless, if there is a real downside to his character, it would be that it was very much underdeveloped. I guess this is their way of leaving some possibilities open for future ‘nemesis’ roles for his character.

Some annoying factors about the movie is that it felt a little hurried in regards to the climax and for some reason they had an odd compulsion to leave Kirk dangling from ledges, constantly, throughout the movie. A little awkward, when you consider how many other options they have for putting Captain Kirk in to compromising positions. Nevertheless, Into Darkness is a real super, fun movie and is well worth the visit to the theaters. I believe a large portion of Star Trek’s audiences may well be satisfied by the film and it is well-deserving of four and a half out of five stars for this latest J.J. Abrams effort. – MoviMan Stan

Review By Movi-Man Stan 

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