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. READ FULL STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS FILM REVIEW >>