******SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!******
No, for real – massive,
awful, huge spoilers. Do not read this if you don’t want the movie
spoiled. And you do not want the movie spoiled.
I absolutely love JJ
Abrams’ first Star
Trek. I
thought it was a cleverly done reboot of a franchise that I grew up
loving and feeling part of. If you want to see a little more of how I
felt about it, I posted my review from the old MySpace blog earlier today.
I also couldn’t help
but see things about the movie’s plot – mostly the terrorist
aspects. I made the same assumptions about what that meant to the
plot and Cumberbatch’s character that many people did, but still
kept an open mind about the movie. I didn’t feel one way or the
other about the terrorist angle. It’s a part of the story and a
thing that is very real and happens. What happened in New York on
September 11th, 2001 was a tragedy, but it shouldn’t lead to any
kind of hyper-sensitivity about the portrayal of terrorism in media.
Particularly fiction. Unfortunately some people saw fit to latch onto
that one aspect of the movie and make a thing of it.
The only other bits and
pieces I picked up before actually seeing the movie were McCoy and
Kirk running on a planet covered in red vegetation and something
about some of the Enterprise crew operating outside of Federation
authority in plain clothes. That last thing worried me because it’s
a little early in the life of the franchise for the characters to be
on the run or working against the Federation in some way. But I kept
an open mind. Anything heard without context was next to meaningless.
I didn’t think I was
going to be able to see Into
Darkness
until tonight (if I was lucky). I worked 5 AM to 5 PM every day since
Friday, including today. Lil’ Troublemaker’s graduation from
preschool was Friday night, so that was out. And my parents were in
town so the other nights were out, too. Chances are I wouldn’t have
gone to see it tonight either because I am going to be fucking
exhausted after working 48 hours in four days and doing family stuff
when I got home.
But I was on Facebook
Wednesday evening and a friend posted a picture of her fancy Star
Trek dress and said she was gearing up to see the movie. I thought
the first showings were going to be at midnight on Thursday, which I
wouldn’t be able to attend because I had to be at work Friday
morning. But I checked and saw that pretty much every local theater
was showing Into
Darkness
at midnight on Wednesday. I immediately bought a ticket. Mrs.
Troublemaker couldn’t go, but that was okay because I wanted to see
it in 3D and she didn’t. I’ll take her another time.
The movie opens on the
aforementioned red planet (not Mars). The entire opening sequence is
action-packed, edge-of-your-seat stuff. There is planet saving, Prime
Directive violating, Spock rescuing, and the first of many absolutely
breathtaking visuals involving the USS Enterprise. It’s a heck of
an opening and an awe-inspiring way to start a movie. When the title
popped up afterward I could just imagine JJ Abrams saying, “Yeah –
that was just the opening. Hang in there. It gets real
in a minute.”
Next we get a slightly
confusing but well done segment that is strong enough to be a short
film all on its own. We meet a couple with a comatose daughter in the
hospital. There is minimal dialogue, but we get the point that things
have been bad for a long time and aren’t getting better. The father
walks outside and we get our first look at Benedict Cumberbatch as
John Harrison. He tells the father he can cure the little girl. And
now it all makes sense.
The next scene is
Harrison drawing his own blood (which I thought gave too much away
too early; but maybe not for people who hadn’t drawn the same
conclusion that I had before even seeing the movie) and the father
injecting it into the daughter’s IV. She recovers almost
immediately. Next the father goes and blows up a Federation facility
and this is where the story really gets going.
I don’t want to do a
play-by-play on the movie because I really just think you should go
and see it. It’s a brilliant continuation of the first movie that
does the same excellent job of creating a new legacy for these
beloved characters while still honoring what has gone before.
The cast was, once again,
fantastic. Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto were tremendous in their
roles and the addition of Zoe Saldana to the primary character mix
was great. She brought something new to the chemistry of the main
protagonists. Yeah, she was in the last movie, but this time she
really got to do some stuff.
The rest of the crew were
fun, but definitely secondary. I thought for sure Chekov was going to
die when Kirk reassigned him to a Red Shirt, but he didn’t. Instead
he got to have fun in Engineering. Scotty and his little alien pal
didn’t get enough screen time for me, but ol’ Monty definitely
got one of the biggest pops of the movie. Sulu… man, Sulu didn’t
do much of anything aside from a brief stint in the Captain’s
chair.
This installment brought
some new characters, as well. Peter Weller was awesome as Admiral
Marcus and Alice Eve was great and quite nice to look at as his
daughter, Carol. It would’ve been nice if that little reveal hadn’t
been spoiled for me. When she was first introduced she was using a
fake name, with no indication that she was the character that gave
birth to James Kirk’s pussy son, David, in an alternate timeline.
And then there’s
Benedict Cumberbatch’s John Harrison, who is
SPOILER!
RUN AWAY NOW! EXCEPT JUST THE FACT THAT I AM WARNING YOU AWAY IS
SPOILING IT IF YOU HAVE THE SENSE THE GOOD LORD GAVE A HOUSE PLANT!
actually Khan Noonien
Singh. I think we all knew this. I wasn’t positive
going in, but the idea was implanted in my mind to such a degree that
I knew, deep down inside, that I’d be terribly disappointed if he
wasn’t
Khan. All the talk of terrorism and revenge on Starfleet strongly
suggested Khan. And as the movie went on it became unavoidable;
starting with the restorative blood. While I don’t think that
Khan’s blood was ever specifically mentioned as restorative in the
original portrayals, Cumberbatch was clearly playing a human and
genetic enhancement was the only Trek-ish
explanation for that. And if you’re going to put a genetically
superior human villain in your Star
Trek
movie; it had better damn well be Khan.
Before I get to
Cumberbatch’s portrayal, let me say a bit about Khan Noonien Singh.
I love Khan. Of course I
love Khan, everybody
loves Khan. People who have never watched a single episode of any
Star
Trek
series know about KHAAAAAAAAAN!
He is a pop culture phenomenon. I’m sure I saw “Space Seed” at
some point in my life before I saw Wrath
of Khan.
My mom was an avid Trek
fan despite not beign much of a nerd. I remember watching episodes
with her in Gastonia, and that’s before I was five. But Wrath
is a movie that changed my life. I was horrified by the little eels
that went into Chekov and that black guy’s ears. I was enchanted by
the Genesis cave. But mostly I was mesmerized by Ricardo Montalbán’s
growling, sibilant madman. I thought Khan was a badass before I knew
what a badass was.
Every time a Khan figure
has been released, I have bought it (although I’ll be skipping
Diamond Select’s new, weird, immobile version). A few years ago I
was absolutely thrilled to discover that a pair of books had been
written about the Eugenics Wars. They’re great novels that do their
best to logically shoehorn a massive event that seemed far into the
future in 1967 into the then-modern world of the 1990’s, where we
had clearly not experienced any such wars (they were supposed to have
occurred from 1992-1996). I love Montalbán’s portrayal of the
character, but also the whole concept of Khan. A Sikh who not only
sees himself as superior to homo sapiens, but is
superior. One who acknowledges his background, but shaves his beard
as an outward sign that he is something new and better.
Benedict Cumberbatch was
faced with a nearly insurmountable dual task. First, he had to at
least equal Ricardo Montalbán’s performance. Cumberbatch would
have to create his own interpretation of Khan while still seeming
worthy of the role and honoring the history of the character. After
all, despite the alternate timeline, this would still be the same
Khan Noonien Singh we first saw in “Space Seed”.
Second, he had to be the
driving force of possibly the
biggest movie of 2013. While the Enterprise crew are clearly the
stars of the franchise, Star
Trek
consists largely of reactive narratives – by that I mean that the
protagonists are typically responding to the actions of an antagonist
or situation. So Khan had to be a big enough character to not only
hold the movie together when Kirk and the rest were not around, but
also to be believable as a menace to the universe that has already
been established.
Cumberbatch owned it.
In a movie with a lesser
cast, every second that Khan wasn’t on screen would have been
torture. Cumberbatch was absolutely mesmerizing. One of the truly
ingenious plot points is the mystery of his identity. It gives
Cumberbatch the opportunity to create this character without the
audience having outright expectations. By the time we get to the Khan
reveal the only reaction is to be utterly satisfied and think, “Well
of
course
he is.” Only Khan gets a double reveal because the first is of his
identity; the second is of his true nature. Once Khan’s nefarious
plan is outed – after a period of cooperating with Kirk –
Cumberbatch gets to cut loose with a truly vicious and terrifying
character. His progression over the course of the movie is
fascinating to watch.
At the end of the movie –
which takes place one year after the climactic finale – this
franchise that is two films in finally gets around to the whole “Five
Year Mission” thing. And in my opinion it felt well-earned. It’s
mind-blowing to think that the true voyages of the Enterprise haven’t
even gotten underway yet; but also a little disheartening. But I’ll
get to that in a minute.
Having said all of that,
there is one pretty big problem I have with the movie. Quinto Spock
contacts Nimoy Spock to ask him how to deal with Khan. I thought this
totally undermined not only Quinto Spock but the entire new crew as
well. The end of the last movie should have been the last we saw of
Nimoy Spock. It wasn’t worth the damage done to the new franchise
just to have a Nimoy cameo. Is this crew just going to call up
Granddaddy Spock with every single new challenge they meet? But
that’s it. That’s my only problem. Granted, it’s a big one.
Do I even need to bother
talking about the visuals of the movie? They were outstanding, likely
the best I’ll see this year (although Pacific
Rim
might well top this one). I saw Into
Darkness
in 3D and it was okay. I have yet to see anything as awesome 3D-wise
as Resident
Evil: Retribution.
There were certain parts that were neat, but more often than not the
3D was just distracting.
The score was once again
awesome and at the end when Chris Pine’s rendition of the classic,
“Space – the final frontier…” led into a new version of the
classic theme I got nearly debilitating nerd chills.
4
out of 5
I
hate to not give Into
Darkness
a perfect score, but the bit with Nimoy Spock really bugged the shit
out of me. It was such a poor decision in the midst of what was to me
a massive portion of cinematic perfection that it was all the more
offensive.
Speaking
of offensive, there was a good bit of utterly unnecessary cursing.
“Shit” was said no less than four times. It did nothing to
enhance the narrative and took me out of the movie. I had to pause
and think about my annoyance every time.
Now
for the bummer realization about this movie’s place in the new Star
Trek universe.
We’re
just never going to get enough. There were 80 episodes of the
original Trek TV show. Lots of adventures. But if we’re getting one
of these movies every four years that just doesn’t leave a lot of
room for this cast to have adventures. On top of that, we already
know that JJ Abrams will not be directing the inevitable next
installment; whenever that may be happening (2017?). Will the same
cast even be available by then? And what story can be told now that
the crew is officially on their Five Year Mission that won’t feel
like it should just be an episode?
Obviously
the ideal solution to these problems would be to transfer the
franchise to television. That will never, ever happen; at least not
with the same cast and budget. But as I write this I wonder how open
I would be to a complete recasting so that this version of Star
Trek
could actually embark on five years of adventure and exploration.
I’ve got to think that CBS would love
to have a Star
Trek
show. And the stage is set. But would the public at large accept new
actors in the roles?
Or
what if a deal could be worked to have maybe four televised specials
a year? These could be huge network events. I dunno. Obviously I
don’t know how all of that works or I’d probably be living in LA
snorting cocaine off a hooker’s ass right now instead of
speculating about Star Trek media on the internet.
Of
course, there’s always the possibility of launching a television
show that takes place in the new continuity aboard a different
starship. That road seems full of possibilities. And given Zachary
Quinto’s willingness to still appear on television, you could even
throw in the occasional Spock cameo. Or heck, time jump ahead and
make John Chu as Sulu the Captain of his own starship. I don’t know
how that guy feels about TV, but a lead role on a sustainable
franchise might be appealing. We got a hint of political intrigue
within the Federation in the new movie, perhaps a show focused on
that could be the new thing – showing the struggle between the
military and exploratory factions.
I
don’t know what the answer is for the future of the now fully
revitalized Star
Trek
franchise, but I sure hope somebody does. Now that JJ Abrams’
attention is going to be focused on Star Wars, I hope Paramount can
find a strong hand to guide Trek. It deserves a resurgence.
-Phantom
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