Movie Review: Star Trek

By Ethan Craik

Four years ago, J.J. Abrams took one of the most celebrated sci-fi franchises of all time and rebooted it for today’s audiences. What once started as a short lived TV Series is now a cultural phenomenon, with the Abram’s reboot being a personal favorite of mine with great characters and intense action. Well, as it turns out, Abrams has done it again by crafting one of the most intense, emotional and satisfying motion picture events in recent memory.

  This time around, Kirk and crew are faced with a hostile terrorist who seeks revenge for reasons unknown, and the U.S.S. Enterprise must set out to stop him. The plot may sound generic I know, but there are layers to this film’s story and cast of wonderful characters. The writing staff and acting crew bring their A game to bring these characters to life. From Uhura to Bones to Scotty, all the characters are likeable and have great chemistry with each other. Standouts among the cast are Kirk, Spock and Harrison, who are all played spectacularly by Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and Benedict Cumberbatch, respectively. Especially Benedict, who brings a dark, threatening presence to the film that makes him one of the best movie villains since Heath Ledger’s Joker. 

  Now great acting and storytelling is enough to make a movie good, but Abrams steps it up a notch with great direction and action. Yes, the lens flare is there, but this movie truly looks great. From futuristic London to the outer rims of the Klingon home world, the world of Star Trek has never looked better with an insane amount to detail. Action flows in and out of the story nicely, making it exciting and great to watch with the falling of The Enterprise being a standout scene. Every kick, blast and explosion is heard and felt with exceptional sound design, and a certain scene involving Benedict confronting a man from his past leaves you with your jaw hitting the floor.

  In the end, the film looks great with the action being on a whole another level of intense, but the greatness of this film truly falls back to the characters. By the end of this film, you feel so strongly for the crew upon the Enterprise and the bromance between Kirk and Spock is represented perfectly in this film with a scene between the two in the end that is likely to bring you to tears, or at least make you think about doing it. Star Trek: Into Darkness delivers exactly what it promises and it’s a film that you really have to check out. I give this film an A.