Hope I'm posting this in the right spot. 
SPOILERS!
Shit!
Star Trek Into Darkness, or STID (and since the title of this flick is a grammatical fuck up that acronym will remain thus!), is the sort of flick that makes Roger Corman cry... because he didn't get a cheque! I mean that in the best possible way. I love Roger Corman movies and in the same way I loved STID. It was cheesy fun! The film felt like it took some of the worst and some of the best of Star Trek and mashed them together, and I have to say it works. The character dramas veered from hilarious to eye rolling to tearful to screaming with all the cohesion of a Hong Kong cop flick from 1975, this roller coaster doesn't look back. No to much in the way of deep thoughts except for a very sub sub-plot about militarism which amounts to about as much as Captain Kirk musing; Hey Bones, ever hear of a Doomsday Weapon?
From the get go this film is completely committed to going from one action set piece to the next. The pacing is relentless. The plot points a blur of exposition and clever quips that barely land onto the ground. Logic, out the air-lock. But it all holds together perfectly thanks to a tight script and earnest performances from the cast. Perhaps the best thing that holds the film together is the terrific characterizations of our iconic heros. Kirk, Spock, Bones, and the crew. Their interactions with each other really shine.
Action! Yep, this is definitely a summer action flick. No sooner does a point of dialog end when the movie suddenly remembers there hasn't been any action and too much talking for at least 3 minutes, then something goes boom! The opening sequence really demonstrates that this movie is about fun as Kirk and McCoy run from volcano worshiping primitives while shouting funny dialog. Oddly, the sequence has nothing to do with the plot of the film except to set up Kirks character arc. Trekkies know that Starfleet officers swear to give up their lives to protect the development of alien worlds. Kirk? Well, he says it's no big deal! Hey, he's the captain(?). There's an attack on Starfleet next, then a trip to the Klingon homeworld (you spell it, I give up) and then things really get wild. Each action scene is clever and big, really big! Perhaps the only sequence that underwhelms is the climactic fight with Spock and, as is revealed by this time, Khan. Special mention for the 'we've lost gravity' sequence, which I thought was especially clever. Though I still can't really remember if Chekov, whos trepidation at putting on a red shirt was too funny, is actually alive!
The story's not just a corny mashup of ST:TWoK and Space Seed (!), it incorporates a twisty plot involving Adm. Marcus militarizing Starfleet, his daughter, Carol, sneaking around his plans (which is about the only real plothole in the film as her presence on Enterprise hardly seems explained) and how Harrison, who's revealed as Khan not even mid-way through, manipulates around what everyone else thinks is going on. Well, I say that's one plot hole but there is, sorta, another. To figure out just who this Khan guy is, when Kirk and Khan are off fighting Adm. Marcus, Spock, well, calls Spock! The film makes a great case that, perhaps, Khan isn't such a bad guy. And with Adm. Marcus shooting at Enterprise with his giant, dark, starship of death the film seems to have a real villain. Spock tells Spock, yea, Khan is a psycho. Which is a cop-out way of having Spock learn the truth about Khan. For Kirk, Khan's true nature is revealed in a terrific and bloody reveal when Khan drops all pretense and goes full murdering bad ass.
The cast just rocks! Good performances all around. Stand outs are Simon Pegg, who steals every scene he's in, and Zack Quinto. Every time Scotty is on screen is solid gold. Quinto's Spock, in a very real way, steals the film from Chris Pine's Kirk. If you didn't think Quinto was a good Spock in the last film I guarantee he'll prove himself a very worthy successor here. He really seems to have become comfortable in the role. There are some big emotions in the film but they fall into melodrama, even finding laugh out load moments. KHAAAAANNN!!! Need I say more? Really, should be writing Roger Corman a cheque man.
Make no mistake, if you were to apply actual logic to this film you'd be disappointed. And as for high concepts such as, oh, having the Berlin Wall come down in space, forget it. Nothing so high minded is here. The story and plot points are all summer flick action, mushy character arcs, and bits of Trek nostalgia frappaed into a cheese fest that goes by so fast you wouldn't particularly remember the last act. Rather like the first film, this one only makes sense because a character will explain why the action in the scene before last happened. No matter, it was fun getting there!
This film really did feel like Star Trek in that it was cheesy fun with a bit of conscious and character behind it. It's THAT sort of episode, so to speak. It's lacking actual intelligence and logic because, well, the characters, rather like in a Roger Corman flick, needed to be that dumb so they could walk into the plot. Watching Spock remind Kirk this is all incredibly illegal and dangerous to the entire galaxy while they go ahead and do it anyway might make a trekkie phaser their ears off. This film is what it is. This is The Doomsday Machine, not Return of the Archons.
Number of times a character says 'shit'? I count three times. Every film is improved with a colourful metaphor, if you ask me.
Cheers and set your phasers to fun!
---
Plum
SPOILERS!
Shit!
Star Trek Into Darkness, or STID (and since the title of this flick is a grammatical fuck up that acronym will remain thus!), is the sort of flick that makes Roger Corman cry... because he didn't get a cheque! I mean that in the best possible way. I love Roger Corman movies and in the same way I loved STID. It was cheesy fun! The film felt like it took some of the worst and some of the best of Star Trek and mashed them together, and I have to say it works. The character dramas veered from hilarious to eye rolling to tearful to screaming with all the cohesion of a Hong Kong cop flick from 1975, this roller coaster doesn't look back. No to much in the way of deep thoughts except for a very sub sub-plot about militarism which amounts to about as much as Captain Kirk musing; Hey Bones, ever hear of a Doomsday Weapon?
From the get go this film is completely committed to going from one action set piece to the next. The pacing is relentless. The plot points a blur of exposition and clever quips that barely land onto the ground. Logic, out the air-lock. But it all holds together perfectly thanks to a tight script and earnest performances from the cast. Perhaps the best thing that holds the film together is the terrific characterizations of our iconic heros. Kirk, Spock, Bones, and the crew. Their interactions with each other really shine.
Action! Yep, this is definitely a summer action flick. No sooner does a point of dialog end when the movie suddenly remembers there hasn't been any action and too much talking for at least 3 minutes, then something goes boom! The opening sequence really demonstrates that this movie is about fun as Kirk and McCoy run from volcano worshiping primitives while shouting funny dialog. Oddly, the sequence has nothing to do with the plot of the film except to set up Kirks character arc. Trekkies know that Starfleet officers swear to give up their lives to protect the development of alien worlds. Kirk? Well, he says it's no big deal! Hey, he's the captain(?). There's an attack on Starfleet next, then a trip to the Klingon homeworld (you spell it, I give up) and then things really get wild. Each action scene is clever and big, really big! Perhaps the only sequence that underwhelms is the climactic fight with Spock and, as is revealed by this time, Khan. Special mention for the 'we've lost gravity' sequence, which I thought was especially clever. Though I still can't really remember if Chekov, whos trepidation at putting on a red shirt was too funny, is actually alive!
The story's not just a corny mashup of ST:TWoK and Space Seed (!), it incorporates a twisty plot involving Adm. Marcus militarizing Starfleet, his daughter, Carol, sneaking around his plans (which is about the only real plothole in the film as her presence on Enterprise hardly seems explained) and how Harrison, who's revealed as Khan not even mid-way through, manipulates around what everyone else thinks is going on. Well, I say that's one plot hole but there is, sorta, another. To figure out just who this Khan guy is, when Kirk and Khan are off fighting Adm. Marcus, Spock, well, calls Spock! The film makes a great case that, perhaps, Khan isn't such a bad guy. And with Adm. Marcus shooting at Enterprise with his giant, dark, starship of death the film seems to have a real villain. Spock tells Spock, yea, Khan is a psycho. Which is a cop-out way of having Spock learn the truth about Khan. For Kirk, Khan's true nature is revealed in a terrific and bloody reveal when Khan drops all pretense and goes full murdering bad ass.
The cast just rocks! Good performances all around. Stand outs are Simon Pegg, who steals every scene he's in, and Zack Quinto. Every time Scotty is on screen is solid gold. Quinto's Spock, in a very real way, steals the film from Chris Pine's Kirk. If you didn't think Quinto was a good Spock in the last film I guarantee he'll prove himself a very worthy successor here. He really seems to have become comfortable in the role. There are some big emotions in the film but they fall into melodrama, even finding laugh out load moments. KHAAAAANNN!!! Need I say more? Really, should be writing Roger Corman a cheque man.
Make no mistake, if you were to apply actual logic to this film you'd be disappointed. And as for high concepts such as, oh, having the Berlin Wall come down in space, forget it. Nothing so high minded is here. The story and plot points are all summer flick action, mushy character arcs, and bits of Trek nostalgia frappaed into a cheese fest that goes by so fast you wouldn't particularly remember the last act. Rather like the first film, this one only makes sense because a character will explain why the action in the scene before last happened. No matter, it was fun getting there!
This film really did feel like Star Trek in that it was cheesy fun with a bit of conscious and character behind it. It's THAT sort of episode, so to speak. It's lacking actual intelligence and logic because, well, the characters, rather like in a Roger Corman flick, needed to be that dumb so they could walk into the plot. Watching Spock remind Kirk this is all incredibly illegal and dangerous to the entire galaxy while they go ahead and do it anyway might make a trekkie phaser their ears off. This film is what it is. This is The Doomsday Machine, not Return of the Archons.
Number of times a character says 'shit'? I count three times. Every film is improved with a colourful metaphor, if you ask me.
Cheers and set your phasers to fun!
---
Plum
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