Movie Review: Star Trek Into Darkness, by Bella Haeusal

Star Trek. Only someone living under a rock for 47 years would not know immediately what I was talking about. The first series, now referred to as the “Original Series”, was first debuted as a television series in 1966. Many other Star Trek series have aired as the years have gone on, but the first modern day adaptation was the movie Star Trek, which came out in 2009. Four years later, I watched Star Trek: Into Darkness when it came out on DVD. This film first came out May 16, 2013. It was directed by J.J. Abrams and written by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof. It stars Chris Pine as Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Spock, Zoe Saldana as Uhura, Karl Urban as Bones, Simon Pegg as Scotty, John Cho as Sulu, Bruce Greenwood as Pike, and Bendict Cumberbatch as Khan. Now I have never been a Trekkie nor will I ever be one, but I did enjoy watching this movie. It was exciting, action packed, and had epic battle scenes. And while I understand not everyone likes all the movies I do, I would recommend this movie to anyone looking to see a movie.

It is the year 2259, and the latest mission of the USS Enterprise survey mission to a far off planet. However, once again, Captain Kirk’s reckless behavior compromises his team. Upon returning home Kirk is demoted to first officer and begins serving under Admiral Pike. But when evil strikes the heart of Starfleet, Kirk sets out on a personal vendetta to find the man responsible and to bring him to justice. Of course there is one problem: the man they later know as Khan, has escaped to Klingon territory, as if the two sides weren’t hostile enough. Will Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the crew stop the oncoming war? Will they escape the wrath of Khan and live to tell about it?

A significant theme in this movie is the idea of darkness. It’s in the title and not only is it in the color scheme, but also the thoughts and ideas. In addition, the character Khan can be very dark. He attacked Starfleet and we quickly find out is a bit of a sociopath. One can sense the darkness in the personality of Khan and also the darkness of space. At one point in the story they’re trapped in space and the idea is that they are in the middle of no where. In darkness. We see love, however, in the form of Spock and Uhura’s relationship. As they grow and change and have several disagreements we see the two finding the love in their relationship. We also see the idea of loyalty in several places. Kirk saves Spock, Spock saves Kirk, and both stay by each other’s side throughout. Thus, while the central theme of the story is darkness, it is also love, loyalty, and light.

The CGI and special effects in this movie are spectacular. Not only does the viewer absolutely believe that somewhere in the universe the story is happening, but also that they are right there in the middle of all the action. The colors are incredible and so are all the uses of dark and light throughout.

Now while it is true that I am not a Trekkie, and I don’t know exactly how they felt watching this movie and comparing the movie to the entirety of the series, I do know that I really enjoyed this movie. It was entertaining, the graphics were amazing, and it had a good storyline. The battle scenes and all the epic duels were also very fun to watch. I give Star Trek: Into Darkness a thumbs up, and a grade of 8.5/10.