Abrams boldly goes 'Into Darkness' with a warp-speed sequel

By Kayla Upadhyaya
Managing Arts Editor  On  May 20th, 2013

Captain Kirk (Chris Pine, “This Means War”) and Dr. Bones McCoy (Karl Urban, “Red”) tear through the bright red fields of a primitive planet, an indigenous species with caked-on, black-and-white faces and plenty of spears hot on their heels. At cliff’s edge, they jump, plunging into the sea where the magnificent U.S.S. Enterprise awaits, bathed in a blue that could rival the coolness of Pine’s piercing eyes. Meanwhile, Spock (Zachary Quinto, TV’s “Heroes”) drops into a bubbling volcano, neutralizes it and dances with death before Kirk pulls off yet another improbable rescue mission.

So opens “Star Trek: Into Darkness,” J.J. Abrams’s (“Super 8”) rip-roaring follow-up to his 2009 stellar success of a “Trek” reboot. In the first 10 minutes, a major character nearly dies, a major character does die, we meet our unflinching villain Khan (Benedict Cumberbatch, TV’s “Sherlock”), Kirk’s captainship is taken from him and Spock is reassigned. “Darkness” doesn’t need to build momentum; its thrusters are at full speed from the start. To the end credits, “Darkness” barrels through with unrelenting adrenaline, pausing for only a few brief moments and never spinning out of control.

The longest lull comes when the impossibly resilient Khan spells out his Why-I’m-Evil story, an action-flick convention even novel screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (“Star Trek”) can’t avoid. As far as villain origins go, Khan’s is pretty by-the-numbers, and his motives lack weight. But it’s also a testament to the film’s frenetic energy that even a brief soliloquy delivered from the mesmerizing mouth of Cumberbatch has us wishing we’d just get back to the phaser-slinging thrills. Motives matter less when you’re having so much damn fun.

And “Darkness” knows how to have fun. Instead of sticking to the newfangled formula of deeply emotional journeys and brooding characters — made popular by recent comic-book adaptations — “Darkness” is a space adventure ripped from the dreams of any sci-fi geek. The film never reaches the darkness its title suggests, neither tonally nor aesthetically. Themes of terrorism and wartime moral instability trickle throughout, and between deep space base-jumping and hand-to-hand combat with Klingons, these characters do pause to contemplate mortality: The always logical, stats-crunching Spock divulges his feelings on death, rendering lieutenant and linguistics expert Uhura (Zoe Saldana, “Avatar”) speechless. But even these pauses aren’t dark; they hum with human honesty and evoke the large-hearted utopianism that can be traced back to “The Original Series.”

And not only is it fun, it’s sexy, and not just because its cast is. The visuals awe, even in 2-D, and cinematographer Daniel Mindel returns to capture a colorful world, speckled with enough lens flare to light even the darkest corners of the universe, as can be expected with Abrams at the helm. And while it’s a sexy space adventure with Michael Bay-level booms and brawls, it fortunately lacks the sexed-up overindulgence that accompanies big Bay features.

The closest the film comes to a traditional action movie romance arc is between Kirk and Spock. Sorry fangirls, that doesn’t mean there’s a “Spirk” kiss. But the trajectory of the friendship between these two men, who couldn’t be more different — Kirk breaks rules while Spock sticks to the book — has been steadily built upon, with Pine and Quinto playing it perfectly from square one. Their back-and-forth quips are some of the script’s highlights, though it’s Simon Pegg (“Paul”) as the outspoken, liquor-slurping Enterprise engineer Scotty who lands the most laughs.

Though it again nails the balance between nostalgia (Leonard Nimoy reprises his cameo, and a Tribble makes a brief, trouble-less appearance) and reinvention, stunning the Klingon-speaking Trekkies and a new generation of moviegoers alike, “Darkness” doesn’t possess the originality of Abrams’s first “Trek.” The sequel had to fulfill lofty expectations: For one, it’s a follow-up to what was easily 2009’s finest summer blockbuster, but it’s also a quasi-remake of “The Wrath of Khan,” a fan-favorite film in the franchise. Taking on such a huge enterprise was, admittedly, highly illogical. But Abrams calculates risk like Kirk: the bolder, the better. And even with a simple story and more action than emotion, “Darkness” boldly goes and does so at warp speed, leaving you gasping for breath.

Printed from www.michigandaily.com on Tue, 28 May 2013 05:35:39 -0400