I want to spoil Star Trek: Into Darkness for you. I want to tell you about the resounding echoes of what many fans consider to be the best Star Trek movie, and how each one adds resonance to Into Darkness. I want to geek out with you about how director J.J. Abrams and his writers took those deep nods to a classic Trek film and turned them inside out to produce a movie that mirrors certain iconic moments, but in a way that serves the story they wanted to tell. I want to talk excitedly with you about this or that snippet of dialogue, or chat about the Easter eggs, or debate the effectiveness of “the scream.” (You’ll know it when you hear it.)
But I won’t. If any part of you enjoys Star Trek, science fiction, action, or simply good movies, see Into Darkness and discover those things for yourself.
I was able to chat with a friend, Adam, following the movie. He’s a Trekkie in every sense of the word, only his wife won’t let him wear any Star Trek clothes. It’s enough she has to listen to him go on about it. We went to the first showing in Chattanooga on Wednesday, May 15. I’d purchased tickets for the IMAX 3D showing in advance, which was smart because by the time we arrived, the show was sold out. There weren’t any seats together, either.
“No offense, but I’m here to see the movie, not you,” he said before trotting off to grab a seat on a side aisle. None taken, I thought as I grabbed the only remaining seat in the middle of the theater.
There’s something special about the crowd at a premiere. You’re there with fans, people who have waited years to see the movie, and don’t want to wait another minute. “I remember watching the original series on TV when I was in seventh grade,” said the man seated next to me. I told him my story about how someone told me Spock dies in Star Trek II: Wrath of Kahn minutes before I saw the movie for the first time.
It was the perfect crowd. They cheered during several scenes, and with good reason. Abrams knows how to direct action, and he pulls out all the stops in Into Darkness with several breathtaking scenes. The final 30 minutes are nonstop, with one climax building brilliantly on top of another. I stayed through the end credits just to make sure the movie was really over.
The audience also laughed a lot. Bones and Spock kept everyone in stitches as they responded dryly to things taking place around them. “Are you giving me an attitude?” an angry admiral asks Spock as he’s grilling him over an incident that landed Kirk in hot water. “I’m projecting several attitudes simultaneously. To which one are you referring?” deadpanned actor Zachary Quinto, proving he’s the perfect heir to Leonard Nimoy.
The crowd also collectively gasped when villain John Harrison revealed who he really was. At first, Harrison seems to be nothing more than a terrorist, killing dozens of innocent people in an explosion. But he’s much more, and the movie earned every gasp in the theater that night.
For me, the greatest pleasure in seeing Into Darkness was in watching how the movie serves as a canvas for deepening the friendship between Kirk and Spock. The pursuit of Harrison and the mystery of who the larger villain behind him is drive the storyline, but the heartbeat of the film lies in the relationships between its crewmembers.
Star Trek might not be as socially conscious as it once was, but it is more entertaining than ever. Unlike Adam, I’ve never been a Trekkie, but I’m loving these new movies. I’m also excited about what these films show about Abrams as he begins retooling another classic science fiction franchise: Star Wars. On the basis of his work on the new Star Trek movies, Disney picked the right director.
Three-and-a-half stars out of four. Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action.