Star Trek: Into Darkness

Without wanting to give away any spoilers; Star Trek: Into Darkness is a brilliant film, easily the years best offering so far. Excellent performances and a well crafted story complement some spectacular action pieces. But I do think I liked the first film a little bit more.

SPOILER FILLED Full thoughts after the jump.

Star Trek: Into Darkness Trailer 4

A slightly lighter trailer for the film, sort of refreshing after all the heavy tones of previous trailers. I really hope they manage to keep the near perfect balance between humour and seriousness from the first film.

Star Trek: Into Darkness 2nd trailer, villain name and updated synposis

That was quick. A new trailer for ‘Into Darkness’ has already been released.

A few thoughts;

Those cityscape shots look gorgeous.

The fly through of a seemingly deserted Enterprise is kind of eerie, I wonder if it’s actually part of the film or is just for the trailer.

Sounds like Kirk has become a bit too cocky and Pike has had enough of it, but of course he may be taking to someone else.

Chekov is wearing a red shirt. They might as well paint a bullseye on him.

Benedict Cumberbatch once again is sounding very sinister.

The Enterprise looks ravaged with damage in the brief glimpse we see of her, The hull is covered in deep scars and main deflector seems to have a huge chunk ripped out of it. I’ve got to admit, I never like seeing the ships in Star Trek damaged, it’s even more painful should they be destroyed. Star Trek is somewhat unique in that the hero ship often becomes as much a character as the crew and you grow attached to them. It’s like watching a good friend being injured. Please don’t kill her on only the second outing! 😦

A number of scenes in this trailer and the last are very reminiscent of the last film (space jumping, the Enterprise emerging out of something etc), I hope J.J. Abrams is being careful not to repeat himself to much. Still, after the first film, I have absolute faith in him.

That ‘hand touch’ shot, is bound to send shivers down any trek fans spine. It’s obviously intentional that it’s virtually identical to Spock’s final moments in ‘The Wrath of Khan’. But I truly doubt they’d be  stupid enough to kill Spock, do it in the same way and reveal it in the trailers. Rather, I think it’s more likely some sort of interaction in the Brig. Perhaps Spock and the villain have some sort of connection?

Lastly, I loved that slight hint of the 09 theme over the title at the end. I do hope that theme stays for the whole of this ‘new generation’ of star trek just as the previous themes did.

In other ‘Into Darkness’ news:

Benedict Cumberbatch’s villain has finally been named as John Harrison. There’s still a lot of speculation as to who and what he is. A lot of people on the interwebs still want/think that it’s going to be Khan. Personally, I dearly hope that it isn’t. Khan has been done. The whole point of the ‘alternate timeline’ was to allow the writers to do new things without being constrained by the weight of previous Trek history. Star Trek isn’t a super hero franchise, it doesn’t need to have a recurring  ‘rouges gallery’. Hell, they have access to whole races of potential new villains that are still recognisable for the general audience. Klingon Empire anyone?.

I don’t mind so much if it turns out that John Harrison is a lost augment or has some vague link to Khan (not that I want that set up for the next film either) But let’s have something new!

Finally, A revised (and much better worded imo) synopsis was released:

“In Summer 2013, director J.J. Abrams will deliver an explosive action thriller that takes Star Trek Into Darkness. 

In the wake of a shocking act of terror from within their own organization, the crew of The Enterprise is called back home to Earth. In defiance of regulations and with a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads his crew on a manhunt to capture an unstoppable force of destruction and bring those responsible to justice. 

As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.”