When J.J. Abrams was offered the reigns to the Star Trek
franchise I remember feeling a genuine sense of relief. After seeing that former
frontrunner Rick Berman had pretty much run the franchise into the ground with
its various incarnations on TV, Star Trek was dangerously wearing thin on its
audience, despite their rabid devotion. The
iconic American staple was on life support.
Toiling in mediocrity, Star Trek was resurrected by Paramount in 2009,
effectively hiring J.J. Abrams as its savior. Finally, the studio was willing
to give it its just due. Gone would be the penny pinching days of the past as Paramount poured over $150
million into Abram’s project. Star Trek
was back, and bigger than Gene Rodenberry ever could’ve imagined.
I liked the premise Abrams offered in his Trek reboot. Introduce a force that changes the timeline
which would alter the path that the iconic characters would eventually take,
the path we’ve all come to know, resulting in a completely unknown outcome. All
bets were off as Abrams and crew could take the franchise in any direction they
wanted – without destroying the rich history that came before.
I know it’s a bit convoluted and you may need to dust off
your understanding of how time travel and alternate universes are hypothetically
supposed to work. Or you could just rent
another of Abram’s work, the television show Fringe, and get your temporary doctorate in Quantum Mechanics.
Of course there were some die hard fans up in arms. How could Abrams change the sacred canon? But the 500 pound caveat in the room was that
Abrams really wasn’t changing canon;
this was an entirely new history being made here. I could live with the idea of multiple universes
existing. It was dare I say, fascinating.
Abrams spoke about how having an alternate timeline would open up
new ideas and take the characters to places never before taken– something he’d
be able to tackle after the initial reboot in 2009. So here we are, four years later, and J.J.
Abrams has made good on that promise. Well...sort
of.
I’m not going to try and keep this spoiler free so if you
haven’t seen Star Trek Into Darkness
then you better stop reading now. What
we have here with this film is an Abrams-verse quasi mash-up of the original Star Trek episode Space Seed and Star Trek II –
The Wrath of Khan. Yes, Benedict
Cumberbatch really is playing Khan Noonien Singh, the character made famous by
Ricardo Montalban. The sad part is his
character in Into Darkness is hardly
the real focus at all.
After months of denying that this was the case it turns out
that Abrams was just toying with the fans as he usually does in the spirit of
secrecy. He played the same coy game
while he was filming Cloverfield. At the time, everyone thought that Cloverfield was just the code name for
the actual film Abrams was working on, Voltron.
Yeah, not so much; and to many a fan’s dismay it was about an alien
under New York City
who began wreaking havoc. Kind of like a
really big version of Mike Bloomberg stuck in the subway searching for people
carrying Big Gulps.
Into Darkness begins
with the crew of the Enterprise
on a developing planet whose indigenous population is at its earliest stage of
evolution. The natives are in danger of
extinction, as a nearby volcano is about to erupt. Kirk orders Spock to enter the volcano and
use a cold fusion device to render it inert.
Meanwhile, the shuttle used to lower Spock into the volcano becomes
damaged and needs to return to the Enterprise ,
leaving Spock moments from certain death.
Kirk, realizing his first office and friend is about to die,
orders his crew to move the Enterprise (under
water no less) into transporter range – which also reveals the Enterprise to the primitive natives –
breaking the major rule in Starfleet, the Prime Directive. Of course Spock reminds Kirk that “the needs
of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one”, a clear homage to Wrath of Khan, one of many in this
film. He pleads with Kirk to let him die
rather than expose the ship to the inhabitants of the planet. Of course Kirk wouldn’t allow that.
The crew heads back to earth with Kirk having to face the
wrath of his mentor as he’s scolded and once again demoted to first officer by
Admiral Pike. Regardless of Kirk’s
actions you would think by now, Pike and Starfleet would have a bit more faith
in him. Instead we see a retread where
he gets demoted, alliterating to the original films. After his demotion we’re introduced to the
two main antagonists of the film, first the head of Starfleet, Admiral Alexander
Marcus played by Peter Weller and later on we are introduced to John Harrison,
a.k.a. Khan.
Because of what happened in the previous film – more
importantly the destruction of Vulcan by Nero – Admiral Marcus in his
desperation to protect the Federation, decides to thaw Khan and utilize his
advanced intellect to build even more deadly weapons to keep Starfleet ahead of
the curve, starting with the USS Vengeance; just think a REALLY big version of
the Enterprise.
In exchange for his help Marcus offered Khan and his crew
their freedom. The audience has no idea
that any of this subterfuge is taking place. Khan attacks London and Starfleet headquarters,
killing Kirk’s mentor Admiral Pike and begins Marcus’ plot to draw the
Federation into an all-out war against the Klingons.
Marcus reinstates Kirk to captain of the Enterprise
and sends him on a mission to kill Harrison . The film touches on a few relevant and
current issues (drone strikes anyone?) when Marcus gives Kirk new long range
photon torpedoes to kill Harrison who’s taken refuge on the Klingon home world.
Tensions rise on the Enterprise as no one is comfortable
with the idea of executing Khan without bringing him to justice to answer for
his crimes. Scotty issues his
displeasure with the weaponry being considered and resigns his commission. Spock pleads with Kirk to reconsider assassinating
Khan and in the moment where Kirk addresses the crew of the Enterprise we see
Kirk’s true nature, as he states that they’re on a mission to capture
Harrison. Among the crew we have a
stowaway in Doctor Carol Marcus. Yes,
that Carol Marcus. Those of you unaware
she was Kirk’s love interest whom he fathered a child with who was killed by
Klingons.
What ensues is a film filled with constant action beats;
almost too many since I thought it sacrificed some character growth. The core of what made Star Trek so great was
the interrelationships created by each of the characters and unfortunately,
this crew just doesn’t have the luxury of having spent that much time
together. And because Abrams decided to
use moments from Wrath of Khan, many
scenes that are meant to spur great emotion come off as forced. And yes…someone screams KHANNNNNN! And it isn’t
who you’d think. Et tu Spock?
The more I think of this film the more I think of the
criticism William Shatner made to Abrams regarding his films when he said they
lacked “heart”. At first I just took it
as sour grapes on Shatner’s part but I can see what he means by his criticism –
even if it is slightly unfair. Like I
said these particular actors haven’t spent decades in the consciousness of
moviegoers therefore you can’t expect to feel exactly the same for them as you
would the original cast – no matter how inventive the script is.
The reveal of Harrison as Khan came across to me as a bit of
a letdown. First, Cumberbatch physically
looks nothing like the history of the character which was essentially supposed
to be of Indian heritage. Cumberbatch’s
thick English accent even led many fans to believe him to be an alternate
timeline version of Jean-Luc Picard. Ironically
the role of Harrison/Khan was originally offered to Benecio del Toro. Then there was the months of denying from
Abrams that Khan would even make it into the film at all.
Star Trek Into
Darkness wasn’t a bad movie, far from it.
It had a very moralistic message that resonates with the world we live
in today. Maybe it was a bit too naïve for
my tastes. Do we go down the same road Marcus does, trading long held values
for the comfort of being secure? It’s
interesting that Abrams and his team used the idea of long range photon
torpedoes for Kirk to just kill Harrison – no questions, no trial – just a push
of a button. Was it a condemnation of
what we’ve become as a nation post 9/11? During the credits you see that the film is dedicated to the post 9/11 veterans with an iconic scene showing
a Starfleet Honor Guard folding the Federation flag towards the end of the
film.
Abrams makes Kirk question his purpose and his values and
the film does the same to the viewers as well.
Like last week’s Iron Man 3, Into
Darkness is far from a perfect film.
I had issues with the rehash of Khan and the ending – which I was almost
not going to talk about here but decided I had to. When the Enterprise is falling to earth
powerless, it is Kirk who realizes his purpose, and saves the Enterprise and
her crew.
It was the death scene in Wrath of Khan, only flipped and it was a powerful scene and would’ve
remained a powerful scene if Kirk would have been allowed to pay that ultimate
price. Unfortunately Abrams played it
safe as Bones discovered that Khan’s blood had Lazarus like abilities. So after Kirk “dies”, and after Spock takes on the final (unecessary?) battle to capture Khan (didn't Khan's crew also have the same type of life giving blood?), bringing him and his blood back to Bones,
Kirk is injected and yes…lives again. In
my opinion the worst part of the film as it downplayed the emotional impact of
Kirk’s sacrifice and the original scene from Wrath of Khan, where Spock does the very same.
All Abrams had to do was allow Kirk to die, at least in the
interim. An ending scene showing a
distraught Carol Marcus in front of a computer screen with tears in her eyes, as
she works on her “Genesis formula” would’ve set up the next film perfectly and
even though it would have taken it’s clues yet again from the canon, it wouldn’t
have lessened Kirk’s sacrifice. Not to
mention it would’ve done exactly what Abrams always said he wanted to do –
which is to put these characters in NEW situations we haven’t seen before.
If only…
The Sector gives Star
Trek Into Darkness 3 out of 4.
