Boldly gone

When director J.J. Abrams created the alternate timeline for his brilliant 2009 Star Trek reboot, it gave the franchise a chance to construct all new adventures for Kirk and Spock. It also gave Abrams the opportunity to mess around with variations on characters and adventures we have already seen.

Such is the case with the exhilarating Star Trek Into Darkness, a movie that had some classic Star Trek stories very much in mind during its production.

The film starts with Chris Pine’s cocky Kirk getting himself in some more trouble. He ignores Starfleet directives and rescues Spock (Zachary Quinto) from an erupting volcano, allowing a primitive alien species that has never even seen a telephone before to set their eyes on a big U.F.O. in the form of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Kirk gets demoted, but keeps a relatively high rank.

Back on Earth, a bomb goes off in London courtesy of renegade Starfleet officer, John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch), with that same officer attacking a gathering of Starfleet commanders soon thereafter. This dude is pissed off, and anybody in a Starfleet uniform is his target.

Kirk and Spock find themselves on route to Klingon territory, where their homegrown terrorist has gone to hide. They have unorthodox directives from Admiral Marcus (Peter Weller) to target and assassinate the terrorist from the skies using torpedoes. (Echoes of drone targeting and the U.S. hunt for Bin Laden, right?)

So, right there, you have Klingons, terror in London, commanders getting attacked and volcanoes erupting with Vulcans in their belly. That’s a pretty damned good start to a sequel, and that’s with plenty of movie left to go.

Abrams gets a little heavy handed with the post-9/11 War on Terror allegory, but he still keeps his movie effective, and even moving at times. As for his use of a tribble, the furry pests the Enterprise contended with in a famous series episode, I would have to call it my least favorite part of the movie. The way the tribble is used makes absolutely no sense, and feels like a stretch.

It’s the tribble, and a pivotal late scene that’s a mirror version of a scene in Star Trek II, where I think Abrams oversteps a bit. I don’t mind him messing with the Trek legacy, but keep it original. Bring back some famed characters, hint at moments from franchise past, but don’t blatantly copy them. Cumberbatch plays a great adversary, and his deep voice is one for the ages. He’s one of those anything-can-happen movie villains that’s frightening, yet oddly virtuous in some ways.

Weller gets his best role in years as Marcus, a flawed man with an imperialistic agenda that might have some viewing him as the film’s real villain. Alice Eve is another memorable new addition as Carol Marcus, the admiral’s daughter and a stowaway on the Enterprise.

Pine and Quinto might not have you forgetting Shatner and Nimoy, but they have certainly established themselves in their roles and can probably own them as long as they want. Zoe Saldana has many shining moments as Uhura, especially in scenes involving the character’s relationship with Spock. Simon Pegg’s Scotty, John Cho’s Sulu, Anton Yelchin’s Chekov and, especially, Karl Urban’s Bones all contribute to the party.

There’s a pivotal chase scene where Kirk and Spock pilot a ship that has a Millennium Falcon vibe to it. That had me thinking about the next Star Wars, and what Abrams, who will direct, plans to do with it. Abrams currently has a grasp on major geek real estate with these two franchises. He’s, like, the Godfather of Geeks. He could destroy all of us with a bad chapter in either series. He’s an extremely powerful man capable of great good, or insurmountable evil.

Fortunately, he used his powers for good with Star Trek Into Darkness, a solid piece of summer entertainment. He’s a merciful man, that J.J. Abrams.