I still can't get over how dumb the name, "Star Trek Into Darkness" is....but I'm looking forward to it for sure.
For Science!! <a target='_blank' title='ImageShack - Image And Video Hosting' href='http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/15/60926300.jpg/'><img src='http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/6504/60926300.jpg' border='0'/></a><br>
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In JJ Abrams' movies? I don't think so. I don't think he's that capable of a director to pull that emotional string from the audiences. For all his movies so far you didn't really care much of the people that die in his movies. People will die but in the next segment I'm sure one of the crew will pull a joke and the next thing you know you're forgotten all about those people.
I agree that the final trailer gave away too much. Sigh. Abrams/Lindelof...they're always so good at keeping zipped up tight....and then they give so much away. Hollywood needs to revisit the notion of trailers that bury plot points as much as humanely possible. Spoilering my thoughts on this, as enough has been given away that I think it justifies the tags. I'm not dropping anything new, but am going to cliff notes the IDW Comics 4-issue movie lead in and toss in my speculation on what will be going down Spoiler First off, NOT KHAN. I totally buy that this was originally written to be Khan, but they did a light rewrite after the recast for it to be Augment Not Named Khan. Same story, same motives, different augment. The comics, both Ongoing and Countdown make a few themes clear going into this movie: -Spock is not dealing well with Vulcan, and it manifests itself most commonly by a reckless death wish - leaping at any suicide mission/move that prevents itself, often without clearing anything through Kirk. They're obviously alluding to the end of Wrath of Khan, it will pop up in the volcano scene, but this also screams red herring. -Uhura is not loving that her boyfriend is closed of and actively trying to throw himself in front of any bus that drives by. Relationship is on the rocks. -A major, major, recurring theme is that this post-Narada Starfleet is not the bubblegum peaceful good guy exploring outfit from the Shatner era. If you like the Section 31 stuff, it's all over the place. Abrams/Lindelof have stated that the Romulan time traveling squid ship did two things when it popped up (two decades before this movie takes place, three decades before Shatner-Kirk era started): it rapidly accelerated the evolution of tech in the timeline and acted as a "9/11" event - pushing Starfleet down a "Patriot Act" type road. - Like in The Original Series, but far more heightened and realistic, there is a Cold War between the Federation and Klingons. They are lifting (sharply) a lot of dirty realities from the 60s-80s. The 4-issue Countdown concerns the Enterprise stumbling across a secret "proxy war" going down on a planet, with two factions each given support from Klingons or Federation (see: Afghanistan). -Robert April (Captain of precursor Enterprise before Pike) was down on the proxy war planet, claiming to have gone there to "save" the people being slaughtered by the Klingon-backed aliens....but proves to be a constant liar and it is implied that the Federation sent him there covertly and declared him dead to hide his presence. His executive officer at the time knew of his mission and is now Admiral Marcus, father of Carol. -At the end of Countdown, April is remanded into custody of Starfleet Intelligence, not brought to Earth for trial as Kirk expected. -My assumption going into this film is that Starfleet decided to dip into the cryogenic pool of Augments - thawing some out and re-purposing them to be super soldier black op agents. I further assume that Harrison finds/found out that they have thousands of Augments stored on ice, and his motivations in the movie are ultimately to (a) trash Starfleet and (b) free the Augments. "What would you not do for your family?" -I think his plan is to (1) bomb the crap out of London (2) gun down the majority of Starfleet command (3) make it "easy" to track him (4) rampage on Qo'nos (5) "oh you got me!" allow Team Kirk to capture him....sparking an international incident in the process (6) hope for an all out war to force a weakened Starfleet to pull out the Augments as a last resort, knowing that they won't be able to put them back in once Pandora's Box has been opened. -Small other note: in the Countdown prelude, the Enterprise intercepts Harry Mudd's smuggler....sister? daughter (seems to be mid-twenties or so, but Bajoran)? At the conclusion, Kirk opts to hang on to her ship in case it may prove useful. This will almost certainly be the little frisbee ship they use to raid Qo'nos in an unofficial capacity.
Saw it last night, but unfortunately i was sleepy so i drifting in and out a bit. Still the movie was good. My only complaint would be the soundtrack and disorienting action scenes. There are questions I have about the back story of the main villian, but I think I may have just missed some info while sleeping.
the soundtrack is bad? Did Michael Giachinno not do it? He is amazing. Like a mini John Williams. If he did, i won't believe it sucks till i hear it. Watching the movie tonight. Anyone recommend 3D?
Caught this at midnight last night. Spoliers follow, so do NOT click this below if you don't want to be MAJORLY spoiled. Just know this - however good you are expecting this movie to be, however good you are HOPING this movie to be, IT IS BETTER THAN THAT. I cannot praise this movie enough. So, onward.. Spoiler Ok, so, Abrams has done an absolutely BRILLIANT job with Into Darkness. While I liked the first Abrams Trek a lot, I did think it suffered from being a bit scattered, because it was essentially an origin story. Into Darkness has none of that scattered, diffused feel. It is tight, harrowing, tense, and shoots like an arrow right out of the gate and almost never lets up. Instead of wasting any time with exposition at all, the movie drops us right in the middle of some action already well underway, almost like the traditional way for most James Bond movies to start - we see some sort of mission right at its climax, then catch our breath and move into the movie proper. Same here. Remember all those scenes in the previews of Bones & Kirk running through some sort of red forest, being chased by natives, and then jumping off a cliff into the ocean? And the other scenes of Spock hanging by a cable in what looks like a volcano? And still more shots of a starship rising from the ocean (usually accompanied by shots of what could be construed as the same starship crashing INTO the ocean?) Well all of that takes place basically in the first two minutes of the movie. Apparently the Enterprise had been observing a fledgling intelligent species on a planet which was about to be destroyed by a super-sized volcano. We infer that Kirk and crew have devised a plan to nullify the impending volcanic eruption while still remaining undetected by the natives. remember the constant invocation of the Prime Directive in the tv series? Same thing here - an inviolable rule prohibiting exposure to primitive species. But things don't go quite according to plan and Spock is doomed, unless Kirk decides to violate the Prime Directive in order to save him. Which of course he does. As no good deed goes unpunished, and even though it was the 'right' thing to do, Kirk is demoted. And that's how the movie begins - Abrams has very wisely shown very very little of this movie in previews. This leaves a lot of surprises in store for the rest of the movie. As I said, spoilers follow, don't read further if you don't want spoilers, you have been warny-warny-warned. Shortly after Kirk's demotion to First Officer to Pike, who has been given command of the Enterprise again, a terrorist attack hits London. This brings us to the biggest of the big fish surprises - 'John Harrison'. Benedict Cumberbatch is John Harrison, apparently until recently one of Starfleet's own 'secret service' agents. For reasons unknown, he attacks and destroys an 'archives' in London, prompting Starfleet honcho Admiral Marcus (Peter Weller) to convene an emergency meeting of top-ranking Starfleet personnel, including Pike & Kirk. The captains are instructed to hunt Harrison down, but Harrison attacks this gathering, at which Pike is killed. Kirk is re-instated as Captain, and is given the mission of assassinating Harrison, who has hidden himself on the Klingon homeworld. Turns out the 'archive' was not really an archive, but was instead a secret weapons-development facility for Starfleet, specifically tasked with dealing with Klingons and other as-yet-unknown enemies. The Enterprise is supplied with numerous new long-range stealth torpedoes, and Kirk is told to launch them into the Klingon world, into the location where Harrison was hiding, in an otherwise uninhabited area. Naturally, loading the Enterprise with dozens of high-grade weapons causes consternation among the crew, particularly Mr. Scott, who refuses to allow them on board without knowing their exact nature, and 'it's classified' is not satisfactory, leading to Mr. Scott resigning and leaving the ship. (oddly, this pacifist nature is not present in the original series, in which 'photon torpedoes' were simply a standard-issue armament. But this series of movies is still dealing with Starfleet in its fledgling state, unlike the TV series, which finds the characters and Starfleet in full maturity.) Spock is adamantly against assassinating a person, even a clearly guilty murderer such as Harrison, and Kirk decides that rather than launch unknown (and potentially dangerous to the Enterprise) missiles into Klingon space and very likely start a war, he, Spock, Uhura and a few 'Redshirts' would fly down to the planet and capture Harrison, and bring him back to Earth for trial. Kirk instructs Sulu to announce to Harrison via radio that there are '72 torpedoes aimed at him', and that they would be launched if he did not surrender. Kirk's small ship is about to land when it is attacked by a Klingon patrol. They are forced to land by several Klingon warships, and things look bleak, when suddenly Harrison himself appears and virtually single-handedly decimates the Klingons and their ships. This guy is not just some kind of secret agent. This guy is a BADA$$ with a capital B. Having rescued Kirk and crew from the Klingons, Harrison then promptly surrenders, deeply concerned about the 'torpedoes'. At this point, I will just say, things are not always what they seem, there are deceptions within deceptions within deeper deceptions. There are numerous foreshadowings, as well as a delightful number of homages and teasing moments from the original series, as well as from the most beloved Trek Movie, The Wrath of Khan. Carol Marcus, tribbles, etc.. Khan? I told you, spoilers, stop reading now! Harrison, as mentioned, is not merely a secret agent gone rogue. He is a genetically-engineered superman - smarter, stronger, faster, and equally ruthless and ambitious. Bred to be a king, and emperor. Where have we heard that before? Yes. Harrison is Khan. Cumberbatch is Khan. But the Khan in this timeline has completely different motivations than the one in Wrath of Khan. In WoK, Khan sought revenge against Kirk for abandoning him and his crew to die on an inhospitable planet. In Into Darkness, The Enterprise never found the Botany Bay (Khan's ship), someone else did. And Starfleet Intelligence attempted to use Khan's special abilities to prepare for war with the Klingons. Let's just say, you really should not EVER make a deal with the devil, no matter how tempting the devil makes it. Just don't do it. Cumberbatch OWNS this movie. I have not seen him in anything else yet, have not seen the Sherlock series, but I sure as heck will see it now. While there are maybe two eye-rolling moments in the movie, everything else is absolutely note-perfect. It was satisfying and fun, and I will definitely be seeing it again. I give this movie the highest possible recommendation. Just go see it already!
The soundtrack is great. And I saw it in 2D, I can't see any reason to pay extra for 3D. Save your $$
I agree with all of your comments. This film really blew me away. I enjoyed it much more than the first STAR TREK film from a few years ago. I thought it would be a good summer movie, but it had some interesting depth and explored some relevant issues. The pacing was perfect. It honestly had some of the best pacing I've seen in an action film recently. There was never a dull moment whatsoever. The effects were gorgeous as well. I saw it in 3D, but 2D would likely suffice. In terms of summer blockbusters I've seen thus far, I'd rank them as follows: 1. Star Trek: Into Darkness 2. Fast 6 3. Iron Man 3
Went to a press screening last night. Dug it quite a bit. My only advice is to see it quickly before twitter/Facebook or whatever else social media you use spoils it for you. Because there are some HUGE ones that will ruin everything for you. Oh, and just in case we still have to prove ourselves with goofy pics: Spoiler & Live long & prosper...in 3D!
