Star Trek Into Darkness: Use the Force, Kirk!

By Kevin Hyde
May 24, 2013

It has been debated with the kind of partisan rancor that would make those inside the Beltway blush, but one of the defining differences between Star Trek and Star Wars over their three-decade nerd rivalry has been that one is science fiction, the other is space opera. Generally speaking, Star Trek, through the vision of its creator Gene Roddenberry, used its future and final frontier to explore contemporary issues and themes. That is science fiction. While George Lucas’s Star Wars was mostly a swashbuckling action drama set in space.

(Full disclosure: The disappointing prequels aside, I have always been a Star Wars man, although I did get hooked on the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation when I was in college. I also enjoyed several of the Star Trek movies.)

Producer and director J.J. Abrams, a self-proclaimed Star Wars man himself, is now at the helm of both film franchises and his new action-drenched Star Trek Into Darkness—the second in the Trek reboot—completes Star Trek‘s transformation into a Star Wars-like space opera. Abrams was asked to freshen up Star Trek, to essentially give it more mass appeal. Apparently this requires adding appreciable amounts of violence and aggression. While I cannot argue with the entertainment value of Abrams’s new Star Trek films—they are often wildly exciting rides (especially in IMAX 3D)—I never thought I would see the Enterprise as a vehicle for bombastic action movies.

But as these kinds of flicks go, Star Trek Into Darkness is big fun. Returning is the new, youthful Enterprise crew: Chris Pine as Capt. James T. Kirk; Zachary Quinto as Mr. Spock; Zoe Saldana as Uhura; Karl Urban as Bones; Simon Pegg as Scotty; John Cho as Sulu; and Anton Yelchin as Chekov. They are all so thin, clean and wrinkle-free, like a new pair of Dockers. And Spock cries! Seriously! He is like emo Spock.

The cast does a fair job of embodying these well-established characters while attempting to simulate the rapport the original players achieved over many episodes and films. Unfortunately, the writers do not give them much to talk about, and their interactions often seem relegated to quipping between action sequences. The other roles in the film are also well cast. You cannot have a good action movie without a great villain, and Star Trek Into Darkness certainly gets that with the character John Harrison, played by the scene-devouring, British actor Benedict Cumberbatch (PBS’s Sherlock) in a star-making role.

In the story, Harrison declares war on the United Federation of Planets through an act of terrorism followed by a brazen attack on its upper command. Kirk and the Enterprise are dispatched to find and kill him. The manhunt takes the crew into the outskirts of the Klingon Empire, a hostile, newly discovered alien race with whom the Federation has an uneasy peace.

This is the setup for all kinds of mayhem, and for Star Trek fans, much of it will become deliciously familiar. Where writers Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindel may have skimped on character interaction, they make up for with inventive plot twists and interesting ways of utilizing and weaving in older Star Trek storylines. It is important to remember that these stories of young Capt. Kirk, Mr. Spock and company do not have to adhere to the old Star Trek chronology. In Star Trek (2009), which essentially was a prequel of the original series, the crew is set off into an alternate timeline or reality. This gives Abrams more narrative options going forward. 

And this new Star Trek franchise certainly is going forward, achieving without question the momentum its producers were hoping for when they decided to boldly go back and reinvent this iconic world. My gut tells me that the hardcore, old guard, dyed-in-the-wool Trekkers are extremely uneasy, some even hateful of these Abrams movies. While at the same time, I am sure there are scores of new fans who never would have imagined Star Trek being so, well, cool. One thing that cannot be argued is that the box office success of these movies guarantees this new franchise will—wait for it, wait for it—live long and prosper. 

Kevin Hyde is a freelance writer who has worked as a reporter for daily and weekly newspapers, edited regional and national magazines, written on pop culture for an international newspaper as well as several local, alternative newspapers. He can be reached at [email protected].

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