Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) or, Star Trek It Before You Wreck It

11/26/2013

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) or, Star Trek It Before You Wreck It

♥♥♥

An amazing image of the SS Enterprise about to crash-land makes up this poster for J.J. Abrams' Star Trek Into Darkness

Captain Kirk's disciplinary difficulties are landing him in trouble. But with deadly attacks from an ex Starfleet officer with superhuman capabilities, Kirk and his spaceship Enterprise team are sent to seek out and kill the renegade Harrison on the enemy planet Kronos. Complications ensue.

Star Trek Into Darkness is written and co-produced by Alex Kurtzman (The Mummy (2017)), Damon Lindelof (World War Z (2013)) and Roberto Orci (People Like Us (2012)) and co-produced and directed by great New-Yorker filmmaker J.J. Abrams (Mission: Impossible III (2006)). It is the sequel to Abrams' Star Trek (2009) reboot of the Star Trek franchise and the 12th film in the franchise.
With the for many familiar core characters firmly re-established in the first film, the sequel has room to play around with them some more, and especially the scenes between Kirk and Mr. Spock are enjoyable. Chris Pine (Poolman (2023))is still dead-on right as the face of humanity. Zachary Quinto's (Margin Call (2011)) head may have grown a bit fatter in the four years since the last Star Trek, but his Spock hasn't grown a millimeter in any direction. - Still the dorky, cerebral ol' Spockerino, quite amusing at times. I didn't object any longer to Zoe Saldana's (Avatar (2009)) Uhura loving him here, and overall I enjoyed her performance more in this film, especially when she spoke Klingon.
Anton Yelchin's (Fierce People (2005)) strained Russian-accented Tintin-like freshman of the crew Chekov has had his role reduced in Into Darkness (thank God), and instead we have more time with the likeable, funny characters played by Karl Urban (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)) and Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead (2004)). SPOILER Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game (2014)) plays the Harrison character that is later revealed to actually be the major Star Trek mythology villain Khan. Cumberbatch makes a bland substitute for Ricardo Montalban's colorful, campy, sexually magnetic performance in the original series and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982). SPOILER Peter Weller (Naked Lunch (1991)) plays a character you first think is good, but then... - Unless you guess by seeing Weller's very face that this is a no-good son-of-a-bitch. He is a welcome addition in Into Darkness to be sure.
Into Darkness does go for a darker, almost oppressive tone that I don't think it succeeds with, which is a shame after the very promising, more adventure-focused first Abrams Star Trek venture.
Michael Giacchino (Up (2009)) has again made a fine, thundering score. The special effects are beautiful and exciting to look at, as in the first film. The adventure and action of deep space exploration are some of the main attractions of the films, - not so much the super-dark villains, - but Into Darkness has both, and is over-all a fairly suspenseful film experience.
Whereas the previous Abrams' Star Trek took its time getting started but then turned out highly satisfying, Into Darkness begins to wobble in its third act: SPOILER Bruce Greenwood's (The Sweet Hereafter (1997)) character Pike dies at the beginning, which I thought was a shame. He and Kirk had good scenes together, and he would have been a great actor to keep in the films. Kirk later gives Pegg's Scotty the responsibility to watch over Khan, a man he has just acknowledged is a kind of super-man. This seems too stupid for any good captain, no matter how upstanding Scotty appears. Later, the self same Khan, who is at least two or three steps ahead of everyone else for the entire film, could not have imagined that the torpedoes carrying his people also could be armed torpedoes. Again, it seems like a flawed, easy writing solution, instead of a likely mistake made by the character.

SPOILER - At the very last climax, Kirk fixes the 'warp core' by kicking it a few times. This is both anticlimactic and a little silly. On the plus side, Spock gets the last fight against Khan, instead of the macho Kirk, which I rather liked.

More Star Trek: Star Trek Beyond (2016) - Lin's adventurous, foundation-honoring entry
J.J. Abrams: 2019 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

2019 in films - according to Film Excess
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker/Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019) - An insanely awesome saga ending

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) - Abrams scores big time, makes beautiful space opera blockbuster
2013 in films - according to Film Excess
Super 8 (2011) - Abrams' nostalgic family crowdpleaser

Star Trek (2009) - Abrams' imperfect but awesome reboot
Cloverfield (2008) or, It Tore Her Head Off! (co-producer)

Mission: Impossible III (2006) - Cruise steers Abrams' flawed MacGuffin debut

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 185-190 mil. $ (different sources)
Box office: 467.3 mil. $
= Even

[Star Trek Into Darkness premiered 2 May (London) and runs 132 minutes. Pine was paid 1.5 mil. $ plus a 500k $ "if the film proved profitable" for his performance. Shooting took place from January - May 2012 in Iceland and California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #1 to a 70.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it remained in the top 5 another 2 weekends (#3-#4), grossing 228.7 mil. $ (48.9 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were China with 57 mil. $ (12.2 %) and the UK with 39.2 mil. $ (8.4 %). The film was nominated for the Best Visual Effects Oscar, lost to Gravity. It was also nominated for 2 BAFTAs, among other honors. The film additionally made an estimated 80.8 mil. $ on the North-American home video market alone. The Star Trek franchise returned with Justin Lin's Star Trek Beyond (2016). Abrams returned with Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015). Pine returned in Paul McCartney: Queenie Eye (2013, music video) and theatrically in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014); Quinto in We'll Never Have Paris (2014); and Cumberbatch in 12 Years a Slave (2013). Star Trek Into Darkness is certified fresh at 84 % with a 7.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (17-24)

11/26/2013

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) or, Star Trek It Before You Wreck It

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Eagerly anticipating this week ... (16-24)

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