Star Trek into Darkness **** (PG-13) It’s time again to boldly go...where tons of TV and movie cameras have gone before. Space. The final frontier. For context, this is the second feature film showing the original crew of the Enterprise in the beginning of their careers, in an alternate time line, allowing both overlaps and variations from the stories and characters that started the whole franchise. That allows Benedict Cumberbatch (best known as a contemporary Sherlock Holmes on British TV and our PBS) to play a version of Ricardo Montalban’s Khan, who was arguably the best villain that group ever faced on either scale of screens.
J.J. Abrams again directs this new set of explorers, following his 2009 success with them. Chris Pine (Capt. Kirk), Zoe Saldana (Uhura), Zachary Quinto (Spock), Simon Pegg (Scotty) and others from the helm return with gusto. Kirk and Spock are still learning to understand and appreciate each other. The f/x are dazzling - especially if seen in 3-D. The script serves up a solid adventure with a generous amount of comic relief, though most of the laughs will be far richer for Trekkies than for neophytes. Even so, one needn’t own a set of Vulcan ears to be prepared for the plot.
The film runs more than two hours, with a borderline anti-climactic sequence that seems too long after all that flew by (literally and figuratively) until that point. But all who have been salivating for this sequel should be pleased by what they get, as well as the prospects for #3 in this series. (5/17/13)