Star Trek Into Darkness

Let me boldly go ahead and say, “I am not a Trekkie.” I’ve only seen one TV show. But I loved 2009’s Star Trek reboot — and enjoyed this fine sequel to it.

At the heart of the film is the famous dynamic between Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto). I love how both actors have captured the spirit of the original actors (subtly in Pine’s case) and given them a sleek new edge. The movie is really all about them, and by golly, it’s the bromance of the year.

The story is fine and Abrams has something exciting to look at every second. Yes, every scene is beautiful. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing though, one more snazzy beautiful lens flare and I might’a been blinded. I suspect this film needed a little more grit for me to love it like the last one — something feels missing — but watching Kirk and Spock go after Sherlock’s Benedict Cumerbatch, playing a mysterious villain, was fun enough for me.

Simply put: Worth the trek to the cinema. Terrific popcorn entertainment.

Award potential: Five separate Star Trek movies have been nominated for 14 Oscars, but all came away empty-handed until 2009 – with one win for Makeup.  In addition to Makeup, J.J. Abrams highly-lauded Star Trek movie was nominated for Visual Effects, Sound Editing and Sound Mixing. I imagine this sequel will be lucky to get 2-3 of those.

The ten buck review: Worth ten bucks. 3D is not necessary.