Star Trek Into Darkness

From the desk of The Movie Snob.

Star Trek Into Darkness  (B).  J.J. Abrams (Super 8) directs this sequel to his successful 2009 reboot of the venerable Star Trek franchise, and I thought it was an enjoyable adventure.  After a pulse-pounding opening sequence in which a young Captain Kirk (Chris Pine, Star Trek) shreds the Prime Directive in order to rescue First Officer Spock (Zachary Quinto, TV’s Heroes) from an alien volcano, we get to the meat of the story–a series of brutal terrorist attacks sends the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise on a mission to capture the mysterious perpetrator, played by Benedict Cumberbatch (Atonement).  Robocop himself, Peter Weller, appears as the belligerent Admiral Marcus.  On the whole, I thought it was a good, effective sci-fi action flick, and I think that non-Trekkers would enjoy it just fine.  But true Trekkers, I think, might quibble with it.  For one, the Enterprise flies what must be an incredible, impossible distance in what appears to be about 15 seconds.  Even worse, somebody uses a transporter to travel the same incredible distance, which would have been clearly impossible in any incarnation of Trek.  Finally, the conclusion of the movie involves a deus ex machina that is pretty outrageous even by Trek‘s loose standards.  But if you like sci-fi and can forgive these little transgressions, I think you’ll find this twelfth Star Trek movie an enjoyable ride.