I was never a Trekkie in my life.  Never saw a single Star Trek Episodes from the orignal series and maybe a couple of episodes and movies from the later spinoffs but again never become a hardcore fan.  But thanks to J.J. Abrams, he brought back this classic, reinvented it and make it appeal to new audience.

I still have doubts about the franchise after I saw the first film in 2009.  But it did open my mind and interest to another genre.  I surprisingly discovered my repressed love on Science Fiction.  One thing that the first movie introduced  to the new franchise is that this new movies are a little bit of a sequel and prequel to the original series and movies for it is actually an altered history of the Star Trek universe, a concept both applaud and frowned by some Trekkies.


That same concept is once again utilized on "Into Darkness".  Without giving up a lot of details "Into Darkness" features another classic iconic Star Trek film (that I won't mention because it will give up a lot of spoilers). Benedict Cumberbatch as former star fleet officer Harrison stole the spotlight.  Like most of his fans (from Sherlock) expected, Benedict offered a stunning performance as this film's primary Villain.  His dynamics with the existing cast is flawless.

I also like how the whole movie focused on the Harrison case than giving a lot of air time for the existing characters. One thing I won't expect from feature films because the common exercise is to tell a story around the existing characters and leads.  Into the Darkness did the opposite.  This kind of storytelling can be seen more often on TV series and I like it that the film's writers gambled on this type of story telling.  Having said that, the only damage that story telling made is it makes the audience hungry for more because after seeing the movie, it only feels like watching a TV special where you can see the next episode in just weeks not years.


Though not given a lot of highlights, I can say that the ensemble of the existing cast did pretty well on their respective roles.  Again my favorite among all of them is Simon Pegg who plays Scotty.  Pegg's eccentric banters never fail to entertain me and it almost broke my heart when I thought he will be gone on this movie.  Thanks god it is just for a couple of scenes (scumbag writers!).  Many people hates Chris Pine's performance but I believe that this film is a big improvement for him.  The same with Zachary Quinto who delivered another excellent job as Spock.  Lastly I thank the writers that they brought Carol Marcus on the image of Alice Eve.  Never really like Uhura (Zoe Saldana) so it is a breath of fresh air to have another hot and beautiful actress on board the Enterprise.


All in all, Star Trek Into Darkness is an entertaining ride.  Probably to some it lacks spectacle but with a great story telling and a solid cast, the film definitely deserves everybody's attention specially if you are a Science Fiction aficionado.  Opening in May 16, Star Trek Into Darkness is distributed by Solar Entertainment through United International Pictures Philippines.