Kidzworld has seen the exciting new movie Star Trek Into Darkness based on the classic T.V. Series!
By: Lynn Barker
Young Jim Kirk, always the cocky sort, was given the Captaincy of a huge starship but was he really ready? Can he face the ultimate “baddie” and win without a huge sacrifice? Can Kirk ever back off and listen to reason? Can Spock and Kirk ever be ‘besties”?
Spock and Captain Kirk
Whoops! They saw us!
When a huge volcano threatens to destroy the primitive, humanoid citizens of planet Nibiru, Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) decides to save the locals even if it means breaking the “Prime Directive” ordering that Starfleet personnel never reveal any high tech stuff to “people” who just aren’t ready for it.To save his first officer Spock (Zachary Quinto), who is stuck on the planet’s surface, Kirk lets the locals see the Enterprise.
Spock faces the volcano
Demotion and Big Trouble
Back on Earth, Kirk is demoted to a first officer status by his mentor and friend Admiral Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood) who reassumes command of the Enterprise. Meanwhile, in London, Starfleet agent John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch) bombs “Section 31”, a secret installation studying battle strategies and new weaponry. During a meeting to talk about the loss, Kirk and all the Starfleet big brass are attacked by Harrison in a small gunship. Pike is killed and Kirk swears revenge.
Kirk, Uhura and Spock fight on Kronos
The Hunt for Harrison
Admiral Alexander Marcus (Peter Weller) authorizes Kirk to secretly hunt down and kill Harrison, who has “beamed” himself to the evil Klingon homeworld Kronos. Kirk and the Enterprise will follow armed with 72 “special” photon torpedoes to destroy Harrison and whatever Kingons get in the way. Freaked out by having all the dangerous torpedoes onboard, Montgomery Scott (Simon Pegg) resigns making young Chekov (Anton Yelchin) Chief Engineer. Meanwhile Admiral’s daughter Carol Marcus (Alice Eve) joins the crew under a false identity.
Admiral Alexander Marcus
Finding the “Baddie”
When the Enterprise warp core malfunctions, Kirk, Spock and Uhura travel to Kronos in a smaller ship to “get” Harrison but are forced to land by the Klingons. Uhura tries bravely to negotiate but the Klingons attack. Harrison rescues them and surrenders, presumably feeling overwhelmed by all those torpedoes about to be launched to kill him.
Uhura (Zoe Saldana) goes into action
Back onboard the Enterprise, Harrison reveals his true identity, why he has superhuman strength and abilities and that the torpedoes house more than explosives. Harrison explains that Admiral Marcus wakened him from cryo-sleep to help fight the Klingons in the war that Marcus is sure was coming. The failure of the Enterprise warp core was sabotage. Kirk and his crew were never supposed to return.
Secret Base and the Mega-Ship
Scotty, back working for Kirk, finds a secret shipyard and one HUGE starship called the USS Vengeance with Marcus as captain. Marcus demands Kirk turn over his prisoner Harrison. Kirk refuses in order to take Harrison back to Earth to stand trial. The battle is on! Enterprise is attacked by Vengeance while in Earth orbit. Kirk has to agree to hand over Harrison and the secret contents of the torpedoes in exchange for the lives of his crew.
Outsmarting and Winning
Scotty, secretly aboard Vengeance, is able to short out the ship’s power supply so that Kirk and Harrison (who helped Marcus build the ship), can board in the hope of taking over. Of course Harrison betrays Kirk, kills Marcus and takes over his giant ship exchanging the lives of the Enterprise crew for the torpedoes’ special contents. Spock outsmarts Harrison by arming the torpedoes. They explode!
Scotty on the enemy ship
Sacrifice
With the inoperative Enterprise spiraling toward Earth’s atmosphere where it will burn up, Kirk makes a huge sacrifice to get the warp engines back online, thus saving the ship. The huge Vengeance ship crashes into San Francisco and Harrison survives to be chased down by angry Spock aided by Uhura who insists that the evil dude be taken to trial rather than killed. He is eventually put in cryo-freeze indefinitely.
Harrison leaves destruction behind
Reward
Kirk is again made Captain of the Enterprise which is restored and ready to depart on a 5-year mission to explore new worlds.
Wrapping Up:
If you are up for a roller coaster ride of a movie, this new Trek film is the right entertainment for you! The movie is over 2 hours long but so action-packed that the time flies by. Although some of the plot might be confusing to younger audience members, most of the story will make sense. We saw Star Trek Into Darkness in 3-D and IMAX which is the way to go if you can because the look is pretty awesome. I had trouble understanding/hearing a lot of dialogue in the fast-paced opening scenes perhaps just due to the action momentum but they certainly launch the film with a huge bang.
Director J.J. Abrams on set with Chris and Zoe
The Spock/Kirk relationship gets a workout and a nice resolution in the movie as the crewmates are at odds then, ultimately, on the same note as buddies. Zac Quinto and Chris Pine do a great job of taking their characters to the next level. Simon Pegg as Scotty is very entertaining comic relief as is Karl Urban who almost channels original Trek actor DeForest Kelley as Dr. “Bones” McCoy, “Dammit, man. I’m a doctor not a torpedo technician!”. Kirk cracks us up when he’s frustrated with Spock: “Sometimes I just want to rip the bangs right off his head!”
Scotty finds the secret base
Benedict Cumberbatch, as baddie Harrison, is just the right mix of angry determination with a core sadness peeking out. There are “tributes” to the original Trek TV series galore (a Tribble is included) and Chekov is told to “Go put on the red shirt” which every Trekker knows means certain death (but not in this case). Some reinventions of scenes and characters from the classic TV series and movies will tick off original fans (your parents and grandparents perhaps) but others are fun additions.
Cool poster art
If you, family and film-going pals are Trekkers, Sci-Fi fans or just love an exciting summer popcorn movie, you’ll find something in this huge film to appreciate and get excited by. Although, as an original Trekker, I wasn’t happy with all of the decisions made to reinvent key scenes or characters, I can’t deny that the film is entertaining and made great use of production design, CGI and a rollercoaster plot so we’ll go 4 out of 5 stars.
Star Trek Into Darkness Movie Rating: 
