Going boldly where it's been many times before

Star Trek: Into Darkness (M)

Downtown Cinemas

directed by J.J. Abrams

145 minutes

Reviewed by Rob Mildon

The new film in the rebooted Star Trek franchise, Into Darkness, had a big task: it had to prove that the reboot could stand on its own two feet after the first film's origin stories and scene setting.

Yet this it singularly fails to do. Despite some solid action sequences and performances, and a couple of stunning reveals, too much of its emotional depth feels borrowed from the previous continuity. What is meant to be affecting instead just feels recycled, robbing the film of any impact.

Jim Kirk (Chris Pine) has suffered the consequences of too many space cowboy shenanigans, and has lost his command. Fortunately, renegade Starfleet officer John Harrison (an almost inhuman Benedict Cumberbatch) begins wreaking mayhem and Kirk and the Enterprise are sent in pursuit. There follows a tense battle of wits (and sometimes fists and phasers) involving not just Harrison and Kirk, but also Starfleet itself.

As the primary antagonist, Cumberbatch is easily the best thing about Into Darkness. Shifting effortlessly between deadly calm and righteous anger, he conveys the sense that he is a real threat, his obvious skills as a scheming chessmaster outmanoeuvring Kirk and Starfleet every time. His coldness provides a counterpoint to the hotblooded Kirk, and the pair's interactions make for interesting watching.

If only everything else were so engaging. The writers seem incapable of making anything convincing, whether it's some pseudo-science nonsense that falls into the uncanny valley of believability, or simply the ability for characters to appear like they belong. Hapless Chekhov (Anton Yelchin) and Scotty (Simon Pegg) come off worst here, Pegg's comedic roots again highlighting how sadly miscast he is.

"Bones" McCoy (our own Karl Urban) seems to be the only survivor, his exasperated helplessness at Kirk's reckless behaviour continuing the near-perfect characterisation he nailed in the first film.

Into Darkness relies upon its climax for much of its heft but, instead of going for the originality it needs, it mines older Star Trek films relentlessly. The context of the Enterprise's fall (as seen in the trailers) is utterly implausible, and they think they can get away with copying one of the old films' most famous lines. Is it meant to be an homage? It just feels cheap, like their treatment of the film's other big "wham" moment.

Into Darkness was always going to have a lot of baggage to deal with - but then so did the Batman films, and look at how well they handled it. It's telling that the film's most affecting moment comes right at the end, when the classic Star Trek horn theme plays. It may be that the new franchise will never be able to escape its past.