*Note - this review contains spoilers.
J. J. Abrams seems to be coming more and more ubiquitous in the world of film. After having re-booted the
Mission Impossible franchise he then moved on to
Star Trek, and is the new guy at the helm for the newly announced
Star Wars trilogy. If you need a re-boot, Abrams is your man. After 2009's
Star Trek went down such a treat, there has been much hype surrounding its eagerly anticipated sequel. Having established an alternate timeline in the first movie Abrams now has
carte blanche as he is no longer constricted by the story lines of the original series. What we thus have is the crew of the U.S.S Enterprise boldly going where no script writer has gone before; or do we?
This time round the crew of the Enterprise must rally together when a Starfleet agent goes rogue and begins a one-man assault on Kirk and his crew. Assigned with the task of tracking down the agent they know as John Harrison, the crew of the Enterprise are led to question their mission when they learn the true identity of their target. John Harrison is actually Khan - a genetically engineered super-soldier awoken from cryo-sleep after three hundred years, determined to have vengeance against his creators. This is where we have the old meeting the new. In the original film franchise,
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, is widely considered as the best of the film series, and fans are very protective. What we have here is Abrams opening Pandora's box and meddling with things that perhaps shouldn't be meddled with. Despite this, thanks to the casting of the wondrous Benedict Cumberbatch, he manages to pull it off! There were mixed feelings amongst die-hard fans about Khan being resurrected, him being such an iconic figure, yet Cumberbatch is evil personified, half Hannibal Lecter, half Severus Snape. What this allows is a Khan for a new generation. Cumberbatch brings his own take to the character and claims him for his own, making him a ferocious, hyper-intelligent embodiment of cunning that perhaps makes him the toughest opponent yet faced by Kirk and his cohort.
So, how do the rest of the cast fare? Well, Chris Pine is no William Shatner. His Kirk is a booze and woman loving 'jack the lad' yet always managing to find his conscience at the requisite time. Zachary Quinto, as in the first movie shines as Spock, almost looking like a digitally-rendered youth of his predecessor Leonard Nimoy. Like his portrayal of the evil Sylar in
Heroes, Quinto plays the cool, logical Spock with great deopth and complexity of character. Simon Pegg is once again hilarious as engineer Scotty, and Zoe Saldana (amazing in
Avatar) and newcomer Alice Eve (daughter of Trevor) make up the eye-candy, which is sadly all their characters are there for. Karl Urban (Eomer,
The Lord of the Rings), sadly seems somewhat pushed to the sidelines in this adventure as Dr. 'Bones' McCoy, which is a shame. Better luck next time Karl!
Outside of the acting talent, the film is a visual wonder and fest for the senses. Colour, sound, and amazing special effects abound, making this perhaps the most exciting installment from Abrams to date. Perhaps not as tight in terms of plot as its predecessor, yet with a much more frightening villain, the film is a successful sequel and with a third film in the works, as well as Abrams work on the new
Star Wars franchise, if space really is the final frontier, then Mr. Abrams is surely to become master of the universe.
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