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Created May 18, 2013 04:59PM PST • Edited Mar 10, 2023 06:59AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Really Great 4.5

   Best. Star Trek. Ever.

   Some may grade it Perfect, understandably so. Me, I grade Star Trek Into Darkness a tick above its Great predecessor – Really Great and the best Star Trek ever.

   If J.J. Abrams sees fit to include the perfect Star Trek theme music before the closing credits of his third iteration, he’ll get a Perfect grade from me then. But that’s about the only ding Abrams’ second Star Trek deserves, not counting its cheerful cheesiness, without which it wouldn’t be Star Trek.

   It’s got all the virtues of Abrams’ Star Trek reboot, including a first rate James T. Kirk in Chris Pine, two Spocks, a smoking-hot communications officer and a never more vivid NCC-1701 Enterprise in the best Starship action yet. Add to that yet another Khan and the best Star Trek opening ever, including painted mud people having a close encounter with the Starship Enterprise and wadda got? The Best Star Trek Ever.

   The cast looks marvelous, with eyes of vivid blue and green, boldly angled sideburns and all the classic mannerisms their characters originated on a TV series a long time ago in an age that feels far, far away.

   Captain Kirk’s reckless gallantry, Spock’s comical logic, Bones’ irascibility (“What do you think I am, a doctor or a torpedo repairman?”), Scotty’s pugnacity, Uhura’s cool glamour, Sulu’s quiet competence, Chekov’s Russian impetuousness — all present and accounted for.

   Benedict Cumberbatch lacks matinee looks but doesn’t lack major acting chops, making him a worthy heir to the great villain Khan. IOW, he’s a primo baddie, the secret ingredient of any great action movie.

   Star Trek vets, let alone Trekkies, will find Into Darkness a Star Trek experience of sweetness and light. Newbies will discover what the adoration is about. They may even find themselves newly minted Trekkies.

   ---

   Saw it from the center of Row 4 in Camera 7’s Theater 1 for the 3D showing. Primo movie experience.

4. Acting

   Great 4.0

   Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and the rest of the perfectly cast crew do yeoman’s work. May they and Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, John Cho and Anton Yelchin live long and prosper in future sequels. For more, please refer to my review of their origin movie.

   Alice Eve is an excellent addition to their crew, hopefully to do more in the next iteration. Reviewing her in Men in Black III, I said her superior hottiness makes her an understandable object of desire. Down Kirk!

   Benedict Cumberbatch makes a superior übermenchian enemy, especially rising to the occasion in a moment of murderous rage. Or would that be descending to the occaision?

   Two distinctive stars make notable appearances.

   • Bruce Greenwood as Captain Christopher Pike, a venerable character from the original series and J.J. Abrams’ origin movie.
   • Peter Weller as an Admiral gone loco.

5. Male Stars Really Great 4.5

6. Female Stars Great 4.0

7. Female Costars Great 4.0

8. Male Costars Great 4.0

10. Film

    Really Great 4.5

    J.J. Abrams and his trio of trusty writers have got their groove on with Star Trek. Gene Roddenberry must be smiling broadly in the deep space hereafter.

    Let’s also complement 2nd Unit director Roger Guyiert, who appears absent from IMDb but was prominent in the end credits. Apparently using only 18 stuntmen, he pulled off countless stunning action sequences.

    On a smaller scale, kudos for including a tribble in the story, first whimsically and then significantly. Superior sequel filmmaking, that.

11. Direction Really Great 4.5

12. Play Perfect 5.0

13. Music Really Great 4.5

    Roddenberry wrote the theme, which finally comes up over the closing credits. This led a dozen people to stick around my late showing at Camera 7 in the Pruneyard, exulting about what a wonderful piece of music it is. More, please.

14. Visuals Perfect 5.0

    ILM hasn’t lost their fastball. The Starship Enterprise looks better than ever, as do the other starships. How do they and Abrams do it?

    • 12 costumers.
    • 39 production assistants
    • 120 Digital artists.
    • 39 digital compositors.
    • 10 in Software Dev and Pipeline. Pipeline?

    Finally, great homage to the Pillars of Creation.

15. Content

16. Edge

    Sordid 2.9

    Sexually speaking, there’s a brief scene of Kirk in bed with two tails, which rises to the top of titillating, peaking over into the erotic.

    Savage violence rears its head in an otherwise comik action movie when an enraged überman takes evil vengeance on a Starfleet Admiral. Cover young eyes.

17. Sex Titillating 2.5

18. Violence Savage 3.7

19. Rudeness Salty 2.4

21. Reality

    Supernatural 4.0

    The rFactor struck me as a bit lower this go round than in the origin movie, though still well into fantasyland. Put it this way, when a major character dies, you wait to get emotionally invested in the tragedy because in Star Trek all things are possible, even bringing someone back from the dead.

22. Circumstantial Surreal 3.0

23. Biological Fantasy 4.5

24. Physical Fantasy 4.5