From beginning to end, J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek Into Darkness" is a rip-roaring crowd-pleaser that is just a couple of missteps away from being a popcorn classic. Even for non-Trekkies, here is a movie that makes a point to build an impressive array of characters, creating a rare big-budget movie that is both riveting and often hilarious, frequently at the same time.
Complete with a villain worthy of the material and some of the best dialog you'll hear in an action movie this year, "Star Trek Into Darkness" is the perfect example of what can happen when you fill the screen with as much intelligence and creativity as you do special effects.
Much like Steven Spielberg did with the giant ball in "Raiders of the Lost Ark," Abrams probably sets the bar too high thanks to a fairly brilliantly conceived opening. Though their orders are to not interfere with local life on other planets, Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto) heroically swoop in to cap an erupting volcano, saving an entire primitive civilization in the process.
At one point, Kirk realizes that Spock is in too much danger to go after him but does it anyway, ignoring the comical advice that - if the roles were reversed - Spock would certainly let Kirk die instead of taking on further risk. Spock may be the perfectly logical analyst, yet Kirk still sees himself as a hero who can defy the odds.
But not everyone else is quite as impressed with Kirk. Upon returning, his boss Pike (Bruce Greenwood) gives him an earful about following orders and not making up the rules as he goes along, providing a bit of tough love that Kirk in no way wants to hear.
Though this is a conversation that many cinematic heroes have sat through over the years, this time screenwriters Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof fill it with blistering dialog as Pike firmly puts Kirk in his place and takes away his ship, the Enterprise. He may see himself as the great hero, but for now Kirk is just a reckless hot shot without a ship until further notice.
As Kirk licks his wounds, "Into Darkness" begins to expand on the impressive background created in the 2009 reboot. Abrams is quickly becoming a master of showing us a world that looks futuristic but still seems imminently plausible.
Okay, so we're not exactly on the cusp of beaming people from one ship to the next, but the entire Starfleet organization feels like something humans would actually be capable of - mostly just a natural extension of technological and evolutionary advances.
Go just far enough, as "Into Darkness" does, and you get an intriguing fantasy about what we might be capable of as a civilization. Go too far and it's amazing how quickly sci-fi can turn into Saturday morning cartoons.
With Kirk's future uncertain, former agent John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch) hatches a terrorist plot aimed at Starfleet headquarters, leading an enraged Kirk to hunt him down in a dangerous black ops mission. Admiral Marcus (Peter Weller) swiftly arms him with a fairly ridiculous amount of firepower and the chase is on, once again bringing Kirk and his crew into danger on Kirk's gut feeling.
Whether you praise or lament some of the connections you can make with today's world, in particular chasing outlaws into foreign territories, it's hard to argue that this isn't the type of scenario a superpower will always find itself in. As Kirk and company chase our villainous suspect into Klingon territory, we have the sense that this is a much more complex world than we're used to seeing on the big screen.
But "Into Darkness" is also too smart to get ahead of itself. In one of the best moments in the movie, weapons and tech expert Scotty (Simon Pegg) breaks character and pleads with Kirk not to use the unstable torpedoes Admiral Marcus has given him.
The assumption is that Simon Pegg's Scotty will immediately snap back into comic relief, mainly because Pegg is capable of being funny while doing just about anything. Instead, Scotty makes an earnest stand and insists that the torpedoes are not to be used under any circumstance, even going as far as resigning his post to prove his seriousness.
Several times, "Into Darkness" shows that it's willing to go against the grain of character and story expectations, creating a general feeling of spontaneity that is almost completely lacking in most mainstream action films. Sure, you can probably figure out the longer plot points and maybe even figure out the various twists and turns, but from scene to scene, there is a genuine feeling that the plot can spin off in any direction.
Though the action is frequent and well-done, there is also plenty of time left for us to delve deeper into our characters, often with surprisingly funny insights.
Like the 2009 film, "Into Darkness" has a lot of fun with Spock, whose dry wit is perfectly captured by Quinto and provides some of the film's best dialog. Armed with a razor sharp tongue and only vague notions of what it's like to have human emotions, Spock is impossible to argue with, unless you're his loving but frustrated girlfriend, Uhura (Zoe Saldana).
Pine again looks like a perfect fit as a dashing version of Kirk, but we're also treated to a horde of intriguing side characters, including Weller's cantankerous admiral, Greenwood's fatherly Pike and Cumberbatch's brilliantly twisted villain. When we get to some of the forced emotional scenes at the end, perhaps the movie's only real flaw, there has still been enough poured into our various characters to not completely lose the momentum.
With how well he pulls it all together, Abrams now looks like a home run choice to take over the "Star Wars" franchise as well. Though there are plenty of directors with unique visual style and talent, Abrams has a rare gift of balancing real storytelling with giving audiences the basics they require. The easy comparison is Spielberg, but it's also not off by much.
Like Spielberg, Abrams seems to have an uncanny ability to blend humor directly into the story so there isn't much need for the old-fashioned comic relief that we're continually bludgeoned with. Thanks to a very smart script and Abrams' feel for the material, "Star Trek Into Darkness" ends up being just about as good as big-budget action movies get.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Entertainment News
June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.