Star Trek Into Darkness

Into Darkness is a sleek, thrilling epic that's also a triumphantly witty popcorn morality play. It's everything you could want in a Star Trek movie.

Spectacular special effects, superbly crafted action sequences, plenty of humor and terrific performances render it a cut above most summer blockbusters.

In some sense, the title is misleading. Into Darkness is a blast, fun, funny, spectacular and exhilarating. The rule of great even-numbered Trek movies continues.

Rip-roaring set-pieces aside, the biggest pleasure here is still the yin-yang chemistry between Kirk and Spock, even as the writers sand down the barbed edges of the characters’ interactions.

He’s (Abrams) caught some of the spark of the first Star Trek without either mimicking or desecrating the original.

As our old friend Ricardo Montalban said thirty years ago in “The Wrath of Khan,” still the best of the “Star Treks” — “It is veeery coooooold in space.” “Into Darkness,” for all its dense textures and epic scale, left me cold.

The only darkness here — besides the dingy-looking images dimmed by 3-D glasses — is the murky plot, which is as silly as it is arbitrary.

One of the Best Sci-fi Movies. One of my Favorite Movies. Amazing Story for Space Lovers, Full of Stunning Action & Creativity Also VFX, Cast, etc everything is just tremendous I really Enjoyed and liked the film Best Regards

A skillful space-faring adrenaline overdose, if not really my idea of a Star Trek film. Into Darkness has the makings of a curvy, complicated red tape thriller, but its predictability, superficiality and outright refusal to go more than five minutes between jump-cut-loaded action scenes halts those ideas relatively early. With the exception of big-bad Benedict Cumberbatch, who manages to be both admirable and despicable in even doses, the film is thoroughly overacted and the touches of fan service that I so relished in the 2009 reboot seem far more forced and unnecessary the second time around. There's also a notable lack of gravitas to the proceedings, in my opinion one of the hallmarks of the series, with an unfamiliar trigger-happy temperament lending the impression of an adult who's regressed into a period of renewed adolescence. That's not to say it isn't enjoyable. The action sets, though frequent, are constantly fresh and exciting, and its daring in equitably tackling the subject of a 23rd century terrorist is progressive and topical. I merely found myself wishing for a bit more meat and a smaller serving of kicks, punches and phasers.

Where Star Trek played fast and loose with science, its sequel throws it (and plot logic) out the window in favor of a high-octane action flick with too much ambition and too little heart. It doesn't help matters that the last act of the film is an intentional rip-off of the original Star Trek II. It thinks its being clever, but it's really just sad to watch. There's nothing like trying to remake the most stirring scene the original cast ever pulled off to show the flaws in the new franchise.

The voyages continue: Star Trek for people who don't like Star Trek. A big, dumb summer popcorn flick with zip, wiz, bang action, lots of explosions, fist-fights and running around. One of the most beloved 'Trek instalments (The Wrath of Khan) gets the prison shower treatment by the conclusion of Into Darkness. Unintelligent, formulaic, forgettable.

Two words: lens flare. But because that will not fulfill metacritic's 150 character minimum, let me add that as a fan of the original series, I am offended by this rebooting, which cheapens the original series concept by re-imagining it as a big-budget rock 'em sock 'em blockbuster for teenage boys. Seriously, how many fist fights are we expected to endure? Even stoic, logical Mr Spock gets into the act. Not to mention the lens flare. Please, next time, spare us another unimaginative, mediocre, Earth-bound spectacle without a trace of grandeur.