Star Trek Into Darkness

You've done it again J.J Abrams.

I remember seeing, and being blown away by the 2009 Star Trek film. It was such a fun, fast-paced adventure ride. Years went by and no sequel appeared, which in Hollywood is a bit of an anomaly. Most of the time sequels are completely unwanted and unwelcome. For Star Trek however it felt like a void, a black hole, that perhaps it had been lost in a warp speed gone wrong. Four years later however Abrams gave us what we all wanted. The long awaited sequel: Star Trek Into Darkness.

The film practically picks up where we left off. Captain James Kirk (Chris Pine) and his crew are aboard the Enterprise, boldly going where they probably shouldn't. The film starts off in the middle of a rescue mission gone wrong. Spock (Zachary Quinto) is in danger. Kirk refuses to let his friend die. And so the Enterprise goes against regulations in order to save him. This doesn't go down well with their superior Pike (Bruce Greenwood). Kirk loses the Enterprise and Spock is transferred to another ship. However the arrival of John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch) spins everything out of control, and before long Kirk and Spock are back where they belong, on the Enterprise, chasing the enigmatic Harrison.

The big *spoiler* of course is that Harrison is actually the great nemesis Khan. He is smarter, faster, stronger, and extremely difficult to defeat. He has little care for humans and wants the return of his own people. Cumberbatch does a fantastic job in this role. Propelled into stardom from his work in BBC's Sherlock, Cumberbatch has proven himself to be a talented, engaging and charismatic actor.

The most important relationship in Star Trek is of course the bromance between Kirk and Spock. It is arguably the best bromance in film and TV (with Sherlock and Watson a close second). Both Pine and Quinto play their characters with such ease; the chemistry is natural and undeniable, leading one to wonder the types of fan fiction circling around the webesphere. Fans of the 1982 film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan will notice that an important scene in the film is reworked in Into Darkness putting Kirk is Spock's place.

What I really enjoy about this film is the way it follows on from the 2009 one. You could watch them back to back and it would feel like one epic film. Abrams stays true to the characters, allowing the space for connections to be made, whilst also sending the audience on a 132 minute thrill ride. We may have had to wait four years for this sequel, but it was well worth the wait. Let's just hope the next one comes sooner.