Star Trek Into Darkness (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy)

Blu-Ray Reviews | Sep 7th, 2013

Star Trek Into Darkness Blu-Ray Review

Starring: Chris Pine, Benedict Cumberbatch, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, John Cho, Alice Eve, Bruce Greenwood, Simon Pegg, Zoe Saldana, Peter Weller, Anton Yelchin
Written By: Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof
Directed By: J. J. Abrams
Studio: Paramount
Buy On Amazon.com

This is the Star Trek movie fans love to hate despite the critics loving it. I really liked Star Trek Into Darkness because I’d rather watch something that was altered slightly than watch a pudgy William Shatner.

Star Trek Into Darkness picks up where things left off from the first movie. Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) is still a frat boy & arrogant jerk, Spock (Zachary Quinto) still has a stick up his ass, Uhura (Zoe Saldana) is still a nagging girlfriend, Bones (Karl Urban) is still saving Kirk’s ass and the rest are just in the background. A rogue starfleet agent John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch) is behind an attack on a secret Starfleet building in London and the U.S.S. Enterprise sets off to track him down and stop him from further destruction.

I was never a big Star Trek fan and still haven’t seen the majority of the TV episodes and movies. After seeing J.J’s first Star Trek reboot has made me into a fan though. I was looking forward to this sequel the day I watched the first movie. It felt like a Star Wars movie to me, which is why I prefer the new ones. Well maybe a Star Wars movie with an overuse of lens flares. I don’t know what it is, but I have a hard time trying to watch older sci-fi movies and TV shows because it just looks so outdated, not just with Star Trek. I know I will watch the older stuff eventually but right now I prefer the newer movies. I’m sure lots of fanboys will be annoyed by that but whatever.

I knew the premise of Wrath of Khan and what happened in it and knew this movie was an alternate version of it. The movie could have been a little bit more original in how they dealt with some things but still really enjoyed Star Trek Into Darkness. I guess I’m just one of the mindless idiots who wasn’t expecting the Meaning Of Life from a Star Trek movie.

The cast is excellent in my opinion. Chris Pine is a perfect Kirk, well I think after these two movies he should be. The first two movies, he’s a bit of a work in progress and trying to figure out who he is. The same goes for Spock in a way. The relationship between Kirk and Spock is built up even further in Star Trek Into Darkness. I liked the twist with their roles altered from Wrath of Khan, because he showed that Kirk finally grew up and took responsibility for his mistakes. But if I’m being honest, I really hope the next movie is a bit more original in terms of everything.

Besides Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, the man that stole the movie of course was Benedict Cumberbatch. I can’t compare him to Ricardo Montalbán since I didn’t see Khan or the TV series, but I thought he was awesome. He was badass in the fight scenes and menacing in the dialogue. He’s got such a cool voice! I thought the rest of the cast didn’t have a whole lot to do but Karl Urban had a ton of great lines and Zoe Saldana was a bit too nagging to Spock in this movie. Simon Pegg had some good moments too but the rest of the cast wasn’t really that noticeable.

Can we talk about that scene that everyone is having a fit over? Yes, the one where Alice Eve is in her underwear in front of Kirk. Um, what the hell is wrong with you nerds? It’s a half naked woman and you’re bitching and moaning THAT is in movie? I don’t get Trekkies, I really don’t. Star Wars fans embrace sexy women in their movies like Princess Leia in a slave bikini but Trekkies, noooooooo. How dare they look at two seconds of a half naked woman. I don’t get it.

To continue, the special effects were outstanding! The outside scenes of London and San Francisco were flawless. How J.J. Abrams uses CGI at certain spots but not all the time is how CGI should be used. Like some parts of the set would be built and other spots would be CGI. The one thing J.J. doesn’t get is the overuse of the damn lens flares. If you had a drinking game and counting how many times you saw them, you’d be drunk as a skunk in the first 3 minutes of the movie. The score by Michael Giacchino was awesome the last two movies as well. He developed a new recognizable theme but plus added a nice piano piece to the movie with “John Harrison” and that Starfleet agent in the beginning of the movie.

The Blu-Ray itself looked perfect on my TV. Even all the CG scenes didn’t look CG to me and everything just looked amazing. The special features have a variety of featurettes and some random commercial for post-9/11 veterans. As much as I liked the featurettes, I still feel like something is missing. I think Paramount has been doing these store-specific discs that are included with the movie and it kind of jips the rest of us who didn’t buy from that store. I also don’t like when studios have these features where you have to watch them online instead. The stuff on the disc are great and show us the behind the scenes stuff of the opening sequence, the Starfleet attack, Spock fight with Khan and plenty other stuff. I keep seeing deleted scenes of outtakes but that stuff is nowhere to be found here.

Overall, Star Trek Into Darkness looks great and was fun to watch but could have offered up something slightly original to make both Trekkie and newbies happy. If you think about, both J.J. Abrams movies are almost the same in structure. This is a Star Trek movie so I’m not going to think too much or for too long and just enjoy these films for what they are.

Features:
Behind the Scenes featurettes
Ultraviolet/Digital Copy
DVD

Video
Widescreen 1.78:1

Audio
French Dolby Digital 5.1
Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
English Dolby TrueHD 7.1

Bottom Line: A good, entertaining follow-up that is a hit or miss with fans
Running Time: 131 mins
Rating: PG-13
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating:

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