Review: Star Trek Into Darkness

If anyone ever tells you that spending too much time on Twitter is a bad thing, remember this: thanks to Twitter, I got to see Star Trek: Into Darkness ten days early. And it was GLORIOUS. I won tickets in a contest over Twitter and attended a private industry screening on Tuesday. I'm telling you this in hopes you'll forget my six-month absence from this blog. How did I do?

I will do my best to be spoiler-free in this review, but I don't know how well I'll stick to it, so this is your warning that there may be spoilers so you may want to proceed with caution.

Here's the thing: I love Star Trek. I do. And there are probably tons of little things about Into Darkness that I could rag on for this or that reason but the fact is that it was epic and awesome and even though I had to pee throughout virtually the entire movie, I didn't realize it. This movie made me forget that I had to pee. Glowing praise right there. It's about two hours and fifteen minutes, but it didn't feel like it at all.

I saw it in IMAX 3D. I am not a fan of 3D in general and ordinarily I would not choose to see it in that format, but this was a free screening so I wasn't going to complain. It is not necessary to see this movie in 3D. Other than a few sight gags at the beginning (I did actually flinch as an arrow fired at McCoy seemed to fly right at my face), the 3D didn't really add to the movie at all. If you want to see it in 3D, if you love 3D, then of course do what you want, but my recommendation is that if you don't really care, save your money and see the regular version. It's not going to be any less awesome.

This is the second Star Trek reboot movie, and as such, there were echoes of the original second Star Trek movie, Wrath of Khan. There's a scene in one of the trailers that sent people into fits because of the throwback -- if you've seen Wrath of Khan, you know which scene I'm talking about (there are hands involved). Yes, it's just as incredible as you hoped it would be, and yes, you should definitely bring tissues. There's also another, bigger one. I won't ruin it for those who don't know, but if you do know what I'm talking about, then...you...know what I'm talking about. (Who you thought he was? He is.)

Some of you probably want to know about Benedict Cumberbatch. In a word: chilling. There's a scene near the end where he does this thing, and it seriously freaked me out. He's so cold and calculating when he speaks, and then he fights, and you need to get the hell away from him or die. Just ask the Klingons. (Yes, there are Klingons! Yes, Uhura speaks to them in Klingon, and she's not generally my cup of tea, but Zoe Saldana speaking in Klingon is sexy as hell.)

A lot of the focus in the movie is on the big three: Kirk, Spock, and that guy played by Benedict. They get much of the action, although the opening sequence throws in some McCoy -- and he and new crew member Carole Marcus get a scene that's pretty dramatic -- and Scotty gets some great lines (if you've seen the preview clip where he calls Kirk Captain Perfect Hair), as well as Uhura's awesome Klingon-speak.

There is plenty of action and drama and suspense and humor, and since it's a JJ Abrams movie there are lens flares for all. There will be laughs and tears and gasps galore. Is this movie going to win awards? Probably not, except maybe an MTV Movie Award. Is this movie going to entertain the crap out of you? Yes. Yes, it is. You should all be prepared to have your socks sufficiently rocked.