After the crew of the Enterprise find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction.
Everyone is a little more battered, a little less dewy-eyed. People are unlikely to charge out of the cinema with quite the same level of glee as they did in 2009; but this is certainly an astute, exhilarating concoction.
Star Trek into Darkness is, by and large, a reprocessed version of an earlier film in the series, and your enjoyment of this new film depends almost entirely on your ability to spot links to the old one.
Star Trek Into Darkness remains great fun for non-fans, but especially the faithful, with nods to some of their favourite tropes, and a wholesale flip revision of one particularly successful old storyline.
A relentless follow-up which starts at warp speed and punches the accelerator. The plot might not stand up to scrutiny, but in the moment Into Darkness is a fun and often thrilling ride.
If this is Abrams’ final frontier, he has left Star Trek in a good place, both in the fictional universe and as a franchise. 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.
Entertaining, flashy, and action-packed, if rather lacking in substance, Into Darkness represents a continuing improvement on the franchise, with interesting implications as to the direction of future films.
Given how nimbly Abrams succeeded in crowbarring new life into the Trek universe last time, it’s a bit dismaying that he seems so willing to seal it shut again, providing maximum enjoyment only to those deeply versed in the mythos.
J.J Abrams keeps the engaging human drama bubbling along nicely, aided by his outstanding cast, and he maintains a fierce pace. He ensures that both Trekkies and newcomers to the Star Trek universe should be boldly entertained.
If you want wit and narrative twistiness that actually packs surprises, rather than just triggering the next exchange of fire, Iron Man 3 is the one. But this film leads on pure light and colour, and on its considerable brilliance at unfolding three-dimensional space in front of a moving camera.
We're not boldly going anywhere.
Star Trek Into Darkness gets the job done without ever threatening to raise one’s pulse. It’s a thoroughly professional entertainment.
This sequel, directed again by Abrams, sits firmly in the ‘more of the same’ camp: it’s funny, dramatic and very exciting, but for the most part it lacks that freshness. Abrams is still boldly going, it’s just that this time he has already been there once before.
The dilithium crystals powering the entertainment warp drive are still pretty much undamaged.
The film is short on the provocative ideas that Gene Roddenberry's original TV series had plenty of, but offers bangs for bucks on a prodigious scale in a succession of repetitive battles that will have the 3D glasses bouncing on everyone's nose.
Star Trek Into Darkness: how it was made, by the people who made it
General release. Check local listings for show times.
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