Jason versus Star Trek Into Darkness

One of the adjustments my wife and I made when we became parents and a one-income family was putting the brakes on regular trips to the multiplex, which wasn't easy given A) we both love movies and B) I review them for The Basement.

Fortunately, opportunities like Mike S's birthday come along, affording The Basement's head Twit and I the chance to boldly go where most moviegoers have gone by now.

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.

First off, if you didn't groove on what J.J. Abrams and crew did to Star Trek the first time around, you're probably going to hate this sequel. If you're an open-minded, non-traditionalist like myself and The S -- and Shawn too -- you're likely going to enjoy this action-packed, character-driven space opera.

Abrams made Star Trek exciting back in 2009 while maintaining the banter, character and sense of humour of the classic series. Sure, it's not as thoughtful as the original incarnation, but it's bigger, bolder and sexier. If you don't like it, shut up and don't watch it.

Into Darkness is more of the same, while still taking the series even further into an alternate universe that I hope will be explored in sequel after sequel.

As for this film, Benedict Cumberbatch is great as John Harrison/Khan, a literal one-man army the writers don't even try to align with the character Richardo Mantalbon made a sci-fi icon. But Cumberbatch is still Khan, and he's awesome!

The action in Into Darkness is incredible, as is the personal journey Kirk takes and the growing bond between himself and Spock. There's a lot of humour and every character has a moment to shine, which I can't say about any of the original Star Trek films. This is an ensemble piece cemented by Kirk, Spock and McCoy, not a three-man show.

I could go on, but I won't. This is a big, thrilling piece of summer entertainment with enough humanity to balance all the 'splosions. I'm giving it a Good, and hope Abrams makes Star Wars as cool as he made Trek.

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