Star Trek Into Darkness

For the first time in a long time, I got to watch a movie within the first few days it was shown here. Last week, my friend David was in town and he really wanted to see the new Star Trek movie which started showing in the cinemas in the Philippines two Wednesdays ago. The timing was perfect because David was flying back to Australia on the 18th. It's interesting too because when I watched the first Star Trek film, it was also with David who was in town when the first film in this latest JJ Abrams-directed series was shown.

We decided to watch on the Friday night and I decided to pass by the cinema early during the day to get tickets. This turned out to be a good idea because there were only a few seats taken at the time I purchased the tickets but the theater was close to full when we got there in the evening.

Spoiler alert: please stop reading if you don't want to know more about the movie.

Just like the first movie, Star Trek Into Darkness was a pretty awesome blockbuster and it's definitely worth watching. Even if you didn't watch the first one and even if you aren't a trekkie. The script was very witty and funny - Spock of course had more than his fair share of great lines - and the pace of the action was pulsating. Despite the amazing rapport of Chris Pine as James T. Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock, I think the biggest scene stealer of them all was Benedict Cumberbatch who played Khan. (When he introduced himself as Khan, I could hear the audience go "oooh".) His presence was strong and frightening, his voice was sinister, and you just didn't know what to expect of him. Which made the movie really riveting.

Star Trek is still showing now so if you haven't seen it, I suggest you do. I'm not sure how many more films from this series will come out under the direction of JJ Abrams but I am definitely looking forward to more.