Star Trek Into Darkness intends to evoke, presumably, the idea that catastrophe lurks around the corner, that the hair-raising events of 2009’s Star Trek were child’s play compared to what happens now; that the proverbial shit has gotten real. A more defensible interpretation would be that the title refers to the franchise reboot’s continued slide into the shadow of previous movies.
Director JJ Abrams' latest fare is a fun movie; Star Trek Into Darkness represents what most people want from a summer movie: beautiful to look at, engaging action scenes, epic scale, and humor. There are familiar actors doing familiar things in an entertaining way and really, right there this movie has exceeded 80 to 90 percent of movies released in the last eight months. If you enjoyed Star Trek, there’s an excellent chance you’ll enjoy this movie as well... just not as much.