The Enemy Strikes From Within

CAST: Chris Pine,Zachary Quinto,Benedict Cumberbatch,Zoe Saldana,Karl Urban

***1/2

The real test of J J Abrams’ Star Trek series lies with people like us: people starved of entertainment who were mostly wide-eyed fans of the TV series and its solemn resolve to “go boldly where no man has gone before”. And who have since seen the screen world go hurtling and leaping into space,to ever-increasing detachment.

For us,Abrams needs to be both old enough and new enough. Like his first Star Trek film,in 2009,the director manages that quite well,establishing clearly the connection that bounds together the characters and the import of the missions they are on. These are missions to explore and observe,not to “change destinies” or “play god”. The two big debates in the film centre around the morality of killing a known enemy without trial and of gatecrashing into a primitive planet,that is yet to invent the wheel,on a spaceship. These genuinely “concerned” debates don’t belong to any normal sci-fi space action film,but since its TV avatar,Star Trek has tried to consistently address the issues of the times in its own way.

The conflict in Star Trek Into Darkness arises from a former Starfleet employee,John Harrison (Cumberbatch),going rogue and turning against the “Federation”,attacking its top leadership and killing Christopher Pike (James T Kirk’s mentor). Kirk (played by Pine) is thirsting for revenge and is reinstated as Captain of Enterprise for the mission to kill Harrison. Kirk briefly was deposed for having ignored basic Starfleet rules in order to save his first officer,Spock (Quinto).

Spock,bound by his Vulcan sense of the rigid line between right and wrong,warns Kirk about the illegalities of his mission. So does another loyalist crew member,Scott (Simon Pegg),who asks whether they have now become a militarist exercise. Kirk obviously has his own doubts,which are quickly revealed as he comes face to face with the truth.

Abrams and the screenwriters do well in realising that Star Trek is best revived by a throwback to the men who made it and what drove them,rather than their adventurous missions,which may not appear as adventurous any more. Into Darkness intimately focuses on the camaraderie and differences between Kirk and Spock,their respect as well as incomprehension for each other,and their relationship with the rest of the multi-national,multi-racial,multi-planet crew. If surprisingly Pine and especially Quinto,with his mock-serious version of Spock,achieve that part nicely,Cumberbatch as the prototype of a genetically engineered “superior race” is chillingly effective.

There are a lot of greys in Harrison’s role,and he is soon revealed to actually be 300-year-old ‘Khan’ (a previous villain from Star Trek). There are no connotations to that name,none whatsoever,for Khan’s full name,if you look it up,is Khan Noonien Singh — whatever that means.

It is when the film decides to go big and go bang that you feel it has overstretched its welcome. There is a very nice closure scene that is tossed away for one that requires a chase on Earth,circa ‘2259.55’. That could mean a lot of things but essentially means flying cars and Spock and Khan hurling away at each other.

However,what you are likely to take away is another scene,of Kirk and Khan being launched in spacesuits from the Enterprise,flying solo through space,and entering another spaceship through a narrow hole,after navigating their way through space debris. Impossible? Maybe. Boldly where no man has gone before? Yes!

SHALINI LANGER

shalini.langer@expressindia.com