J.J. Abrams has probably been the single most talked about director of 2013. Most of that talk hasn't been about his current film, STAR TREK: Into Darkness. Rather, the buzz has been about the film he hasn't even begun to shoot yet, STAR WARS Episode VII. Which is a mistake. Sure, it's exciting to look forward and consider what he can do with that storied franchise, but it is pure folly to dismiss his latest Star Trek Film.
In 2009, Abrams gave the Star Trek universe a much needed shot in the arm when he re-booted the universe from the original Star Trek television show and re-imagined these storied and iconic characters. With Into Darkness, he raises the stakes in some surprising and effective ways. The film begins with a terrorist attack on a Federation archive installation that was engineered by a traitorous Starfleet Officer named John Harrison(Benedict Cumberbatch). As a reaction to this internal terror plot Starfleet's Admiral Marcus calls an emergency session with all the top brass which includes Admiral Christopher Pike, and Captain James T. Kirk. Unfortunately, the meeting is a set up and from there, all hell breaks loose.
With Star Trek: Into Darkness, screenwriters Robert Orci, Gary Kurtzman, and Damon Lindelof have absolutely out done themselves. While solidly dropping us back into the Trek universe, this trio manages to take this film in familiar directions while still pulling off some intriguing surprises. Now, if you have seen most of the trailers and even hazarded a guess or two about what you may see in the film, we can safely say that there is a good chance that your guesses are totally right, while simultaneously being dead wrong. Having said that STAR TREK: Into Darkness takes some of the most memorable moments in the Star Trek canon and completely makes them original and compelling.
What Does Into Darkness Tell Us About Star Wars Episode VII?
Early in the production of 2009's STAR TREK, director JJ Abrams had stated that he hadn't grown up being a fan of Star Trek, but that he had been an avid fan of Star Wars. He readily admitted that it took a lot of research for him to become familiar and comfortable with the Star Trek universe. That being the case, Abrams has taken a lagging franchise and energized in ways that no one believed was even possible. Has taken Star Trek beyond the nerd culture that embraced it for decades and landed it firmly in the mainstream consciousness.
Now imagine what this man will be able to do with a franchise that he has an intimate and long standing love for. Of course there are certain conventions of Star Wars storytelling he wont be able to abandon or alter, his reverse for the material should be an exciting and powerful update that will bring audiences flocking back to that galaxy far, far away.
No comments:
Post a Comment