It’s amazing to me that we’ve got a new “Star Trek” movie hitting theaters in May and we still know very little about it. Amazing and, I must say, highly enjoyable.
At this point, I’ve decided that even in my review, I’m not going to spell out the details of who Benedict Cumberbatch is playing in the film. At this point, if Paramount and Bad Robot have successfully kept the true nature of “John Harrison” a secret, then more power to them. I think it’s an interesting coincidence that they’re using Robert April so prominently in the “Countdown To Darkness” comic series that IDW is publishing, since I was the one person to point the finger at April as the possible identity of Cumberbatch in the film, but I suspect even that is part of the misdirect.
What I do know for sure is that this is a seriously confident marketing push so far. This new international trailer has some great imagery, and I like that we’re still not seeing a polished and practiced crew onboard the Enterprise. I don’t mind seeing this new configuration of the classic characters go through some difficult learning experiences on their way to becoming the iconic characters of the original series. I hope they hold off on assigning them on their five-year mission until they’ve been well and truly tested as a team. After all, you’d send your best and brightest out there to make first contact with a wild and untamed universe, wouldn’t you? And right now, these characters are still learning how to be a united crew.
One of the most interesting things happening in the comic prequel issues right now is the way they’ve got Spock struggling to get control of his emotional side. He’s taking some major chances with his life, and Uhura seems to think it’s his way of not dealing with his feelings about being one of the few survivors of Vulcan. I like that in this timeline, Spock has been left orphaned in a way that he never was on the original series. It changes who he is, unbalances that human/Vulcan equilibrium, and it makes him a very different person overall. It looks like that’s not something that they intend to gloss over quickly or forget, either.
We are so close to the release of this film that I hope they don’t cut any more trailers or reveal anything else about the film. Hell, we’re two months away and we’ve just now seen the first few shots of Peter Weller in the movie, so it really does feel like they’ve managed to keep the film locked down, and in May, we should all have a kick seeing what it is they’ve put together for us.
You can “Star Trek Into Darkness” on May 16, 2013.