Part II : JJ Abrams' Star Trek Movies are Being Held to a Higher Science Fiction Standard

Here's my second installment on this subject. I have long agreed that Star Trek (2009) was pretty light on the serious science fiction subject manner. But I've recently had a change of heart, and here I go again gladly defending JJ Trek.

First, though, let's recap my position on Into Darkness. Revenge, fear and loss are all on the agenda, and Kirk’s journey reveals the right way forward. “There will always be those who mean to do us harm. To stop them, we risk awakening the same evil within ourselves,” Chris Pine reflects.

Of course, he had to overcome the instinct for revenge, and the whole digression deals with the subject in a far better manner than the original Star Trek II. Khan is simply a mad man on a quest, while Kirk represents the good in all of us who can’t help but go awry. “Our first instinct is to seek revenge when those we love are taken from us, but that’s not who we are,” Kirk lectures.

Admiral Marcus as human savior also gives us something to think about. He's ready to sacrifice the crew of the Enterprise to contain his secret and preserve the greater good as he sees it. Americans certainly know from that as we struggle between preserving liberties and maintaining security.

Of course, WOK is a better movie, but I honestly believe Into Darkness is a better science fiction film. But let’s move on.

Star Trek magically recreates the characters from the original series, and we are finally treated to a well deserved backstory. “I don’t know who that Vulcan is, but I like him,” Bones misfires, and it goes endlessly from there.

We also get plenty of light show, pyrotechnic gunfire and defiance of the laws of physics, but sorry, that’s part of the movie formula alluded above.

Unfortunately, there’s also plenty of plot holes. “I knew I should have killed you Spock,” Nero laments. Yes, with little tactical advantage to gain, he could have ended the movie - and Starfleet - right there.

There also doesn’t seem to be any shield that protects the drill. So why not just lock phasers from the ground and blow the thing away. In addition, why do you need a drill anyway. A blackhole is a blackhole.

But the biggest plot hole involves Nero. He’s got the red matter, go inject it into the future supernova, and save your planet. This is where my perception recently changed because that’s exactly what Nero is going to do.

On the way, though, there’s an equally important matter in Nero's estimation, and Pike’s accusation of genocide clues us in. “I didn’t commit genocide, I prevented one,” implores the demented rogue.

You could probably find the likes of Hitler making a similar argument. Pursuing the mass extermination of whole swaths of people wasn’t just about the hatred of Jews, Slavs, Gypsies, Catholics, Gays, Socialists etc. The pychosis was also about the preservation of the German race, and yes, making the world a better place in their criminally misguided ideology.

The Nazis, we know well from James Kirk, made similar arguments about “breathing space,” to secure the homeland. But powerful nations have always pursued an aggressive or hegemonic foreign policy to maintain their internal and economic strength.

Hello Ukraine, Asia for the Asians and carving up the dark continent and getting the masses to go along only requires enough gullible patriots to wrap themselves up in the flag.

A little guile goes a long way too. In other words, you don’t really think The Monroe Doctrine was about being “Good Neighbor,” and that the World Bank was created to provide a bank for the world.

So in case Nero can’t justify his Hell bent quest to even the score with Spock, he’s got enough historical bad actors to soothe his cognitive dissonance. I mean who knows better than the human race and score another notch for JJ Star Trek.

Please Like My Movie Review Page