A Trek into the Dark Side

Benny Cumberbatch as the Sinister Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness. 

Continuing my Star Trek train of thought, we come to this summer's epic sequel to 2009's Star Trek reboot: Star Trek Into Darkness.  After Man of Steel, Darkness was the film I most looked forward to this summer and I was not disappointed.  The film picks up pretty much right after the events of the first, as Kirk and crew attempt to stop an active volcano from threatening the primitive alien inhabitants on the planet Nibiru without interfering with their way of life.  This means the Enterprise must remain hidden deep beneath the planet's ocean while Spock is lowered into the volcano with a cold fusion device that will render it inert.  In order to distract the planet's inhabitants, Kirk and Bones (but Kirk mostly), end up stealing a sacred scroll and are chased through the forest by the spear wielding indigenous people.  In typical fashion, Kirk disregards the prime directive by having the Enterprise rise from the depths in front of the mystified inhabitants and get close enough to the volcano to beam Spock out, against his wishes, right before the volcano becomes inert. 
The film explores the friendship between Kirk and Spock established at the end of Star Trek, showing how Spock's strict adherence to rules of conduct often clashes with Kirk's rule-bending creative problem solving.  Kirk violates the orders of the mission, but does so to save Spock, even though Spock is willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good.  As a result of Kirk's defiance and Spock's inability to cover for him, Kirk loses the Enterprise.  It's at this point that we're introduced to the film's chief antagonist, a former Starfleet officer turned terrorist named John Harrison, played by the mesmerizing Benedict Cumberbatch.  I love Cumberbatch on Sherlock, but as good as he is at playing someone on the side of the angels, he's even better at playing villains.  Harrison soon begins a one man war against the Federation, attacking a meeting of Starfleet commanders, including Kirk, Spock and Pike, who sadly, is killed in the battle.  After the attack, Kirk, who was close to Pike, gets the Enterprise back and gets permission from Admiral Marcus to travel near the Klingon home-world, Kronos, where Harrison teleported after the attack.  Rather than venture into Klingon territory and risk starting a war with them, Marcus has the Enterprise loaded with 72 proton torpedoes and orders them to get as close as possible, take out Harrison with the full payload and then haul ass. 
This is where the plot gets really interesting.  Rather than fire the missiles and kill Harrison, Spock convinces Kirk that they should take a shuttle down to the planet to retrieve Harrison so he can stand trial.  Of course, they're intercepted by Klingon war birds and a battle ensues, in which Harrison reveals himself, kills about twenty Klingons singlehandedly and then surrenders to Kirk after learning about the torpedoes on board.  Once onboard, Kirk grills Harrison as to why he attacked the Federation, to which Harrison explains that he is a genetically enhanced super soldier who was awoken from suspended animation by none other than Admiral Marcus to fight in a war with the Klingon's that Marcus plans on initiating.  Harrison reveals that he is one of 73 super soldiers, the other 72 of whom are still asleep and were put inside the photon missiles by Marcus in an attempt to blackmail Harrison into developing weapons for Marcus's war.  Harrison then reveals that his real name is Khan...DUH, DUH, DUHHH!  Khan is arguably the most well known of Trek villains so it seemed obvious that he would be in the film, but they still did a good job hiding it until that point.  All I really knew about Khan was his legendary Wrath that led to Spock's death and made Kirk famously scream "KHAN!!"

Kirk and Spock in a contemplative moment.

The altered timeline allowed the writers to change elements of the Khan story, therefore managing to surprise even diehard fans.  In some ways Marcus is the film's real antagonist; he sabotages the Enterprise's warp core so that after firing the missiles, which will kill the rest of Khan's crew, which is what Marcus wanted, the Enterprise will be stranded, thus starting war with the Klingon's.  What's interesting is how Khan is kind of a sympathetic character.  He wishes he'd never been woken up and simply wants to rescue his crew from the wrath of Marcus.  Once Marcus's treachery is revealed, he demands Kirk turn Khan over to him and when Kirk refuses, Marcus remorselessly attacks the Enterprise with a much larger ship.  Ultimately, Khan gets control of Marcus's ship, but not before crushing Marcus's skull and proceeds to attack the Enterprise in order to get his slumbering crew members back.  In an awesome reversal of events, it's Kirk who sacrifices his life by exposing himself to lethal radiation to get the warp core back online rather than Spock.  It's fitting that Kirk should sacrifice his life, because it shows that, like Spock, he too is ultimately willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good, in this case his crew.  In Star Trek, Kirk gets the Captain's chair; in Into Darkness, we see him earn it and live up to his father's legacy of selflessness.  There's a nice moment between a dying Kirk and a crying Spock and it's Spock this time(line) who gets to shout "KHAN!"  The fact that they play around with the original storyline is what makes it so captivating.  Leonard Nimoy returns as the older Spock from the original timeline, this time with a smaller but still crucial part as he tells the younger Spock about the version of Khan from his timeline, while leaving out the part where he dies.  Abrams' timeline switcheroo allows Nimoy to continue appearing in the films as part of the story as well as a bridge between the older generation of Trekkies and a newer one being indoctrinated by these films.   
Although Benedict plays a really chilling and intense villain, his Khan is by no means a one dimension villain.  His motivation of revenge (especially against Marcus), mirrors Kirk's own desire for revenge against Khan for killing Pike.  You can't judge Khan as a villain who simply wants to do bad and those are always the most interesting antagonists.  The film reunites the same cast from the first and adds some new faces, such as weapons expert Carol Marcus (turns out she's Marcus's daughter), played by the beautiful Alice Eve.  Into Darkness is a more than worthy follow up to Star Trek, maintaining the humor and heart of the first while deepening the relationships between the main characters and placing them in increasingly complex and difficult situations.  Even more than in the first, we see how these legendary characters work off each other and depend on each other, even when they don't see eye to eye.  I for one, can't wait to see where Abrams' take the story in the in inevitable sequel, but given his involvement with Star Wars VII, he may not be directing the next film.  We'll have to wait and see.  Who knows, perhaps Abrams will be able to pull off the unimaginable and find a way to unite Trekkies and Star Wars fans alike.  We'll see what the future holds for both Star Wars and Star Trek.