Star Trek Into Darkness Review

Now that the Iron Man 3 hype has settled, it's time for me to take a look at that other giant nerd event film released in May- "Star Trek Into Darkness." As with many others, I've been hyping this film since the last one, and it's been one of my most anticipated releases all year. While I'm not exactly a Trekkie, I have an enormous amount of respect for Star Trek due to its contributions to the sci-fi genre. When the reboot hit back in 2009, I loved it, mainly because, thanks to its time travel/parallel universe plot line, it managed to be a reboot, sequel and prequel all at once, honoring the Star Trek canon while doing its own thing and making it accessible to non-Trekkies like myself.

Even though I'm not a full-blown Trekkie, that doesn't mean I'm not familiar with the Trek mythos. I've seen several of the old films (Wrath of Khan and First Contact being my favorite, although I'm also fond of Voyage Home), and watched multiple reruns of The Next Generation, and even on occasion episodes of Voyager and Enterprise (although not as often). I prefer Captain Picard and Data to Kirk and Spock, but of course the old crew is comprised of a great cast of characters, which the reboot did a magnificent job of introducing to new audiences. I'm glad to say that this sequel continues that trend, introducing more classic Trek elements while finding ways to breath new life into the universe for newcomers.

As glimpsed from the trailers, the story concerns Captain James T. Kirk, First Officer Spock, and their loyal crew hunting down ex-Starfleet officer John Harrison, who is committing terrorist acts against the Federation.  The film begins with a great "Raiders of the Lost Ark" moment, wherein our heroes attempt to render a volcano inert on a primitive planet and end up exposing themselves to the natives. Since they violated the sacred Prime Directive (no interference with underdeveloped worlds), Kirk is demoted to First Officer under Admiral Pike and Spock is reassigned.

It is here where Harrison begins his attacks, causing Pike's death. As a result, Kirk becomes captain again and leads a vengeful mission to the Klingon homeworld Kronos, under orders from Admiral Marcus, to kill Harrison, carrying with him 72 prototype photon torpedoes. While Kirk is gung-ho about the mission, several of his crewmembers, including Scotty, are suspicious of the torpedoes' payload, and on edge about how traveling to Kronos could start a war with the Klingons.

First off, this is a great set-up. The opening screams classic Trek, and the story up to this point, while maybe too action packed for old Trek fans, displays the classic moral and ethical debates that defined old Trek films and episodes. Throughout the film there is a running theme of whether to use logic and seek diplomatic solutions, or go on gut instinct and possibly start a war. Like most genre films nowadays, there's a parallel to post-9/11 politics, in this case focusing on how the government is dead set on capturing a terrorist and willing to go to war to achieve this goal.

All the cast members perform their roles admirably. Zoe Saldana, Anton Yelchin, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, John Cho, and Bruce Greenwood all deliver, once again bringing these iconic characters to life. Peter Weller and Alice Eve also are standouts as Admiral Marcus and his daughter Carol, respectively. They are welcome additions to the cast and contribute to the story rather well, with the admiral in particular actually acting as a villain for a good chunk of the film. His villainous acts are the true catalyst for the plot, and play on the theme of the logic of going to war or desiring peace.

However, in the end this film belongs to Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and Benedict Cumberbatch. Pine and Quinto's emerging friendship defined the previous film, and here it gains even more significance. Pine once again plays Kirk as rebellious and cocky, even in the captain's chair. Quinto for the second time nails the cold, logical presence of Spock. The great thing about this film, however, is that it really gives both of them the chance to really develop their friendship. If the first film was about them gaining respect for one another, this one is about them realizing how much they need each other, and that they are capable of using both logic and emotion when the situation calls for it. It's incredibly satisfying to see the chemistry these two share, and how the events of the film logically push them forward as characters.

But of course I also mentioned Cumberbatch, who very  nearly steals the film from everyone else. We are led to believe his name is John Harrison for the first half of the film, before in a not-so surprising reveal (several hints were given throughout the film) he is shown to be Khan Noonien Singh, the most iconic of Star Trek villains. Cumberbatch relishes his role here, delivering every line with eloquence and a subtle sense of innate superiority. He simply knows he's better than everyone else, and you can tell by the way he speaks and interacts with the characters.

With the reveal comes the revelation that the entire film is pretty much an alternate universe version of Space Seed/Wrath of Khan. Most die hard Trekkies would, understandably, cry foul at that. However, what they fail to understand is that the Khan story arc is one of the most important events of the Star Trek canon. Any parallel timeline would have to tackle it eventually, and the way they do it here is brilliant. Instead of using Khan when Kirk and Spock are older so they can reflect on their past mistakes, this film introduces Khan when Kirk and Spock are still young, in order to solidify their friendship and have them grow into the men they will undeniably become. Khan's inclusion in this film and at this stage in the rebooted timeline feels completely organic, and at no point feels shoe-horned in to play off the nostalgia of die hard Trekkies.

Several other homages to Wrath of Khan exist, most notably the ending. Instead of Spock sacrificing himself, Kirk does it instead, leading to an exchange where Kirk acknowledges this is something Spock himself would have done. It may feel lessened to older Trekkies since they've already seen this, but the scene itself is still sincere, features great acting from Pine and Quinto, and really drives home how much the two care about each other and how they can, in dire circumstances, act more like each other than they would care to admit. Spock's reaction to Kirk's death and following actions are solid proof of this, and by film's end it's clearly apparent that the two have forged their iconic friendship that Spock Prime hinted at the end of the first film.

Besides the top-notch story and character interactions, the film also delivers on action and still remembers to preserve the witty banter between the crew. Bones and Scotty in particular are standouts for their witty dialogue, even moreso when interacting with Kirk, Spock and Uhura. As for the action, it's simply stunning. The opening scene is probably my favorite, but a chase between a scout ship and Klingon warbirds on Kronos, a space jump between ships near Earth, and a brutal final (if short) brawl between Spock and Khan on floating barges are also highlights.

What I loved about the film was that these action scenes, and even the witty dialogue, did not overpower the film but instead just added to the story and characters. It gave everything a certain gravity yet prevented things from being overly serious, and allowed the audience to have fun without forgetting the stakes. There's some serious philosophical stuff mentioned here, as I said earlier, and the way the film presents it makes it seem like an actual war could be brewing in future installments. Just like the first film, there are enough nods to classic Trek to satisfy Trekkies and enough new elements to please causal viewers.

If I have any complaints, it's that once Khan is revealed, the use of iconic elements from that movie make it a little too predictable (did anyone really doubt Kirk would stay dead?), but the pace of the film and the amazing action and characterization make this more of a nitpick than a full-blown problem. It was interesting to see an old tale told again but different, bearing in mind that this is all supposed to be a parallel reality. Leonard Nimoy's Spock Prime even shows up to remind us of that.

As a fan of the first film, I was extremely impressed with the way J.J. Abrams decided to continue the story of the rebooted Trek universe while keeping it open for further adventures. I have full confidence in his ability to tackle Star Wars, if he holds that universe with the same level of esteem that he does this one. Thanks to its better story and character development, I would even put this film above the original in terms of ranking, although unfortunately it still doesn't hold a candle to the film it pays homage to. Then again, what Trek film has surpassed Wrath of Khan? If anything, what should be taken away from this is that Abrams has delivered two great Trek films in a row, which is an achievement in and of itself. The franchise will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in three years. As evidenced by this film, even if Abrams is jumping ship, the series will continue to live long and prosper.

Theatricality and Deception: Defending Iron Man 3's Mandarin

When I originally wrote my "Iron Man 3" review about a week ago, I planned to dedicate a large portion of it analyzing how effective the controversial Mandarin twist was. If I did, then that review would have gone on for ages, so I decided an entire article was more worthy of this subject. The twist, wherein the advertised Mandarin was revealed to be an actor named Trevor Slattery covering for the true Mandarin, Extremis creator Aldrich Killian, was something I originally found hilarious, albeit disrespectful. Subsequent viewings, however, have made me realize that not only is the twist necessary, it's also brilliant.

The thing about Mandarin is, he's only Iron Man's archenemy because he's the best out of a bunch of B and C-list villains who compose Stark's weak rouges gallery. Mandarin was initially invented as a personification of Communism, a Fu Manchu archetype designed to capitalize on the West's fear of the "Other." Since that's an incredibly racist and outdated version, the Mandarin has been reinterpreted every time he's appeared in comics or on screen.

He's been a corrupt archaeologist, a high school friend of Stark's, the spirit of a Chinese warlord, a robot, the name of an organization, and recently a terrorist-funding businessman who allies with other Iron Man rouges and even created an army of Extremis soldiers. Therefore, it only makes sense that the filmmakers chose to once again re-imagine Mandarin for this film, where he is the head of AIM and goes by the name Aldrich Killian. 

After being rejected by Tony Stark in 1999, Killian decides that his best weapon in getting back at Stark and the world while proving his superiority is anonymity. When he and Hansen began experimenting with Extremis, causing soldiers to blow up, Killian decided that using a terrorist excuse was the best way to cover up his failings. But then the Avengers incident happened. As Killian himself said, "Ever since that big dude with the hammer fell out of the sky, subtlety's kind of had it's day."

In order to preserve his anonymous M.O. while also making his actions more public, Killian decided to use his imaginary terrorist threat to convince the American people to back his Extremis research.  Since the media constructs our reality, he decided that an uber-terrorist that personified people's fear of "The Other" and perverted all forms of Eastern and Western iconography would aid in carrying out his goals.This uber-terrorist would give Killian a smokescreen to kill the President and install a new one, while simultaneously creating a scapegoat to justify militarizing his Extremis project. He even went the extra step and rebranded War Machine as the Iron Patriot, using him as propaganda to personify American military strength before perverting that as part of his Mandarin campaign.

This plan is, quite simply, brilliant. Not only is it highly original for a superhero film, but it offers great social commentary on the role of media and iconography in shaping our modern society, especially in a post-9/11 atmosphere. The great thing about it is, in a way, it's actually a highly meta-interpretation of Mandarin that stays true to his roots. Mandarin was originally Chinese because Stan Lee created him at a time when anything Asian was considered, in the West's eyes, to be evil. Nowadays, the Cold War has given way to the War on Terror, so any version of Mandarin would have to be a terrorist as opposed to a straight up Communist archetype. What Shane Black and Marvel did was take that idea one step further, asking "what if someone in-universe came up with this idea-that you could create an over-the-top character who personified the enemy of the West?"

As for the ten magic rings, while they could very easily be utilized in a post-Avengers world, the stories and tone of the solo "Iron Man" movies have always been action-comedy based tonally and tech-based storywise. Even though magic can exist in this world, it has no place in an Iron Man film. Extremis, however, does, since it deals with the misuse of science and whether scientific advancement is justified with military contracts. It makes total sense to make the real Mandarin powered by Extremis instead of magic rings, with the Ten Rings being referenced as the terrorist organization from the first film, here having their imagery used as part of Killian's attempt to make the Mandarin appear more threatening.

Some say the Trevor Slattery reveal is played way too much for laughs. Again, it keeps things in line with the action-comedy tone of the previous films, and cleverly upends the audience's expectations in order to focus fully on the Extremis storyline. It helps that Ben Kingsley is brilliant in both the fake Mandarin and Trevor personas, giving him a chance to flex his serious and comedic acting chops.

What some may see as a waste of a role is really an excuse for Kingsley to play a character that goes against what people expect of him. If Kingsley was to play the Mandarin straight, how exactly would a final battle between him and RDJ work? Would audiences pay to see a 70 year old man trying to kill Iron Man with laser rings? Even for a comic book film, especially one set post-Avengers, that concept is way too silly to work onscreen, at least in a solo "Iron Man" movie.

Instead, Killian's plan makes him a much more threatening villain, which is helped both by Guy Pearce's intimidating performance and his epic final battle with Stark. The entire point of the film was that he was trying to divert attention from himself with a larger-than-life villain, so of course he seems lesser compared to Kingsley. But the fact that he convinced even Stark for a time to go on this wild goose chase is a testament to his genius.

In a way, Killian is a dark mirror to Stark, going through a similar character arc but in reverse. Stark started off rich and famous, embracing the limelight but not giving a second thought to whether his scientific advancements were actually helping anyone. Killian was a scientific idealist who started off small, before deciding to work in the shadows. Tony reinvents himself by augmentation through technology, and decides to help people. Killian reinvents himself by augmentation through Extremis biotech, and wants to use it to perfect other people. Tony develops an ego thanks to the media's fascination with him. Killian uses the media to further his own ends.

Tony becomes paranoid after "Avengers" and, to shield himself from harm, invents remote-controlled Iron Man suits as an apparent extension of himself. Killian, to shield himself from the public, invents the "remote-controlled" Mandarin persona. In the end, Tony realizes he is perfect, not because of technology, but because of his own humanity, and blows up his suits to remove his mask and show that Iron Man is not the suits, it's his human skills as a mechanic that make him super. Killian, in the end, goes power mad, convinced Extremis makes him perfect and adopting the Mandarin identity for himself, as a way of consolidating his superhuman status.

Thus, he is a manifestation of Tony's own demons, becoming what Tony would have become had he not broken his reliance on technology over the course of the film. This makes Killian even more effective as Tony's archenemy, because he compliments Tony's character arc that was always the main focus of the movie. And that's not even counting that he blew up Tony's mansion, put Happy in a coma, and nearly killed Pepper, stripping Tony of everything he holds dear and raising the stakes higher than ever in an Iron Man film. And if that's still not enough to convince fans he's a great Mandarin, since Killian borrowed the name from Chinese history and presented it as a title, someone else could become the Mandarin in an Iron Man or Avengers sequel and plague Stark with the actual ten rings.

Even if that doesn't happen, the Mandarin as presented here is faithful to the comics in his own way. Besides his plan and character arc being brilliant in the context of the films, Killian invented the Mandarin persona that Trevor then embodied, bringing life to the classical version of the character. When Killian takes on the persona towards the end, he becomes the modern-day version of the Mandarin, that of the terrorism funding businessman who creates an army of Extremis soldiers and fights Iron Man in an epic duel, where he uses energy blast fueled martial arts moves to reduce Stark's armors to shreds.

Not only this, but Killian/Mandarin has even more layers when you factor in the elements from other Iron Man villains. Killian's fire breathing may be a reference to Extremis villain Mallen, but combined with his dragon tattoos, the filmmakers paid homage to the Mandarin's use of Chinese iconography, as well as referenced Fin Fang Foom, the dragon whose species gave Mandarin his rings. On another note, his status as the "big brain" that heads AIM is a reference to MODOK, adding elements from another over the top Iron Man villain into Killian's layered portrayal.

Ultimately, the filmmakers made a great decision to take a bit character from the comics, Aldrich Killian, and expand him. They gave him a fleshed out plan and motivation while combining elements from other Iron Man villains to create a solid, threatening version of the Mandarin worthy of testing the MCU Tony Stark's mettle. True, we may not have gotten the armor vs. rings battle we were all waiting for, but we got a version of Mandarin that, like the different cartoons and comic variations, reimagines the character for the context of this story. Aldrich Killian is the perfect MCU Mandarin, and thanks to him "Iron Man 3" sets itself apart from its superhero movie brethren by doing something truly unique with adapting the material.

Iron Man 3 Review

It's been a long time since I've blogged about anything. I realize this. Between college classes, fraternity life and a part time job at a newspaper, I've had no time to write anything since my "Hollywood shared universe model" piece. But school is winding down, and if there's anything in the nerd world that can get me out of my self-imposed blogging exile, it's Iron Man 3. 

I've already hyped up this film enough, between naming it among my top 2013 films I'm looking forward to, analyzing all of the Phase One films including Iron Man 1 and 2, and even commenting on the necessity of the trilogy model in Hollywood. And then of course there are the two Iron Man 3 fanfics I posted, where I tried to cobble together a plot based on fan conjecture and what I knew. I'd like to say in some parts I was actually right on the money, and in other parts...I clearly wasn't. The point is, now that Iron Man 3 is out, and I've actually gotten a chance to see it a couple times, I can make a fully detailed review about it, flaws and all.

Let's start out by saying that, like the first two films, "Iron Man 3" is incredibly well-acted. RDJ kills it as Iron Man/Tony Stark, but what I really love about this film compared to the other two is how the filmmakers decided to brake new ground with the character. Instead of being ego-driven like he is at the start of every other film, announcing his presence while blasting AC/DC, this film starts out with the opening credits singing "Blue Da Ba Dee," signalling a change in tone for our favorite genius billionaire playboy philanthropist. 

This film finally sees some great character development for Stark, building off of "The Avengers" to give Tony panic attacks at the very mention of aliens. His penchant for technology has become a full-blown addiction. Screw Demon in the Bottle, Tony's real problems lie with his overreliance on suits. It's no wonder he creates over 40 of them (all really cool by the way-fangasms abounded when the Silver Centurion and Hulkbuster suits showed up). I reveled at how this film showed a different side of Stark, playing off his anxieties and showing that it's his genius and integrity that make him worthy of being an Avenger, not how awesomely advanced his suit is. 

To that end, the suit isn't actually featured that much in the film, besides the obvious Iron Legion climax. My guess is the filmmakers took a cue from "The Dark Knight Rises" and "Skyfall" by crafting a film that would strip its hero of his toys to show exactly what makes him tick. Thankfully, while Tony is the main focus, his supporting cast get more to do as well. Pepper and Rhodey get bigger roles, with Rhodey's Iron Patriot being a great buddy cop to Stark and Pepper subverting the damsel in distress archetype when she gets her badass moment towards the end. A kid named Harley, who shows up during the second act, also nearly steals the show thanks to his chemistry with Stark, and Stark's inability to treat him as a child. Their energetic rapport signaled something truly new for this series, and Harley came off as innocent without being annoying.

James Badge Dale and Stephanie Stozak are great as Extremis goons, reveling in the power their fiery regenerative abilities give them. Jon Favreau is hilarious in his brief return as Happy Hogan, who may not be the director anymore but whose fate actually kickstarts the plot. The only real downside character-wise is Rebecca Hall's Maya Hansen, who acts fine but never gets a chance to completely flesh out her character. But I've stalled long enough. Let's talk about Mandarin.

Oh yeah, Mandarin. The elephant in the room. In a way, I was looking forward to IM3 even before I thought "Avengers" could happen, thanks to all the interviews saying they were constructing Iron Man as a trilogy and making Mandarin, his ring-wielding arch enemy, the Emperor Palpatine/Lord Voldemort/Sauron puppet master controlling it all. And then when they casted Ben Kingsley, I knew they were going to deliver on that promise. Then the film came out. You know it, I know it, everyone knows it by now-Mandarin in the film is not actually Ben Kingsley, but Guy Pearce's Aldrich Killian, a bit character from the Extremis comics here reimagined as the head of A.I.M. and an intense business rival to Stark. As for Kingsley? He's really Trevor Slattery, a drunken actor hired by Killian as a scapegoat to cover up his faulty, exploding Extremis soldiers. 

What to say about this twist? Well, when I first saw it, I thought it was hilarious but also disrespectful to the canon. I get that the MCU is a separate universe, but the appeal of the films thus far was that they remained relatively faithful to the comics. Why did Shane Black decide to change this character so radically? I'm positive that this subject deserves a rant article all its own, but suffice to say that the Mandarin, while Iron Man's archenemy, is still an incredibly dated character that needed to be upgraded. 

Kingsley's Trevor Slattery was played for laughs, but when Killian is revealed to be the true Mandarin, it's definitely threatening. With his Extremis-fueled martial arts moves, dragon tattoos, and overly complex plan involving manipulating the post-Avengers climate by creating a scapegoat supervillain, I thought he totally came off as a worthy antagonist. He may not have embodied the Mandarin visually the way Kingsley did, but he more than made up for it with his intelligence, insanity, and utter ruthlessness towards Stark and his allies. For reasons better explained in another article, Killian fully deserves to be the MCU's Mandarin. 

His final fight with Tony in particular is also easily the best climax out of all three films. Iron Man finally fought a foe who was truly worthy of facing him physically, one who didn't need a suit of armor to go toe-to-toe with him. The comedy was memorable and well-staged, offering Stark and his friends some of the best one-liners of the trilogy. And unlike "Iron Man 2," this film actually stood on its own. It didn't need to set up another movie, and focused more on closing out Tony's story arc. Him blowing up his suits and removing his arc reactor may seem radical to some, but it's a perfect representation of how he's overcome his anxiety disorder, kicked his technology addiction, and reinvented himself yet again to be the man Pepper needs. 

The ending and the twist, combined with a lot more comedy, will of course be polarizing to many fans. It is certainly a little alienating to see Marvel deviate so far from the formula of Phase I. Instead of subtle comic references, this is an entirely mainstream product. New director Shane Black used Iron Man, and RDJ in particular, to make a throwback to '80s action-comedies. As a fan of movies in general, it makes me happy that the director and Marvel decided to take a chance with changing things up this time out. It certainly does make the film feel fresh, and it fixes many of the flaws of "Iron Man 2," which stuck to the formula a little too much. But in trying to change things up in order to be original, this film doesn't feel quite as magic as the first one, if only because it was doing things just for the sake of being different. 

When comparing this to its predecessors, "Iron Man 3" is right in the middle for me, not as good as 1 but not as average as 2. Since it's the beginning of Phase II, I feel it's wrong to really compare it to other Phase I films, especially the Avengers. However, if I had to rank it among its MCU brothers, it'd be lower than Avengers and Iron Man 1 but higher than all the rest, if only for how, unlike the majority of the Phase I solo films, more emphasis is put on making a great movie with excellent characterization than building towards another film.What I ultimately love is how the standalone plot did allow Tony to gain closure for his solo trilogy, while also logically  building off what his character went through in the previous "Iron Man" films and "The Avengers." 

It's truly a standalone film set in a now fully established shared universe, and succeeds wildly at it. I'd also like to add that, like I pointed out in my trilogy series, that this film heralds a new model wherein franchises can create standalone trilogies that don't necessarily need only three films to complete a character arc. Iron Man 3's character arc works because it's set after Avengers, thereby upending the need for just a trilogy while also functioning perfectly as one.  

This film may not have been the ultimate Iron Man movie I was hoping for, but its willingness to buck expectations and constantly deliver in the action, comedy, story and character moments make it a wondrously entertaining and worthy entry in both the solo "Iron Man" and larger Marvel sagas. It's a great start to Phase II, and I hope Marvel keeps toying with formula and genre conventions in the future so the MCU can continue to be a trailblazer for the film industry. 

As a postscript, the end credits scene was hilarious, but more reminiscent of the Avengers' schwarma scene than anything nerdgasmically awesome like in all the solo Phase I films. It was great to see Mark Ruffalo as Dr. Banner again, even if it was just dozing off at Tony's story. Then again, anyone who reads this could have  had the same reaction Banner did if I went into detail about what I thought of the Mandarin. For my full rant on the Mandarin, and what I think it signifies for this franchise, check back in later.