Star Trek takes dark turn
Star Trek Into Darkness Monday, August 1, 8.30pm Duke Misdirection. Some say it’s a word that best sums up the modern blockbusters as story is jettisoned in favour of action and special effects.
But the helmer of this 2014 enterprise is guilty of another version of that noun and it’s a rare feat film fans should delight in.
Through all his teasers, trailers and titbits in the lead up to its release, J J Abrams has just about fooled us all as his excellent first Star Trek followup boldly goes in directions some speculated, but never truly believed it would.
Opening with a breathtaking sequence on the garish Class M Planet Nibiru, Into Darkness is a sci-fi spectacular that barely pauses for breath.
It’s a rollicking ride, full of unexpected twists and turns for the uninitiated, but with just the merest of breadcrumbs to intrigue and ultimately reward long-term fans as Abrams and his now trio of writers pursue the alternate reality/timeline to the original series opened up by the events of their 2009 opener.
An audacious, inventive and downright fiendishly fantastic tale that is both a sneaky homage and the strengthening of a bold new direction for Gene Roddenberry’s near half-centuryold vision. with Oscar (Matthew Perry) and Felix (Thomas Lennon) becoming obsessed with eavesdropping on their bickering neighbours. However, when things take a darker turn, they try to subtly intervene and help them save their marriage. FRIDAY Flash Gordon 8.30pm, Maori TV Lurid and laugh-filled sci-fi spectacular which updated the 1930s comic-book character for 1980 audiences. Features a full soundtrack by Queen, Max Von Sydow’s scenery chewing Ming the Merciless and Brian Blessed at his bellowing best. ‘‘Laughably bad and fantastically good all at once, this is a guilty pleasure that everyone can enjoy,’’ wrote Empire magazine’s Adam Smith. NEXT SUNDAY Locke 8.30pm, Maori TV We’ve had films set in a single hotel room, a phone booth and a coffin – now here’s 90 minutes in a car. Far more audible than in The Dark Knight Rises, Tom Hardy (doing his best Anthony Hopkins impersonation) is on screen virtually the entire time as he makes his way from Birmingham to London while receiving and sending phone calls that will completely alter his life in this 2013 thriller. Gripping, compelling, bravura film-making. ‘‘Hardy is by turns spellbinding, seductive, heartbreaking, explosive and flat-out thrilling. At a time when the studios are spending vast sums of money on a bigger-is-better aesthetic, here’s a chamber piece with the impact of high drama,’’ wrote Wall St Journal’s Joe Morgenstern.