2. Emotional Resonance
For such a spectacular film in terms of the special effects, and larger than life action sequences, this film packs an emotional punch. A lot of it has to do with the believability of the acting, particularly when Kirk loses his only father figure it's a heartbreaking moment on screen. More specifically, if you take everything that came before this film, with the events in Star Trek (2009), leading up to Kirk losing his mentor, you'll see why the death sequence of Admiral Pike packed a ton of heart and emotion into it. The look on Pike's face as he's ultimately holding onto his final seconds of life exudes the feelings of fear, anger, frustration, and loneliness (as pointed out by Spock later on) Bruce Greenwood did a remarkable job conveying his character was indeed on his way out, followed up by the look of pure grief and sadness written all over Chris Pine's face as an emotionally crushed Captain Kirk. Later on, as Kirk faces his own death with Spock looking on, both Pine and Zachary Quinto nail this moment. And I get it, many have knocked this scene for ripping off the death sequence in Wrath of Khan, but in my eyes it's a fresh new spin on such an iconic moment. The only way this type of scene could have failed miserably is if the acting chops weren't up to snuff with the two actors involved, and that simply wasn't the case here. Quinto and Pine knock this moment out of the park as far as I'm concerned. It also doesn't hurt Michael Giacchino's score hits all the right notes during these moments of darkness and sadness. In the end, this film has a ton of heart and emotion layered into such a frenetically paced sci-fi adventure film. I implore anyone who's missed the emotional resonance at work here to revisit it soon, and see if you maybe feel a bit differently than upon your initial viewing. And now, let's dive into my final reason Into Darkness is a great Star Trek film...