With the release date just around the corner, Paramount have released what has to be the final trailer for Star Trek Into Darkness, and it's full of tasty bits of information. Anyone who wants to go into the cinema cold turkey, it's probably best you stop reading now as there are SPOILERS! The trailer gives us a hint at how the story will play out, we see Peter Weller as Admiral Marcus who finally reveals who John Harrison is, but we still don't know what's got him so riled up. We see the beginnings of the Kirk that is prepared to break the rules for what he thinks is right. Kirk is presented much more of a leader than the annoying frat boy we saw in the 2009 movie and he looks like he belongs on the Enterprise Bridge. The trailer is all about setting up Kirk Vs Harrison, but revenge is the running theme from both sides of the fence. Overall, this trailer is exciting, it feels more ''Star Trek'' than the first movie did and it should get you fired up to see the film. You can see the trailer below and it's followed by a shot-by-shot breakdown of all the goodies contained within it.
Shot By Shot Breakdown
The trailer begins with a shot of San Francisco, with Golden Gate bridge in the distance. John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch) is shown staring at something and by the previews we have seen before, it's probably the beginning of the attack he instigates in London.
We here the familiar monologue ''You think you're world is save, it is an illusion, enjoy these final moments of peace.'' Harrison is sitting in the brig when he says this and going by a previous released screenshot, I assume he is talking to Kirk and Spock.
Then the attacks start. We see people looking shocked, an explosion going off in the center of London and in this facility that looks like a Shuttlebay of sorts.
Now one of the big reveals in the trailer. Ive been looking forward to seeing Peter Weller since his involvement in the film was announced. Here he is as Admiral Marcus, the father of Kirk's love interest, Carol Marcus. He is chairing an emergency Starfleet meeting about the terrorist attacks. He says ''By now, all of you heard what happened in London. The man who did it is one of our top agents.'' So, that should put an end to the Khan rumors. John Harrison is a rogue Starfleet agent who for some reason has issues with the organization he worked for. We don't know why he is so angry or how he get's his superhuman abilities but everyone can take a collective sigh of relief that he's not playing Khan, and therefore won't be in the unenviable position of being compared to Ricardo Montalban. The only slight criticism is that if he is an angry Starfleet agent who wants revenge, his motivations sound very similar to Nero, the villain in the 2009 movie. But I'm sure John Harrison will serve as a far more interesting antagonist than Nero was.
Harrison escapes custody. Perhaps he is being lead somewhere from the brig and uses that opportunity to fight his way to freedom. It might be that he is captured and then escapes to do more damage. We also see Kirk and Scotty in the background which may be the reason why Kirk is so personally invested in recapturing Harrison, maybe he blames himself for letting him get away.
We then get a voice over by Harrison who gives a hint towards his motivation, ''Your commanders have committed a crime I can not forgive.'' Obviously something the top brass of Starfleet have done has seriously annoyed Harrison, so much so that he will willing to commit mass murder. Hopefully whatever the reason is, it will be better thought out than Nero's 25 year tantrum in the first film.
And then Harrison takes the fight direct to Starfleet and shoots up the conference room where Starfleet is having the emergency meeting. Kirk saves an injured officer who has been shot in the leg and the room is pretty much destroyed.
But the final two shots for this scene in the trailer are Kirk and Harrison eying each other up before Harrison beams away. This is now personal between Kirk and Harrison as Harrison asks ''Have I got your attention now?''
We then get a nice shot of the Enterprise docked in orbit. The redesign has received mixed reviews from Star Trek fans and I was one of the ones who took a long time to start appreciating the new look. But this angle is a lot more flattering than any we saw in the 2009 movie. All the Enterprises' had angles which worked better than others on screen, hopefully JJ Abrams has realised this and shot the Enterprise to show it off in the best possible light.
Now we get to see the rebel Kirk. Kirk requests permission to go after Harrison but Admiral Marcus reminds him that ''Starfleet is not about vendetta, Kirk.'' But Kirk isn't listenting and replies that ''maybe it should be.'' At this point we now now that Kirk is going to disobey orders and go get Harrison, even McCoy asks him ''You're not actually going after this guy are you?'' This all has shadows of the Kirk we saw in Star Trek III: The Search For Spock where he stole the Enterprise to save Spock. Kirk's instincts tell him what to do is and he's going to do it, even if it means disobeying a direct order. We here him say to Spock ''I don't know what I'm supposed to do, I only know what I can do.'' And with that, the Enterprise warps after Harrison.
We then have a montage of action scenes that includes the homage to Return Of The Jedi and Harrison's attack on the Klingon home world. We have seen all these in the other previews but they are in some sort of context in this trailer. This is followed by more Kirk Vs Harrison stuff. Harrison is on the Enterprise Bridge where Kirk informs him that ''I watched you murder innocent men and women, I will make you answer for what you did.'' To this Harrison replies with ''You have no idea what you have done, I will walk over your cold corpses.''
The rest of the trailer is made up of more action shots that include scenes for the film's opener, Spock in hand-to-hand combat with Harrison, Uhura telling Kirk that they are ''out gunned and out numbered,'' and a great sexy shot of Alice Eve as Carol Marcus. Harrison informs Kirk that he is better than ''everything'' which shows he has an ego bigger than the Alpha Quadrant. If you are going to claim to better than anything, it might as well be ''everything.''
The trailer ends in the same the other previews have with a ship that we are supposed to think is the Enterprise, falling to Earth and crashing into San Francisco Bay. I still dont think the ship is the Enterprise, it looks different. In any case, it's a great way to end the trailer and hammer home the message that Starfleet is receiving one hell of a bloody nose from Harrison. As trailers go, this does the job to get you pumped up for the movie. As you lot may know, I haven't been the most appreciative of the 2009 movie but Into Darkness looks like a far more interesting film with a villain to match. It was great to see Peter Weller, Kirk is beginning to look and act like the Captain we know and the action looks spectacular. Overall, May can't come quick enough. Star Trek Into Darkness is released May 9th 2013 in the UK and May 17th in the US.