My Review: Star Trek Into Darkness (9/10)

¨You think your world is safe? It is an illusion. A comforting lie to protect you. Enjoy these final moments of peace. For I have returned to have my vengeance.¨

First off I have to say that I loved J.J. Abrams´ reboot of the Star Trek franchise in 2009 and I was highly anticipating this sequel. I had my reservations of whether or not Abrams was going to be able to maintain the same level of success he achieved with the prequel since the originality and freshness of the characters was going to be gone. It is much easier to reboot a known franchise and make it fresh with the introduction of new characters and letting us know how everything began (sort of like what Batman Begins did), but it is much more difficult to make a worthy sequel to such a beloved prequel. Somehow I think Abrams managed to pull it off once again by introducing a great villain and maintaining the freshness of the original film with some great chemistry between Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto along with the rest of the crew. At many points during the movie it even felt like a buddy comedy instead of a blockbuster sci-fi action film, but then Abrams managed to mix it all together quite nicely. It may be much lighter than The Dark Knight, but I felt he did something similar to what Christopher Nolan did with his trilogy by giving us a great villain and giving the movie several layers. This sequel may even be better than the prequel although many people may disagree with me. At least I think Abrams was able to maintain the same level of entertainment once again. This is a very fun and engaging movie with some great characters and spectacular visuals. This is the best film I´ve seen this year and by far the most entertaining one. I was never a big fan of the Star Trek TV series or the original movies, but I was completely hooked with the reboot and Abrams once again teams up with screenwriters: Damon Lindelof, Alex Kurtzman, and Roberto Orci to give us a gripping script with some great twists that Trekkies will probably enjoy. I don´t want to give away any spoilers, but if you´ve seen the film you know what I´m talking about. Star Trek into Darkness is the most fun I´ve had in theaters this year.

The movie takes place one year after the events of the prequel as we follow the crew from the USS Enterprise and their Captain, Kirk (Chris Pine), as they encounter new missions into foreign galaxies. In their latest mission they are trying to save a civilization from a volcano eruption without them knowing of their presence. Kirk and his First Commander, Spock (Zachary Quinto), manage to save the planet, but Kirk does so by breaking some rules. This doesn’t go well with Spock who despite being saved doesn’t agree with breaking protocol. When they arrive back to Earth, Spock informs their bosses and Kirk is discharged from the fleet. While this is taking place a former member of Starfleet, John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch), bombs an installation in London and later attacks a high ranking officers meeting at the Starfleet headquarters before managing to escape. Pike (Bruce Greenwood) is killed during this incident and Admiral Marcus (Peter Weller) reinstates Kirk as Captain of the Enterprise in order for him to hunt down the terrorist. And so the new mission begins with Kirk and Spock back together again with the rest of their crew: Uhura (Zoe Saldana), Bones (Karl Urban), Scotty (Simon Pegg), Sulu (John Cho), and Chekov (Anton Yelchin), all looking for revenge.

The relationship between Quinto and Pine´s character was probably the highlight in the prequel, and here once again we get to see how their relation has developed over time. The scenes they share together are really entertaining, but the supporting cast is exceptional once again with Simon Pegg and Karl Urban giving the funniest performances and lightening up the mood. Cumberbatch makes for one of the best villains I´ve seen this year and his performance is incredible. The twist with his character is really clever and it made me want to go back and watch the original films. The film is so good because it focuses on the characters and their relationships more than on the action and visuals, which are incredible nonetheless. I really look forward to what JJ Abrams and his crew are going to bring to the table in the Star Wars franchise because what they have done here was spectacular by combing comedy and sci-fi action. I am a huge fan of pretty much everything Abrams has done, ranging from what he did with the Lost series to his latest film prior to this one: Super 8. It will be very hard for another summer blockbuster movie to top this one this year. It has really raised the standard and the bar for the upcoming movies. Please go watch this film, you won´t regret it.

  

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My Review: Margin Call (8/10)

¨There are three ways to make a living in this business: be first, be smarter, or cheat¨

Margin Call may be a fictional movie, but it has more truths in it than an actual Hollywood film that claims to be based on a true story. Despite not knowing a whole lot of economics I assure you we are all familiar with what happened in 2008 with the bubble burst in Wall Street because it has affected everyone`s life. First time director and screen writer J.C. Chandor does a great job at recreating what probably happened inside one of the investment banks the night before the financial crisis actually took place. I don`t know much about economics, but this movie is pretty easy to follow thanks to the smart script which in a way serves as an Economic for Dummies book. By making the actors explain the situation to their bosses in ¨plain English, ¨ Chandor is actually telling us what is going on in understandable terms. I wouldn`t argue that their bosses would actually understand everything in harsher terms, but the audience needed to be informed so I`m not going to take credit away from Chandor for this because it needed to be done. If not most of us wouldn`t have a clue of what was going on. Margin Call isn`t just a film about the financial crisis, it also deals with some aspects about important business corporations and how sometimes as employers we are forced to do things that go against our moral beliefs. Most corporations run as ¨a dog eat dog world¨ and ¨survival of the fittest¨, and in this film we see plenty of that.

A Bank investment firm is reducing its personnel in the risk management division letting go of almost 70% of its employees including their main analyst, Eric Dale (Stanley Tucci). Dale seems to be working on something very important, and before leaving he gives his pen drive to a co-worker, Peter Sullivan (Zachary Quinto), so he can finish the work and warns him to be very careful. Sam Rogers (Kevin Spacey) is the division manager and he gives the remaining employees an inspirational speech about them being the best in their line of work and thus surviving in the company. The group decides to go out and celebrate with their boss Will Emerson (Paul Bettany), but Sam stays to see if he can review what Dale was working on. He manages to solve the equation that Dale never quite finished and the result was dreadful. The company is heading towards bankruptcy and the financial meltdown is about to begin. Sam calls his co-worker, Seth (Penn Badgley), and tells him that he should come back to the office with Will as soon as possible. It`s midnight, but the situation can`t wait any longer. When they arrive and discover what is happening they realize they have to call their bosses so up we go through the corporate ladder, first they call Sam, then Sam calls his boss Sarah Robertson (Demi Moore), and she calls Jared (Simon Baker), until the Owner finally arrives in his personal helicopter, John Tuld (Jeremy Irons). They discuss everything that is going on in a meeting and realize that the financial crisis is about to hit hard and have to sell all their stocks as early as possible.

One of the things I enjoyed the most about this movie is that it focuses on the financial meltdown in one confined space. We get to see how the main characters interact with each other inside the company and how everyone has to face a moral dilemma. It`s not just a movie focusing on the financial meltdown, but it`s more of a corporate drama where we have interesting characters who we end up caring about and understanding the moral dilemma they have to go through. There are some real good performances from some of the actors, and the cast is also very interesting. Stanley Tucci is always great in these small roles, Zachary Quinto delivers a strong performance as one of the lead characters, and Paul Bettany along with Kevin Spacey also give powerful performances as the struggle with some moral issues. Everything they have been working for all their lives is about to go down the drain, and the hardest decision is still right in front of them. The script is really engaging and well written. I loved this movie. Inside Job was a great documentary about the financial collapse, but Margin Call gives us a better look inside as to what might have gone on inside these big corporations. Don`t be scared off by the plot dealing with economics, this is a very strong and entertaining drama with good performances.

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