Paramount invited IGN and other select media outlets to an early viewing of the Star Trek Into Darkness IMAX 3D preview that's set to debut in select IMAX screenings of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey this weekend.
Now, we're only allowed to reveal so much about this footage -- the studio understandably doesn't want all the surprises blown before audiences get a chance to see it for themselves -- but we can still give you a good idea of what's in store. But if you're hoping that the upcoming preview will reveal the long-secret identity of Benedict Cumberbatch's villain ... it doesn't. He pops up in there, but the viewer will finish the preview with no more of a clue as to who his character really is than they had before watching it.
Trek director J.J. Abrams introduced the preview, saying that while there's some gloom and doom in the film that it's still ultimately a fun time. He asked the invited press not give their readers a blow-by-blow of what the preview shows so we're going to honor that request. However, we're still issuing a SPOILER WARNING given how sensitive we know fans are about any little reveal. What we can say is that this nine-minute sequence is all about saving lives.
The preview opens in London, Stardate 2259.5. We follow a couple (Nazneen Contractor and Noel Clarke) as they visit their ailing daughter in a hospital. The girl is losing her hair and seems curiously older than her few years. Her condition appears bleak until a stranger appears offering the child's father a chance to save her life. That stranger is Cumberbatch's character.
Cut to the Class M planet Nibiru where, in a scene shown in the announcement trailer, Kirk and McCoy are being chased through red-colored vegetation by the natives. There's a definite Indiana Jones feeling to this sequence, with it being particularly reminiscent of the opening of Raiders of the Lost Ark where Indy is chased to his plane by Belloq's warriors.
These aliens are humanoid with large black eyes. They're caked in white war paint and garbed in yellow strips and their weaponry is primitive (spears and darts). Our heroes are trying to save their planet without also violating the Prime Directive, a fact that Spock reminds his crew mates of more than once. While Kirk and Bones lead the natives away from a slowly erupting volcano, Spock is dropped via shuttle craft into the opening of the volcano. (Where's the Enterprise during all this? Hidden on the planet's ocean floor!)
Spock carries a device that can stop the volcano from erupting but, as happens in any good story, things don't go according to plan. That's all we'll say about that, but the preview ends with one of our heroes faced with an extreme moral, personal and professional quandary.
Following the screening, a number of journalists, myself included, rabidly speculated about the villain's identity. The parents at the beginning certainly made more than a few journalists think this was going to be some sort of Khan prologue, but there was nothing about this sequence, its setting, Cumberbatch's character or what he offers the girl's father that was remotely Khan-like in any way. The only real Khan-like hint was a music cue during the Nibiru sequence that was reminiscent of one from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
Could the villain be Gary Mitchell? But if so what's he doing in London and hanging around a children's hospital? Why is he dressed the way he is (he's not in a Starfleet uniform)? My guess is that Cumberbatch's villain is an amalgam of existing bad guys or that he's an original villain along the lines of Nero from the first movie. It was previously reported that Robocop star Peter Weller is in the film as a CEO-type character so could it be possible that Cumberbatch and Weller's characters have some sort of technology that controls life and death?
Speaking of tech in that vein, the device Spock carries into the volcano had a few features on its layout reminiscent of those on the Genesis device in Wrath of Khan, but that's probably reading way too much into it. It should also be noted that the planet Nibiru appears to be a nod to the nonexistent planet linked to 2012/apocalyptic lore.
The Star Trek Into Darkness IMAX preview was certainly fast-paced fun, one that will likely appeal to non-Trekkies even more than to existing fans BUT this lifelong Trek fan was definitely happy with what he saw. We were also told by a studio rep at the event that the full, new trailer debuting soon will be completely different from the announcement teaser that went online last week. We're attending another Star Trek Into Darkness press event Monday with select cast and crew members on hand so we'll bring you those interviews and updates just as soon as we're allowed.
Bottom line: This Star Trek Into Darkness preview is a totally effective tease that raises more questions than it answers. Guess we'll just have to wait for those until the movie opens May 17, 2013. Until then, LLAP as they say.
Source : ign[dot]com
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