Ink of Blood

(This review may contain spoilers).

When I saw the trailer of this movie, I immediately wanted to see it, considering I’d watched the previous two in the new Star Trek.

I thought it was good to see the effects of the long time in space on the crew and it was good to see glimpses of the reunion when the crew returned. I was a bit surprised by Kirk’s decision, but given what he’d voiced at the beginning, the reasoning did make sense.

I especially liked seeing more of the crew members, like Bones and Chekov. It was good to see Scotty have a fairly big part… and I really did enjoy seeing them interact with Jaylah. I felt some sympathy for her, even though she was strong and capable.

I was a bit disappointed that there weren’t many one-to-one interactions between Kirk and Spock, but it was good to see them both on different paths that then merged. And it was also nice to be reminded of the biological differences in Vulcans.

I thought there were a lot of good moments of humour, in particular with Bones; who it was good to see that he was able to do more than just the obvious. It worked well to see Spock’s stubbornness, even if that did seem to cross into recklessness at times.

I liked that there was a lot of foreshadowing and even though I would have liked to see more in the way of new planets and civilisations, but I thought the formation of the ships was particularly efficient… even if I was confused by the end about just how many there were.

I liked being able to see that Kirk had matured and it was also good to see how much he cared about his crew, even though the majority of them weren’t named or really developed. That was more of a problem when those I didn’t care as much about were threatened.

It was good to see the references to Ambassador Spock, even though the situation was a very sad one. I did like that the romance between Spock and Uhura didn’t actually take over the film, but it was good to see the continuity held.

The action didn’t really let up and I was kept on the edge of my seat, especially towards the end. While there were a lot of questions answered through the film, though, I was still left with some confusion at the end.

I liked that this movie focused on the secondary characters as well as the main, allowing the movie to feel like it was spread over a wider scale. Bones was probably my favourite character, but Chekov was really a close second. I liked that, although young, he was still a valued member of the crew.

I hope there’ll be further movies in this franchise, as I would like to see more of the crew and the friendships between them. The ending was a hopeful one, even though there were some sadder references to Kirk’s father.

This was a movie I would definitely see again and plan to buy on DVD.