Time travel is a dramatic expedient full of potential, a real treasure trove of opportunities: this is something that J. J. Abrams knows very well, since in Lost he manipulated the time and space continuum of his island to the point of confusing both characters and audience about what was really happening in the show.

Even on the big screen, Abrams seems to appreciate time paradoxes and continuity rewritings, even when approaching the most loved and known sci-fi TV series of all times, Gene Roddenberry‘s Star Trek. With the previous film, Abrams created a whole new continuity for the show, and in this new movie he shows the audience all the narrative power of this “alternative reality”.

Star Trek Into Darkness is a reboot of the original series, a sequel to the 2009 movie, and a remake (sort of) to Nicholas Meyer’s Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. We find James T. Kirk (an always braggart but effective Chris Pine) exactly where we left him, a skilled but undisciplined officer who finally manages to get demoted because of his continuous infraction of Starfleet’s Prime Directive. Kirk should serve as first officer to his mentor, Admiral Pike, but an unforeseen, deadly threat arises: John Harrison, a former Starfleet officer turned terrorist, attacks the Starfleet Command, decimating it.

Kirk and his legendary Enterprise will start a voyage to hunt down and kill Harrison, although this is something that would vanquish the very values the Federation is built upon.

With the inseparable Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman at his side, Abrams brings us once again in the world of Star Trek, always with the goal of pleasing both the hardcore fans (the so-called Trekkies) and the newcomers.

The script surely allows both of the objectives to be reached: many references and cameos will delight the fans, while all the others can just enjoy a brilliant and entertaining sci-fi movie. The destruction of Vulcan in the first (eleventh) movie radically changed history, and the Enterprise crew will now face many well known threats, reimagined to fit in the new continuity, from the fierce Klingons to the tender but infesting Tribbles. The lion’s share is taken by Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays the renowned Khan, portrayed in the original series by Ricardo Montalbán.

Even without the original one’s literary references, Cumberbatch (BBC’s revered Sherlock Holmes) gives fascination and depth to his character, a Shakespearian villain with a tragic aura.

From a technical point of view, in our Star Trek Into Darkness review I have to note that Abrams directs an extremely entertaining movie, helped by the always up-to-the-role special effects of IL&M. The environmental 3D, although added during post-production, fits extremely well in the infinite spaces of the Star Trek universe and brings the show to an innovative level. Unfortunately, Abrams abuses of his trademark lens flare, an all-present and irritating effect that distracts the audience even from the pivotal scenes.

In addition to the cast from the previous movie, a solid team that works perfectly even in this movie, just a couple of newcomers have been added: apart from Cumberbatch, we can mention Peter “RoboCop” Weller and Alice Eve, with the latter filling in the role that was of Bibi Besch.

Many are the easter eggs for the fans, including a cameo by Leonard Nimoy, the first and unforgettable Spock. Abrams plays with the original continuity, introduces some new characters who are actually old ones re-imagined, and makes some tasty references to the original TV series (especially from Season 1′s 22nd episode, Space Seed). The final sequence, moreover, is traced on The Wrath of Khan‘s one, just with inverted roles between Kirk and Spock.

Star Trek Into Darkness is even more interesting if read under a post-September 11th point of view: in comparison to some other blockbusters (for example, Michael Bay’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon), Abrams tries to give an opposite, unexpected message. Facing an attack (a terrorist one, even in the movie), no matter how cruel and vile it can be, we cannot afford to lose our humanity to our anger, to behave exactly like the enemy we condemn, to abandon and put at risk the very values our civilization is (at least theoretically) built upon.

Without too much rhetoric, Abrams tries and succeeds to keep Roddenberry’s original spirit alive also in the new series, updating it for the new millennium.