(EW.com) -- "Star Trek Into Darkness" opens on a primitive planet, where the natives are restless and a volcano, in mid-eruption, traps First Officer Spock (Zachary Quinto) over a boiling ocean of lava. Naturally, the Vulcan stays cool as a cucumber, ready to die to save his crew -- an impeccably logical decision that also happens to be the compassionate one. But Capt. James T. Kirk (Chris Pine), commander of the U.S.S. Enterprise, has other ideas. He'll rescue Spock, even if that means violating a Federation rule that says the Enterprise can't be exposed to the planet's uncivilized hordes. Kirk, who never met a regulation he couldn't trash, guides the starship up into the air and over to where his comrade is about to perish, and the white-mud-caked warriors stare at the ship as if it were a god. It's a sensation that the movie transmits to the audience, since the Enterprise, emitting an awesome thrummm, never looked quite so massive or looming.
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J.J. Abrams rebooted the "Star Trek" franchise with swagger in 2009
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The sequel "Into Darkness" gives the actors more room to dig deep into their roles
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The movie has an often sinister grandeur, but that never overpowers the human factor
Kirk and @placeholder, each following his own nature (one's a hothead, the other a detached brainiac), are usually at loggerheads.