Star Trek: Into Darkness. 

Every so often a movie goes beyond awesomely epic to be epically awesome, which we all know is about as good as a movie can get.

Star Trek: Into Darkness is that movie. It’s that good. See it. See it now. See it twice. If you’re a big trek-ish person, see it every day until it leaves the theater. The special effects are outstanding, the visuals spectacular, the action unrelenting, and the acting so good that I even forgot that Chris Pine has a giant head.

If you like action films, you’ll love this. If you like romance, this has it too. If you like to laugh, then come on in. If you like musicals, then, errr, well, go see Les Mis. But even if you’re not a Trek fan, this movie should wow you. It has real heart. This may be on par with the best sequels of all time. As good as The Empire Strikes Back, Spiderman 2, Termie 2, Aliens, Mad Max2 and, of course, Star Trek 2: Wrath of Khan. Better in some ways.

Why?

I can’t tell you.

Why?

I can’t tell you that, either.

Here’s the thing. To tell you why it’s epically awesome, I would have to reveal the plot and it’s one hell of a plot. I’ll talk a bit about it in my writing blog, but that’ll be on Thursday and I’ll still do my best not to have too many spoilers.

But here’s the basics… Sherlock Holmes (the English dude, not the one on Elementary dude), is the uber bad guy, and boy, does he have a hate-on for Starfleet so it’s up to Kirk and Spock and Bones and Scotty and Uhura to stop him. There are space battles, fights with Klingons, a brilliant scene with Kirk defying the Prime Directive and one of the best couple arguments on screen to-date. Our loyal Star Fleeters face impossible odds, an unbeatable foe and if they fail, everything they hold dear will be destroyed.

Cool, right?

It is. JJ Abrams and his writing crew know their stuff.

But what works, what really works, is the chemistry between all the characters. And not just Kirk and Spock. All the main characters get a chance to shine on stage. We laugh with them, we cry with them, we want them to win, and when the movie ends we are sad  because we can no longer spend time with them.

So, after you finish reading this, go to a theater, sit in the dark with a tub full of buttery popcorn, a fizzing pop in your cup holder and be prepared for one great ride.

This one is worth the money.