Fear of heights? Star Trek Into Darkness might not be your movie

CRONOS, The Klingon Empire - Some movie critics have been generally unimpressed with the latest installment of the long-running, likely never-ending, Star Trek franchise, titled Star Trek Into Darkness.

After sitting riveted to my seat for the 132-minute movie, I think those critics need to pull their collective heads out of their warp cores.

Peter Weller - a Star Fleet Admiral

The movie blends action, humor, pathos and drama in a neat package that revives all the traditions of earlier Star Trek films and creates more. The opening scene - with Captain James Kirk and Dr. Leonard 'Bones' McCoy - will be familiar to anyone who ever watched the original television series or viewed the films made since.

There are actually several villains in the film. But unlike many of the one-dimensional characters in science fiction dramas like these, these bad guys are complicated.

Peter Weller - perhaps best known for his roles in the RoboCop movies - plays a Star Fleet Admiral whose political philosophy seems to have been torn right out of the history books from chapters about the Cold War. Benedict Cumberbatch, best known to most U.S. audiences as Sherlock Holmes, is villainously evil, but is fighting to save his own people from extinction.

See? Complicated?

And then there is the introduction of Alice Eve, who plays the role of the Admiral's daughter.

You are out of uniform, commander (Alice Eve)

In one scene with Chris Pine (who plays Captain James T. Kirk) she asks Pine to turn around so she can change her clothes. The look on Pine's face when he peeks (and of course he peeks, he's Jim Kirk) is wonderfully understated.

Some scenes in the movie almost triggered some vertigo. In the future envisioned by director J.J. Abrams, we live and travel pretty high off the ground. Risky.

Star Trek Into Darkness isn't a film I would rush out to watch again today. Maybe in a few weeks when I get over my fear of heights.

But don't wait for the DVD or streaming version. This is a big-screen experience. And be sure to stay in your seat for the whole movie. This isn't a film where you can't go grab some popcorn mid-chase and ask 'Hey? What did I miss?'

Bones draws a blood sample - very carefully