Space…The final frontier.

I was never a big Star Trek fan growing up. Crazy, considering the fact that I was into just about everything else Sci-Fi, but Captain Kirk and his crew just never grabbed my attention until recent years.

Back in 2009, Director J.J. Abrams did the seemingly impossible by actually piquing my interest in the Star Trek universe. His new take on the storied series offered explosive action, an extremely high level of energy and enough lens flare to blind movie-goers the world over. I was so entertained by that movie, in fact; it got me to seek out more Star Trek through the wonders of Netflix. Every Star Trek series and many of the movies are available through the streaming service, giving me literally dozens of hours’ worth of content to catch up on. It’s a daunting task, but that’s what the long, hot nights of summer are made for, right?

Last week, I went to check out Abrams’ newest offering, Star Trek: Into Darkness, and was once again treated to two hours of top-notch explosions, hilarious banter and loving nods to the movie’s campy roots. Simon Pegg (Scotty) stole the show for me with his hilariously subtle performance, as did the more emotionally complex Spock, played by Zachary Quinto.

However, I’m not as high on Into Darkness as I was the first movie in the re-launched series. In all honesty, it felt more like a bridging chapter than a big story of its own.

It’s right there in the title, “Into Darkness.” I feel like this newest adventure sets the stage for movies to come better than serving as a complete story of its own. It’s got brooding bad guys and more than enough peril for the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise to endure, but something about the plot just didn’t seem “big” enough.

There are plenty of hints as to what “Darkness” lies ahead, leaving me eager to see what comes next for Kirk and Co., but I don’t feel like this particular flick delivered as hard a knockout punch as the previous movie in the series.

That’s not to say you should skip it, though. It may not have blown me away the way the first movie did, but that doesn’t mean Into Darkness isn’t light years beyond your average box office offering. If you’re in the mood from some big sci-fi fun, it’s time to step aboard the Enterprise once again.