'Star Trek' Actor: Sequel Critiques Bush/Cheney Foreign Policy

Will the new Star Trek sequel boldly go where much of Hollywood has gone before–bashing President George W. Bush?

Benedict Cumberbatch, the British actor who plays the mysterious villain in Star Trek Into Darkness, told BBC America that the new film’s futuristic setting didn’t stop it from reflecting on recent global events.

In the film there’s a debate among Starfleet personnel over how best to extract an enemy in a distant part of the galaxy — and whether that enemy should be subjected to due process.

The British actor says: “It’s no spoiler I think to say that there’s a huge backbone in this film that’s a comment on recent U.S. interventionist overseas policy from the Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld era.”This critic has yet to screen the film.

Paramount, the studio behind the Star Trek franchise, has held the movie back from most U.S.-based critics, a move that caused plenty of backlash from deadline-based reporters.

Star Trek Into Darkness, starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Zoe Saldana, opens nationwide May 16.