When I was growing up, I was a Star Wars fan, never giving much thought to Star Trek. I never watched any of the original series or any of the original movies. I think my first Star Trek experience was watching an episode of Voyager to see Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in it. That said, when it was announced that J.J. Abrams was going to take over the Star Trek movies back in 2009 I knew he was going to bring the Star Wars approach to the Star Trek universe and I couldn’t have been happier. I have enjoyed the Star Trek movies we have been getting since 2009 and Star Trek Beyond continues the series in that manner, and it is easy to say that it is better than Star Trek Wrath Of Khan…I mean, Star Trek into Darkness.
Star Trek Beyond picks up with the cast and crew of SS Enterprise, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, John Cho, and the late Anton Yelchin, in the middle of their five-year journey to boldly go where no man has gone before. While having some R&R with the crew, Captain Kirk (Pine) is dealing with the fact he has now lived longer than his father and Commander Spock (Quinto) is dealing with news that could affect his future on the Enterprise. Before either character can deal with their issues, a rescue mission is in order and the crew must answer the call.
When I sat down to watch Star Trek Beyond from new (to Star Trek) director Justin Lin, I didn’t know what to expect, and this movie went beyond my expectations — pun intended. The main focus of this script, written by Simon Pegg and Doug Jung, is on the relationships of the crew of the SS Enterprise — mainly the other relationships outside of Kirk and Spock. While stranded on a remote planet, we explore the relationship of Spock and Dr. McCoy (Urban). And Kirk’s relationships with other crew members on this ship, like Chekov, get additional attention. In fact, in this movie you get more screen time with McCoy and Scotty (Pegg) than in the other two movies. Fancy that! With a Simon Pegg-written script, you get more Scotty.
With the joy of having the crew returning we also get two new characters for Beyond. Idris Elba plays the villainous Krall. Elba does the best he can buried under heavy make-up, but it does impact his performance. At least Elba plays a villain who is justified in his actions as that is always a mark of a good villain. The other new character is Jaylah, the alien fatale played by Sofia Boutella of Kingsman fame. Jaylah’s character is nothing new; I mean she might be a new alien species but is not a new character type. Despite this, she nails every scene she is in. Sophia is on the verge of being a great action movie star and this performance should help get her the attention she needs.
There isn’t a lot of negative I have to say about this film, just some small nitpicking. For example, I’m worried that every Star Trek movie now has to have the Enterprise being destroyed and then rebuilt in the final shot of the film. I mean those things can’t be cheap, right? And in case you worried that with J.J gone, we wouldn’t get lense-flare, don’t worry! Justin Lin has you covered! And the only other nitpick I have is Justin seems to love this weird spiral tracking shot that happens a lot. It is like all the unnecessary rotating 360 shots that Christopher Nolan used in the Dark Knight.
The new Star Trek series of films was a great way to bring in fans like me into the Star Trek universe. Each one of the movies has a different feel to it. Star Trek 2009 is the origin story of the new timeline universe; Star Trek into Darkness is the action blockbuster; and Star Trek Beyond feels like a heist film, in that both Krall and Kirk are both trying to get something from the other person. Krall is looking for an item on the Enterprise and Kirk is trying to steal his crew back from Krall. With that in mind, the setup, the planning, the heist itself and the glorious payoffs to events seeded throughout the movie, forces you to pay attention. I don’t want to go into any spoilers here, but I will say there is even a payoff to that horrible teaser trailer with Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage” playing.
In a summer full of letdowns, Star Trek Beyond helps right the ship of this movie season. There is nothing earth-shatteringly amazing with this film but you will not be bored, and you will see a franchise recover from the missteps of Star Trek into Darkness.