Movie Review: Star Trek Beyond

“Star Trek Beyond” is the third and newest installment of the Star Trek reboot series, which kicked off with 2009’s “Star Trek” and continued in 2013 with “Star Trek Into Darkness.” I’m a big fan of what J.J. Abrams pulled off with the first two films. For me, they breathed new life into a franchise that had, unfortunately, become quite stagnant. Despite being well received by critics and the general mainstream audience however, the films were controversial amongst more die-hard Trekkies. I’m a relatively casual Star Trek fan by all accounts, but I do believe “Beyond” offers an incredible ride for all viewers, and is a solid addition to the beloved Star Trek franchise.
Well into the starship Enterprise’s five year mission, the crew have grown accustomed to life in the depths of unexplored space. However, such a long time in the disorienting and disillusioning void has driven Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) to question which direction he wants his role with Starfleet to take. Commander Spock (Zachary Quinto) faces another internal conflict, torn between his friendship with Kirk and his responsibility to his people on New Vulcan. These feelings suddenly have to be put on hold when the Enterprise is attacked by an unfamiliar foe and the crew are left stranded on an uncharted planet. Kirk, Spock, Bones (Karl Urban), and the rest of the crew resort to their wits to try and escape the ruthless clutches of Krall (Idris Elba), whose unknown motives threaten the Federation, along with millions of innocent lives.

“Star Trek Beyond” is a happy medium between what mainstream audiences enjoy seeing, and what Trekkies wanted more of. The first two films were criticized by fans for possibly being too action reliant, and deviating too far from the more cerebral nature of the TV series and some of the films. I believe that’s an unfair criticism. 1982’s “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” is widely considered to be the best film containing the original cast and characters because it went for a more action-oriented approach after 1979’s horrifically boring “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” was a critical failure. The slower paced, dialogue driven Star Trek formula works for 30 minute episodes of a TV show with a selective audience, but not so much for a widely released, full length summer blockbuster film. “Beyond” did its best to blend TV show with motion picture, and it succeeded.

To me, the most enjoyable aspect of the original Star Trek series has always been the characters. The first two films of the reboot series explored the relationships between the characters perfectly, in my opinion. The chemistry between the actors on-screen just worked, and “Beyond” did exactly what a sequel should do, which is build upon what was great about the previous films. Justin Lin replaced Abrams as director and Simon Pegg co-wrote the screenplay, which I had my reservations about due to Pegg’s main experience being in comedy. I was pleasantly surprised, however, at how true to the original series this film ended up feeling. The first two films focused primarily on the relationship between Kirk and Spock, but “Beyond” expanded to give more important roles to Scotty (Pegg), Chekov (Anton Yelchin), Sulu (John Cho) and Uhura (Zoe Saldana). These actors nailed their roles, offering their take on the characters while still remaining true to the originals.

“Beyond” unveiled a brand new villain in Krall, as well as a new protagonist in Jaylah (Sofia Boutella). Both these characters looked fantastic, with great work on their makeup and motion-capture effects. Idris Elba has done several stellar voice acting jobs this year, in “Zootopia,” “Finding Dory,” and “The Jungle Book,” and continued his run of form with the portrayal of the main adversary in “Beyond.” Jaylah is a likeable and very well realized character, but Krall fell short for me overall. Again, Idris Elba’s acting and voice work, as well as the character’s appearance were all excellent, but Krall lacked a compelling backstory, and his motivations were a mystery for the majority of them film. Many of his actions felt unjustified. Benedict Cumberbatch’s menacing performance as Khan in “Into Darkness” set the bar very high for Star Trek villains, and unfortunately, Krall couldn’t quite live up to it.

Other qualms I had with this film were not related to bad filmmaking, but were generally due to what I had come to expect from the first two. The stakes weren’t as high, as both 2009 and “Into Darkness” faced threats to planet Earth itself. I had a harder time caring about what was being threatened by Krall in this one. The first two films provided very dramatic conflict between the main protagonists, and though the character development was fantastic in “Beyond,” it was much more subtle and the protagonists had grown to the point where they generally got along at all times. This is more akin to the character dynamics in the original series, however. It shouldn’t be criticized as an error, but more as a directional decision that lowered some of the excitement that the first two provided. “Beyond” was more of a “black and white” experience in this sense, as it was very easy to pick out the good guys from the bad, and the good didn’t provide many disagreeable aspects to their personalities as they had in the first two movies.

Overall, “Star Trek Beyond” did what the previous two films did, which was create a fun and enjoyable cinematic experience. The action is still fantastic, even if it was toned down comparatively, and as an audience member, I couldn’t help but smile throughout the entire runtime. “Beyond” is not as good as its two predecessors, but it boldly excels at what it’s trying to accomplish. Check this movie out, it’s absolutely worth the big-screen experience.

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