And packaged in that brutal assault was another one of America’s most enduring enigmas: how to tackle preventing gun massacres in a society obsessed with the weapons that facilitate them. We really did make the most of what Vancouver had to offer from hiking to sailing and swimming. And Hollywood often reflects that, turning out both angry, sickeningly violent fantasies like London Has Fallen and The Purge: Election Year, which directly wallow in twisted, topical iconography, and hot-seat dramas that grapple head-on with terrorism and questions of whether the war against it is putting our country’s soul on the line, like the drone-centric Eye in the Sky. The film’s greatest triumph, though, was that it successfully reintroduced “Star Trek” to a new generation of filmgoers.
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It’s a depressing thought, but as much as things have improved socially from when Star Trek was first created in the sixties, there is much that has stayed the same.
When the crew of the USS Enterprise is taken captive by a vicious new enemy, Captain Kirk must find a way to bring them home in ‘Star Trek Beyond’. Kirk has fully grown into his captain’s chair, exuding authority and sangfroid in his ship-wide addresses.
That idea of the interstellar family was Roddenberry’s original vision, and it’s more intact here than it was in the past two films. The last two beefed-up “Star Trek” movies, as if overcompensating for decades of Trekkie nerd-dome, threatened to make the once brainy “Star Trek” less distinct from other mega-sized sci-fi adventures – just another clothesline of CGI set pieces strung together. The core message of the film is that we need to move beyond our differences, and that a sense of true harmony can be reached.
As written by actor Simon Pegg (whose credits include “Shaun of the Dead” and who also returns as chief engineer Montgomery Scott) and Doug Jung, “Beyond” spends measurable time on a variety of riffs and character moments with returning regulars. Kudos to Pine and Quinto, who bring new depth and feeling to their roles. It’s the first of the new films that’s not too busy mounting blockbuster setpieces to focus on the kind of authentically, giddily geeky energy that Roddenberry pioneered. “At the time, I was concerned that his character was supposedly Japanese, and had a Japanese name and I wondered if it would ruffle feathers”, says Cho, who is of Korean descent. The Enterprise comes apart in the attack and crash-lands on Krall’s planet. Quinto, who is also known as Spock in the series, took a few moments to celebrate and acknowledge him. Justin Lin’s film is actually quite a cheery affair-there’s little philosophical hand-wringing, and whenever things get emotional there’s always McCoy (Karl Urban) on hand with a dry remark. His logic seems to be that, if the “Star Trek” universe is so open and accepting, why has Sulu been in the closet for 50 years?
With no means of rescue and completely stranded, it’s the wits of the Enterprise crew, coupled with the iron will determination of Kirk, McCoy and Spock, which save the day!
Nevertheless, the spectacle doesn’t feel like the point this time around.
Elba’s performance as the bad guy is far too restrained – particularly when acting in a reptilian mask – and his character’s motives, even when finally revealed, are shrug-worthy.
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“The Fast & the Furious” franchise kicked off as a street racing series that appealed to a niche group of filmgoers.
