That led to “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” in 1979 and 12 more feature films counting this week’s release, “Star Trek Beyond”, not to mention one animated and six additional television series set in various quadrants and eras of the Trek universe, including a new one scheduled to hit CBS platforms in January of next year.
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Captain Kirk and his valiant Enterprise crew members travel far, far away-maybe farther than ever before-in Star Trek Beyond. Now that Nimoy has passed – a real-life fact that Beyond uses as a fictional plot point – I’d just as soon Spock die in a freak shuttle accident in the next movie.
Like the previous two films in the rebooted “Star Trek” franchise, the best thing about “Beyond” is its ensemble cast that consists of the likes of Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, Zoe Saldana, and the recently departed Anton Yelchin. In the course of doing so, they’re ambushed, their ship is destroyed and the gang is stranded on a mysterious planet with a unsafe enemy. We also have a new character, a white haired purple-skinned alien scavenger in the planet called Jaylah (Sofia Boutella) whose weird design makes her a compelling presence.
Star Trek Beyond has a few pacing problems and one ending too many, but it’s still a really satisfying adventure that comes closest to recapturing the spirit of the original series – and is perhaps the first film in the rebooted series that truly stands on its own. How else would Captain Kirk and his father meet in the sequel?
Along with Lin’s spot on direction, a lot of the praise needs to go to co-writers Pegg and Doug Jung. In his four (!) Fast and Furious films, director Justin Lin already demonstrated that he knows how to transform silly ideas into set pieces that are spectacular and thrilling, and he doesn’t disappoint here.
In addition to this being the 13 entry in the film series, 2016 marks the 50 anniversary of Star Trek. And where Star Trek ’09 and Into Darkness seemed intent on repeating, tweaking or at best reinventing what we’d seen before, Beyond directs the franchise outward.
Star Trek Beyond is now in theaters.
Many people have strong opinions about that eternal question: “Star Trek” or “Star Wars?”. STAR TREK BEYOND is fun with a decent dose of humor, mostly from Bones, and it’s evident that the cast revel in playing their respective roles that bring so much joy to fans. Star Trek Beyond marked the third film appearance for Anton Yelchin as Ensign Chekov.
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All in all, Star Trek Beyond is a bold, entertaining space voyage with eye-popping visuals that is worth being watched in 3D. If anything, this is a flawless example of the tolerant, understanding society of the future which Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry envisaged when he created these iconic characters.
