At the beginning of “Star Trek Beyond”, James Tiberius Kirk’s (Chris Pine) life on board the USS Enterprise has become a grind.
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Will he be involved in Star Trek 4?
So one of the reasons that I’m hoping [Star Trek Beyond] does well is so that we can, without question, get that movie made. His saga, which continues to resonate with fans of all generations across almost every medium, is timelessly optimistic. But to take it a step further and bring in the very first Kirk is apparently a leap too far in logic, as resurrecting one person named Kirk seems to be their quota.
But “Beyond” is a brighter than “Into Darkness”, a vast improvement, and it’s everything you want a post-modern “Trek” movie to be: amusing, poppy, self-referential – and with Captain Kirk punching bad guys in rubber masks, of course. And it’s the kind of welcome touch that director Justin Lin, the “Fast & Furious” veteran who takes over for J.J. Abrams, has brought to this pleasingly episode-like installment.
Because although the Fast and Furious flicks are nothing to be ashamed of, they are pretty much pure action, whereas it’s not the action that has distinguished the character-driven Star Trek films but the relationships among the familiar characters and the futuristic philosophical ideas that characterized the just-below-the-surface subtext.
Across the board, the main cast does solid work here.
The Enterprise crew is separated on the planet, and characters are paired up to prevent any from being lost among the ensemble – Kirk and Chekhov (Yelchin); Spock and Bones; Uhura and Sulu (John Cho); and Montgomery “Scotty” Scott (Pegg) and the resourceful alien woman who comes to his aid, Jayla (Sofia Boutella). As many of us know, Pegg has written some of the funniest films of the past decade and a half, i.e. Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.
In an odd way, by lowering the stakes and focusing more on the crew, Star Trek Beyond actually feels more like Star Trek: The Original Series than a slew of fan service could ever provide.
And really, that’s it, isn’t it?
But that’s not to say the film is preachy – on the contrary, Beyond is one of the most amusing Star Trek films yet, and there’s a good dose of genuine silliness and a sense of fun. Krall (Idris Elba), the alien madman who attempts to outmanoeuvre Kirk and his crew, is a genuinely intriguing villain. A fancy new starbase offers a chance to at least get off the Enterprise for a while, although it’s not the most relaxing environment – the place looks like a roller coaster designed by M.C. Escher, suspended inside a giant snowglobe. If you asked a Trek bad guy why they’re doing what they’re doing, you’d see a glint in their eye that hints at an ocean of backstory; a megalomaniacal backwash of motivation behind their mania, not a surly “because I’m evil and fuck you, that’s why”. And you’re in luck because the series has already announced a fourth rebooted Trek movie.
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Thus does “Star Trek” make a stab at keeping up with the times, nodding at a present-day cultural reality. Though there is one death in the movie that does have a big impact on one of the crew members, though it’s likely not who you would expect, and it feels like a bit of a unusual revelation, at least in the way it’s acknowledged by the rest of the crew.
