Captain Kirk (Chris Pine), on a diplomatic mission, appeals to a snarling beast looming above him in a crowded amphitheater. Take for example the films that deviated greatly from the series, such as the overly comical Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) which soared at the box office, while films that most resembled episodes of the TV series-namely the bad Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)-performed below expectations.
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The cast of Star Trek Beyond shared their thoughts on the third film of the franchise reboot, filmed in and around Vancouver last summer.
Pine and Quinto deliver explosive performances but the barely recognisable Edris Elba as Krall takes the cake.
Krall, however, is responsible for the destruction of the Enterprise, which is one of the highlights of the movie, so at least we have that. That was surely the intention, as the Enterprise and its crew encounter a overpowering menace that they’re ill-equipped to handle, ending up so shell-shocked that there’s no alternative but to flee and regroup.
The JJ Abrams movies have not lived up to portraying those ideals well enough on the big screen. So you can only expect that he would be putting in the extra spin on action.
Besides the action, the story isn’t entirely easy to follow either, relying more on betrayals and twists – along with the incredible ability of engineers to make broken technology suddenly work – than straightforward narrative. As a result, Simon Pegg and Doug Jung were brought in to do rewrites and instructed to create a story that was “like a western or a thriller or a heist movie, populated by Star Trek characters”, so that it would appeal to a broader viewer base. After a brutal attack, the main crew of the spaceship is stranded on a planet, apart from each other, fighting to survive and reunite to defeat the warlord.
Uhura (Zoe Saldana) and Sulu (John Cho) are taken prisoner along with hundreds of unnamed crewmates. Karl Urban channels the late, great DeForest Kelley to the bone (pun intended).
In the lead-up to the Beyond premier, many media outlets highlighted the portrayal of Sulu as a gay man and the sudden passing of Anton Yelchin. Each primary member of the cast does a solid job, but if I had to pick a standout, Sofia Boutella (as Jaylah) establishes herself among the known faces with finesse.
This didn’t bother me as much as I expected. The characters are fierce and amusing as ever. The overall feel of the film that I touched on earlier, that of a classic episode of “Star Trek”, feels like a breath of fresh air in a world of films that are more concerned with world building than they are with basic storytelling.
The battles are spectacular when it comes to special effects, but also “generic, and boring”, as The Wall Street Journal explains. This is a rare opportunity for the supporting players to shine especially Yelchin’s quick-thinking Chekov. Urban liked the role so much, he would be glad to return to the role should that happen.
Also, the movie does, as they would say on NPR, “acknowledge the existence of sex”.
Personally, I’m eager to see them all again. Because this one will not even give the kids a nightmare. Elements introduced early on do come back in a satisfying way, showing the tightness of the screenplay and how each detail has been carefully planned.
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Although produced by James Wan, who seems to be producing or directing every other horror movie that has been hitting the cinemas, it does very little to actually scare you. I vaguely remember that my older sister Jodi was into watching reruns of the originalStar Trek television show when we were little girls, but I had no interest in watching with her because quite frankly Mr. Spock’s pointy ears and funky hand gestures freaked me out a little.
