“Star Trek Into Darkness”, the last entrance in the “Star Trek” franchise, divided just about everybody by trying to hide a twist that any person could see from a mile away. Star Trek Beyond picks up after more than two years, and as numerous trailers depicted, the Enterprise is attacked by Krall and his forces, leaving most of the crew to abandon ship. When Kirk and company arrive there, however, it turns out that they’ve been set up for an ambush by Krall (Idris Elba), who uses his relentless swarm of thousands of scout ships to tear the Enterprise apart as he takes from the ship’s archive an ancient piece of alien tech, the film’s MacGuffin.
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I consider myself in the latter category.
I can’t call myself a Trekkie. I consider this no fault of the series itself.
It’s that the quality level of the dozen science fiction thrillers that preceded it, spread out over almost forty years and with multiple casts, has remained impressively high enough to expose the latest entry’s limitations. I suspect it’s going to be a pretty big hit, and rightly so, as it’s a high quality effort.
“Beyond” adds a brand new character to the world with Jaylah (Sofia Boutella).
Though the adventure is a little tardy getting its legs, things only get better as they go along. “He’s really the ideal fit”. Before he can get word on his promotion, an alien arrives seeking help for her shipmates who are stranded at the edge of the known galaxy.
The characters feels like they are part of a family..
“It can be hard to feel grounded when even gravity isn’t real”.
Just watching these characters interact is a joy. Also classy is the homage to Leonard Nimoy and the inadvertent nod to Anton Yelchin too. It gives the sense that these people know each other beyond the plot.
Abrams has already announced there will be a fourth Star Trek movie, so maybe Kirk will be resurrected in the future. Yet they have him covered in lizard-like makeup. Why?
The 2009 Star Trek reboot, despite being overshadowed by Avatar in box office numbers was actually a bigger cultural phenomenon and a movie making milestone.
Space: the final frontier. Its five-year mission: to explore odd new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.
After watching “Beyond”, this mission becomes an exciting promise. Marvel seems more committed to bringing moments from the comics to life, rather than creating something new. In a summer of ho-hum blockbusters, this one at least mostly delivers, especially for those weaned on “Star Trek” lore.
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It’s witty, spectacular and expertly paced by action specialist Linn who has managed to recapture the spirit of The Original Series. Perhaps one day, studios will again take more risks on new ideas. But for now, we are in the middle of a tentpole-focused era.
