Star Trek Beyond

Star Trek Beyond is directed by Justin Lin and stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, the late Anton Yelchin, John Cho, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg and Idris Elba. The Enterprise is dispatched on a rescue mission after an escape pod drifts out of a nearby uncharted nebula. The survivor, Kalara, claims her ship is stranded on Altamid, a planet within the nebula. The rescue turns into an ambush when the Enterprise is quickly torn apart by a massive swarm of small ships. Krall and his crew board the ship, and unsuccessfully search for a relic called an Abronath that Kirk had obtained for a failed diplomatic mission. Krall captures and removes many crew members from the ship. Kirk then orders for the crew to abandon ship as the Enterprise’s saucer section hurtles towards the planet.

As Admiral Ackbar would say “It’s a trap!”  This is brings me to one major complaint of Star Trek Beyond is the script is obvious.  Traps really are traps.  Who you think the villain will be actually is indeed the villain of the film.  Everything is spelled out for what the film will be and what the crew of the Enterprise will do.  The other oddity in scripting this film is that there really is only one section of the film that is about making peace with other unique life forms.  I love the fact that Justin Lin decided he would make these characters actual explorers but shouldn’t this crew be smart enough to know that if you can’t communicate with your local star base that it might be an issue.  Aside from the overall plot of this film being way too convenient the adversary for the Enterprise crew to face really isn’t all that menacing or a theat.  The reason this holds true is because he just wants Star Fleet for something they did in the past which is the recycled plot from Star Trek Into Darkness.  My only problem with this plot point being a retread is the fact that Khan was more of a threat than the current enemy.  Khan acted as a man purely bent on revenge and only wanting to do so by causing as much pain and destruction as possible.  The problem is that in Into Darkness it’s a believable idea but in Beyond it’s not.

The cast works exceptionally well in this the third entry in the franchise.  Justin Lin is a very smart director as he made a conscious decision to mix up the character dynamics of the crew of the Enterprise.  The dynamic that works the best is the time the audience spends with Spock and Bones.  The sarcasm that is displayed in the interplay of Quinto and Urban is electric.  It’s one of the best character moments I have seen in Star Trek in a very long time.

The other aspect of Star Trek Beyond that I was impressed with was the visuals.  I specifically love the scene when the Enterprise is attacked by numerous small spaceships.  Every moment within that action scene felt ridiculously epic and fun.  Fun is what the previous entry in the franchise was missing and I’m glad Lin brought that back as it was sorely missing from the new timeline universe.  I really felt I was immersed in the Star Trek lore and it made me wish that there was a really great Star Trek game I could play because this film much like Star Wars Episode VII got me jazzed for science fiction again.  Star Trek may be a space opera but it’s one that I hope continues for years to come.  This series needs to continue to live long and prosper.