Growing up in the 1990s, I never really got into Star Trek. Once Nickelodeon and the Sega Genesis took over my free time, I felt no particular need to pick a side between Team Kirk and Team Picard. My strongest childhood memory involving the franchise was sitting around with no cable, waiting for Cops reruns to come on and wishing I had something better to watch.
Star Trek Beyond opens with Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) considering a promotion to Vice Admiral and hoping Spock (Zachary Quinto) will take over as captain of the Enterprise. A sudden rescue mission puts the crew in charge of assisting a ship in a remote nebula. If none of that means much to you, don’t worry—I’m still not entirely fluent in Trek either. What matters is that our heroes are quickly ambushed by a swarm of hostile ships and the Enterprise is nearly torn apart.I have to give major credit to director Justin Lin (the Fast & Furious guy) for the set pieces he puts together here.
Lin successfully imports the high-octane energy and relentless forward momentum of the Fast franchise into the Star Trek universe. It is genuinely difficult not to be on the edge of your seat for the first hour. The siege and destruction of the Enterprise is beautifully staged, and the visual effects are among the strongest I’ve seen in a big studio film in quite some time. The hand-off from J.J. Abrams to Justin Lin feels like a clear upgrade for this particular series and should be welcomed by both hardcore Trekkies and casual fans.The returning cast is in fine form. Simon Pegg, Zoe Saldaña, Karl Urban, and the rest of the ensemble bring real energy and play off one another with a chemistry that finally feels lived-in. For the first time in this reboot trilogy, you actually believe these people function as a tight-knit crew rather than a collection of attractive people standing near each other on a bridge. The script gives the characters small but meaningful personal moments that humanize them.
Chris Pine’s Kirk finally starts to resemble the charismatic, slightly reckless captain audiences love, and Spock is allowed to be more than a one-note stoic.Where the film’s high-speed action succeeds, the story itself is thinner. Star Trek Beyond does just enough to remain coherent, but make no mistake—this is essentially a straightforward revenge tale with Star Trek characters dropped into it. Leonard Nimoy’s death during the film’s development is understandably honored, yet the continued heavy reliance on references to the original series starts to feel like a crutch by the third movie. A certain amount of fan service is expected and even welcome, but when you’re three films into a new continuity, constantly pointing back at the 1960s show can undercut the chance to build something original.
I was also a little disappointed by the use of Idris Elba. His performance is fine, but the character of Krall feels under-developed for most of the runtime. The majority of his backstory and motivation is saved for the final act, where it arrives in a rush and never quite lands with the weight it needs.Even with those reservations, Star Trek Beyond is easily the strongest entry in the Kelvin Timeline trilogy. Justin Lin’s direction combined with Simon Pegg’s contributions to the script inject the exact jolt of pure adrenaline this series needed. The movie blends big action, impressive set pieces, strong visuals, light humor, and even some well-placed classic rock into a thoroughly entertaining package.
In a summer that had been pretty brutal at the box office, it was genuinely refreshing to see a big franchise film that felt energetic and fun instead of exhausted.If the story had been a bit more complex or the villain more fully realized, I might be calling this one of the best films of the year. As it stands, Star Trek Beyond is a kick-ass good time that almost makes me want to go back and watch the original series… almost. On second thought, I’ll just stick with the movies.
4/5
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