Cancel Red Alert, you can lower your deflector shields - Star Trek Beyond is Fun with a capital F, a winning crowd-pleaser that will easily go down as one of the biggest hits of the summer.
After that first trailer, I was among the many fans who were nervous as hell. "So the Fast & Furious guy is bringing dirt bikes to Star Trek?!" My "dumbing-down-o-meter" was twitching wildly.
So it's a pleasant surprise to see that director Justin Lin and screenwriter Simon Pegg (with Doug Jung) have - for the most part - scored a real return to the fundamental dynamics that have kept
Trek alive for five decades.
Of the "Nu-
Trek" films, this is the first one to take place entirely in deep space, far from Earth, as the Enterprise is more than halfway through its five-year mission. Captain Kirk (the superb Chris Pine) is feeling a little weary, finding life a little "episodic." His early heart-to-heart with Bones (Karl Urban) is reminiscent of a similar confessional vulnerability from Christopher Pike to his doc, way back in
The Menagerie (aka
The Cage), back where this amazing universe began.
After a visit to an
Elysium-esque Starbase, the Enterprise crew must journey into a nebula to answer a distress call (guys, never seen
Alien, or taken the Kobayashi Maru test? Come on!), the ship is ruthlessly attacked by Krall (Idris Elba), an aggressive alien out for blood, who nurses a real chip on his shoulder for the Federation.
The setup is really just a means to have the crew abandon ship and be split-up on a hostile alien world. And this is where Justin Lin and Simon Pegg get major props - because while
Star Trek Beyond is full of outlandish action sequences, most of it's devoted to character, and to spending time with that core trio we have such affection for. A wounded Spock (Zachary Quinto) and McCoy are marooned together, and these scenes just shine, making the most of that Bickersons relationship between the two that was a hallmark of the original series.
Scotty encounters an alien exile, Jaylah (
Kingsman's Sofia Boutella), an independent and fierce outcast who soon becomes a tremendous ally. She's a terrific character and it speaks volumes that she's able to hold her own with Pine, Urban and Quinto on the charisma meter. She's a tremendously engaging and
fun addition to the group.
Another breakout star is the Starship Franklin, a castoff from the
Enterprise/Captain Archer era. It's a supremely cool ship and its return to service says a lot about there still being plenty of juice left in old relics, if you know what I'm saying.
That's really the operative word here - fun. While it really is a souped-up blockbuster,
Star Trek Beyond has tremendous affection for what makes
Star Trek Star Trek, and is replete with little asides and deft callbacks that will bring plenty of smiles to fans' faces. It's a tremendously entertaining film and moves at a nice clip, not suffering at all from any 3rd act largesse.
If there's a weak spot in
Beyond, it's the villain, Krall. The makeup design of Krall and his minions is pretty awful, and a little too reminiscent of the bumpy-faced alien syndrome that befell
Deep Space Nine. He's very difficult to understand, and his motives are too much of a muddle, even by the third act. Also, if you're the kind of fan who bristles at anachronisms, you'd better know that you'll be getting Beastie Boys and Public Enemy writ large here, because demographic equals box office, even in the far reaches of deep space. So brace yourselves and just go with it. As enjoyable as the film is, it's a shame that the plot (and villain) don't connect to some kind of larger metaphoric ideal, as the original series did so well. There's really no Big Idea at play here, which is too bad, as it could have fit in very easily. There's nothing grand being said about the human condition or mankind's place in the cosmos, other than our tenacity.
But audiences are
loving this picture, and at the end of the day, this is one of the most joyous depictions of the Kirk/Spock/McCoy dynamic we've seen in ages. Its place as one of the highlights of the summer box office is a good thing, and fans should embrace it, because it's going to go a long way towards keeping
Trek alive and well for future iterations. It may be propelled by high octane flash, but it's so great to see a modern audience wildly enjoying what's essentially just a souped-up episode of one the most enjoyable cast of characters of all time. Boldly go.
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