Star Trek Beyond (2016)

Review

122min

Genre:     Action, Adventure, Sci-fi

Director:  Justin Lin

Cast:       Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Idris Elba…and more

Writers:   Simon Pegg, Doug Jung, Roberto Orci… and more

-Synopsis-

After a rescue mission goes awry; the scattered crew of the USS Enterprise are plunged into a fight for survival against a brutal foe who’s hell bent on punishing the Federation for past sins, in an epic space adventure and the first rebooted ‘Star Trek’ film without J.J. Abrams at the helm.

Taiwanese action director Justin Lin (Fast & Furious, Annapolis) takes control of the latest generation to don the “Starfleet” uniform, after J.J. Abrams made the switch from trekking the stars to warring them; in the third film of the “rebooted” Star Trek cinematic universe, bringing back all our favourite characters and putting them smack-bang in the middle of another action-packed adventure.

Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto return as “Kirk & Spock” with a the entire crew in tow, including Simon Pegg pulling double-duty as both “Scotty” and co-writer of the movie, as well as some new faces thrown into the mix. Sadly the film has become a bit of a Star Trek “in memoriam” tribute; both intentionally with a touching eulogy to the late-great Leonar Nimoy woven into the narrative, and tragically with the sheer presence of the late young Anton Yelchin as “Chekov”.

Armed with a huge budget and all the CGI money can buy; Justin Lin applies his action sensibilities to a proven formula without stirring the pot too much, systematically re-creating the elements which made the previous two films in the series so popular… and that’s the problem.

‘Star Trek Beyond’  is undoubtedly a fun and flashy space adventure; but without the talents of J.J. Abrams to craft an engaging narrative which balances the charming ensemble dynamic with an engrossing narrative and a solid villain, we’re left with a blatant recycling of previous narratives into a loud and flashy mix of action sequences.

Lin and the writers do their best to weave some of the evolving family dynamic from the ‘Fast & Furious’  films into the Star Trek narrative and characters, rather unsuccessfully; as well as infusing some drama and gravitas into the story and balancing it with wit, some ham-fisted pop-culture references and self-referential humour.

But it just doesn’t work; only Karl Urban as “Bones McCoy” and occasionally Simon Pegg as “Scotty” bring some much needed levity to the proceedings, which is particularly disappointing for a story co-written by Pegg himself. Despite a smaller scale and a closer resemblance to the structure of the TV show episodes, the balance is off and there’s just too much flashy action and formulaic story.

Perhaps most disappointing is the overly familiar villain of the piece “Krall”; a composite of the baddies from the previous two films but with questionable motivation and sorely lacking the intimidation factor. Played by an Idris Elba so hidden by prosthetics and voice manipulation, that it amounts to a waste of a top talent and a serious screen presence.

Early on in ‘Star Trek Beyond’, “Kirk” makes a reference to his time on the enterprise as becoming “episodic”, a clever narrative nod to the fact that the film will be more like an episode of the original series than the other rebooted films, and perhaps a pre-emptive joke that the “reboots” are starting to feel overly familiar. But it doesn’t prevent it from becoming exactly that, and ironically only serves to highlight the recycled, underwhelming nature of this sequel.

Despite all the negatives, it’s hard to judge ‘Star Trek Beyond’ too harshly; thanks to well-developed characters we’ve all grown fond of, a fun, action-packed and meticulously crafted, if predictable movie experience.

But it’s difficult to see where the series goes to from here and why it still matters… aside from the $$$obvious$$$. Perhaps this train will stay on the tracks, or are we close to seeing a rebooted version of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D? complete with a young “Jean-Luc Picard ” and accompanying crew? Only time will tell but we suspect box office results will decide.

The Bottom Line…

Visually impressive and action-packed as expected, ‘Star Trek Beyond’ is a fun and flashy movie-going experience; but thanks to an uninspired story coupled with a formulaic narrative and an overly familiar villain, Justin Lin’s vision for the Star Trek series is underwhelming and in desperate need of a J.J. Abrams touch-up.

Similar films you may like (Home Video)

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

The crew of the USS Enterprise embark on a dangerous mission to stop a mysterious and brutal terrorist whose origins reveal disturbing secrets about the Federation in this epic second film in the J.J. Abrams movie reboot of the iconic Sci-fi series.

Directed by J.J. Abrams and starring  Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Benedict Cumberbatch among others.

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