Star Trek: Beyond - directed by Justin Lin
Screenplay: Simon Pegg & Doug Jung
The current Star Trek franchise is an interesting beast.
Kicking off with JJ Abrams 2009 reboot it started strong and earned big dollars.
The movie was exciting, well cast and pulled off the difficult trick of honouring the movies and tv shows before it all while reinvigorating and updating things.
Then "Star Trek: Into Darkness" arrived in 2013 and seemed to forget everythng that the first film did right.
In trying to riff on the legendary (with good reason) "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn" it felt cheap. In place of a good, original story it traded on the good name of its excellent inspiration all while relying too much on big budget action.
After two movies it felt to me that the new franchise was already in trouble.
Yes, it made $467,000,000 outearning the first film but not many people seemed to like it.
Now while JJ Abrams was off re-starting another big name Science Fiction series Justin Lin takes a crack at the series.
Lin is most well known for directing four of the Fast and Furious movies.
He seemed like a terrible choice to me based on this but in fairness Fast 5 is a phenomenal action flick and superbly well made.
The news that Simon Pegg was writing the movie made me a little more optimistic but still I was concerned that Lin would turn Star Trek into an over-edited, stupid action-fest.
Well, there is indeed an abundance of action and some of it is a tad over edited but stupid this movie is not.
In fact it is arguably the best of the three new Start Trek movies to date.
One of the smartest decisions screenwriters Simon Pegg and Jung made is to keep things simple.
"Star Trek: Beyond" has an uncomplicated plot.
A very disgruntled alien named Krall has a swarm weapon that can rip a starship apart.
We know this because it is exactly what he does to the Starship Enterprise.
(honestly- I have lost count of how many Enterprise's have been obliterated over the years)
This leaves Kirk and his crew either stranded on a nearby planet or held captive on it.
They must find a way to stop Krall from unleashing his weapon on a space station populated by millions of people from many different worlds.
The script skillfully juggles four separate groups for a while.
Kirk and Chekov are paired up trying to find some use from the downed bridge portion of the Enterprise.
Scotty is alone until a local named Jayla rescues him from some other less friendly locals.
Bones and Spock find themselves nursing injuries and relying on each other to survive and the remainder including Sulu and Uhura are held captive by Krall and his men.
Dividing the crew up is a master stroke as it focuses the characterisations.
Obviously Bones and Spock have a love-hate relationship and the chemistry between Quinto and Urban has never been better than it is here.
Urban was not planning on coming back to the series after being disappointed with the second fims marginalisation of the character but it is easy to see why he had a change of heart.
The dialogue between Bones and Spock is one of the highlights of the film.
Another huge plus is the visual style that Lin has brought to the series.
I have trouble believing that this film cost substantially less than "Star Trek: Into Darkness"
It is lush, vibrant and loaded with imagination.
A sequence where the Enterprise docks with the space station is out and out stunning.
The giant ship slides under the glass dome as we see skyscrapers and rail systems and thousands of pedestrians going about their daily lives.
If this is impressive it is nothing compared to the Enterprises departure from the very same structure.
Shot with a fixed camera view from in front of the mighty starship we see the space station vanish behind it as it blasts into deep space.
It is one of many truly beautiful shots.
The action in space is similarly well handled with some impressive attach sequences.
The early destruction of the Enterprise is very, very well done.
What didn't work as well for me were the smaller action scenes of hand to hand combat.
That old problem of over-edited action scenes where it is hard to tell who is hitting who or which phaser shot came from what bad (or good) guy.
It is less distracting than a lot of recent movies but given how good everything else is it is disappointing.
My criticism pretty much ends there though.
"Star Trek: Beyond" is a genuine return to form.
The cast are excellent and with the improved dialogue and greater focus on relationships they seem to be having a lot more fun than in the last film.
I love the new character Jaylah too- Sofia Boutella from "Kingsman: The Secret Service" does a great job here.
She is athletic and has a great backstory and nice character design.
We can expect to see more of her and I am pleased about this.
I had a lot of fun with this film.
There is plenty of humour, loads of action and it never loses sight of how important these iconic characters are.
Much has been made of the revelation that Sulu is gay but in truth it is handled subtly and matter of factly.
The connection between Kirk and each of his main crew members is wonderfully shown.
The dynamic between the crew of the Enterprise hasn't been this good since "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country"
Justin Lin has done a terrific job in all areas.
I cannot stress what a fantastic looking movie it is and as much as I appreciate this aspect the main reason to see this movie is that it returns the franchise to the course that it seemed to be on before the misstep of the second film.
I really hope that this performs gangbusters at the box office so that more will follow.
Can there be any better recommendation for a movie than the desire to see more?
RATING: 80 / 100
CONCLUSION: A stunning looking film with wonderful characters brilliantly played by a cast that seems reinvigorated by a far smarter script than the last film had. Almost certainly the best of the three recent movies.
Starring: Chris Pine, Karl Urban, Zachary Quinto, Anton Yelchin, John Cho, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, Idris Elba, Sofia Boutella, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Deep Roy, Fiona Vroom
Screenplay: Simon Pegg & Doug Jung
Music Score by: Michael Giacchino
Cinematography: Stephen F. Windon
Edited by: Greg D'Auria, Dylan Highsmith, Kelly Matsumoto & Steven Sprung
Running Time: 120 minutes
Language: English
Rated: M - Action Violence - largely bloodless, mild profanity
Cinematography: Stephen F. Windon
Edited by: Greg D'Auria, Dylan Highsmith, Kelly Matsumoto & Steven Sprung
Running Time: 120 minutes
Language: English
Rated: M - Action Violence - largely bloodless, mild profanity
Kicking off with JJ Abrams 2009 reboot it started strong and earned big dollars.
The movie was exciting, well cast and pulled off the difficult trick of honouring the movies and tv shows before it all while reinvigorating and updating things.
Then "Star Trek: Into Darkness" arrived in 2013 and seemed to forget everythng that the first film did right.
In trying to riff on the legendary (with good reason) "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn" it felt cheap. In place of a good, original story it traded on the good name of its excellent inspiration all while relying too much on big budget action.
After two movies it felt to me that the new franchise was already in trouble.
Yes, it made $467,000,000 outearning the first film but not many people seemed to like it.
Now while JJ Abrams was off re-starting another big name Science Fiction series Justin Lin takes a crack at the series.
Lin is most well known for directing four of the Fast and Furious movies.
He seemed like a terrible choice to me based on this but in fairness Fast 5 is a phenomenal action flick and superbly well made.
The news that Simon Pegg was writing the movie made me a little more optimistic but still I was concerned that Lin would turn Star Trek into an over-edited, stupid action-fest.
Well, there is indeed an abundance of action and some of it is a tad over edited but stupid this movie is not.
In fact it is arguably the best of the three new Start Trek movies to date.
 |
| Zachary Quinto, Chris Pine and Karl Urban..... terrific characterisations |
"Star Trek: Beyond" has an uncomplicated plot.
A very disgruntled alien named Krall has a swarm weapon that can rip a starship apart.
We know this because it is exactly what he does to the Starship Enterprise.
(honestly- I have lost count of how many Enterprise's have been obliterated over the years)
This leaves Kirk and his crew either stranded on a nearby planet or held captive on it.
They must find a way to stop Krall from unleashing his weapon on a space station populated by millions of people from many different worlds.
The script skillfully juggles four separate groups for a while.
Kirk and Chekov are paired up trying to find some use from the downed bridge portion of the Enterprise.
Scotty is alone until a local named Jayla rescues him from some other less friendly locals.
Bones and Spock find themselves nursing injuries and relying on each other to survive and the remainder including Sulu and Uhura are held captive by Krall and his men.
 |
| John Cho as Sulu and Zoe Saldana as Uhura |
Obviously Bones and Spock have a love-hate relationship and the chemistry between Quinto and Urban has never been better than it is here.
Urban was not planning on coming back to the series after being disappointed with the second fims marginalisation of the character but it is easy to see why he had a change of heart.
The dialogue between Bones and Spock is one of the highlights of the film.
Another huge plus is the visual style that Lin has brought to the series.
I have trouble believing that this film cost substantially less than "Star Trek: Into Darkness"
It is lush, vibrant and loaded with imagination.
A sequence where the Enterprise docks with the space station is out and out stunning.
The giant ship slides under the glass dome as we see skyscrapers and rail systems and thousands of pedestrians going about their daily lives.
If this is impressive it is nothing compared to the Enterprises departure from the very same structure.
Shot with a fixed camera view from in front of the mighty starship we see the space station vanish behind it as it blasts into deep space.
It is one of many truly beautiful shots.
The action in space is similarly well handled with some impressive attach sequences.
The early destruction of the Enterprise is very, very well done.
What didn't work as well for me were the smaller action scenes of hand to hand combat.
That old problem of over-edited action scenes where it is hard to tell who is hitting who or which phaser shot came from what bad (or good) guy.
It is less distracting than a lot of recent movies but given how good everything else is it is disappointing.
My criticism pretty much ends there though.
"Star Trek: Beyond" is a genuine return to form.
The cast are excellent and with the improved dialogue and greater focus on relationships they seem to be having a lot more fun than in the last film.
I love the new character Jaylah too- Sofia Boutella from "Kingsman: The Secret Service" does a great job here.
She is athletic and has a great backstory and nice character design.
We can expect to see more of her and I am pleased about this.
 |
| (left and centre) new Character Jaylah is a great addition (right) actress Sofia Boutella |
There is plenty of humour, loads of action and it never loses sight of how important these iconic characters are.
Much has been made of the revelation that Sulu is gay but in truth it is handled subtly and matter of factly.
The connection between Kirk and each of his main crew members is wonderfully shown.
The dynamic between the crew of the Enterprise hasn't been this good since "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country"
Justin Lin has done a terrific job in all areas.
I cannot stress what a fantastic looking movie it is and as much as I appreciate this aspect the main reason to see this movie is that it returns the franchise to the course that it seemed to be on before the misstep of the second film.
I really hope that this performs gangbusters at the box office so that more will follow.
Can there be any better recommendation for a movie than the desire to see more?
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