Star Trek Beyond review

STAR TREK BEYOND:

THIRD INSTALLMENT OF THE ABRAMS FRANCHISE LIVES LONG AND PROSPERS WITH SUMMER BLOCKBUSTER THRILLS AND SCI-FI NOSTALGIA!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

PARAMOUNT PICTURES AND BAD ROBOT

Captain James Kirk, Jaylah, Scotty, Uhura, and Spock saving the galaxy in Star Trek Beyond

            After the massive critical and commercial success of last year’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, J.J. Abrams (Cloverfield, Super 8, Star Wars: The Force Awakens) returns to the sci-fi franchise that made him a household name, Star Trek, as the producer of the third film in the reboot trilogy, Star Trek Beyond. Unlike Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek into Darkness, Abrams does not return to direct, this time in the director’s chair is Justin Lin (Fast & Furious 3-6).

            The first in the Star Trek reboot trilogy from 2009 brought the beloved franchise back to life and introduced Star Trek to a new generation. It was a huge hit with critics, audiences, and Trekkies, even if people weren’t fans of Star Trek and just wanted a good summer blockbuster, they were very satisfied, and this was also the same summer that had Terminator: Salvation, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, so it was nice to get some positive summer entertainment before we all transitioned into crap.

            Thanks to its critical and commercial success, Star Trek was given a sequel in 2013, Star Trek into Darkness which also received positive critical reviews and was a hit at the box-office, the new Trek movies were becoming a trilogy where all the movies in the series were good. Now, Abrams and Lin’s Star Trek Beyond made that dream a reality, the film reunites everyone’s favorite characters from the previous two films like Starship Enterprise Captain, James T. Kirk (Chris Pine-Unstoppable, Rise of the Guardians, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit), Vulcan first officer, Spock (Zachary Quinto-Margin Call, American Horror Story, Hitman: Agent 47), Uhura (Zoe Saldana-Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Avatar, Guardians of the Galaxy), Bones (Karl Urban-The Lord of the Rings 2 and 3, Dredd, Riddick), Scotty (Simon Pegg-Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, The World’s End), Sulu (John Chu-American Pie franchise, Harold & Kumar trilogy, Identity Thief), and Chekov (The late, Anton Yelchin-Charlie Bartlett, Terminator: Salvation, Green Room).

            After the Starship Enterprise gets attacked by an alien swarm, Captain James T. Kirk and his crew marooned on a distant planet inhabited by an alien warrior race where they meet a scavenger named Jaylah (Sofia Boutella-Kingsman: The Secret Service) who helps them battle the commander of the swarm, Krall (Idris Elba-Marvel Cinematic Universe, Zootopia, The Jungle Book) in exchange for getting her ship to fly.

            They better hurry because Krall is planning an invasion on the civilization of Yorktown with a powerful artifact obtained that can destroy life as we know it.

            Overall, Star Trek Beyond embraces everything that is Star Trek, exciting action, creative aliens and worlds, memorable characters that you want to be with until the very end, and lots of fan-service for fans of the original Star Trek TV series and films. They even made a lovely tribute to the late Leonard Nimoy, who played Spock in the original Star Trek shows and movies and Anton Yelchin who played Chekov in the current films.

            The only real nitpick I have is the villain isn’t all that interesting, he’s just a big scary alien that wants to destroy life, if it was someone like Benedict Cumberbatch’s Khan from into Darkness, it’d probably be a lot better. But that’s really a nitpick and it doesn’t distract from the epic space action.

            The climax in my opinion have the best action sequences in the entire movie, including the most epic way the swarm is destroyed I dare not give it away. I saw it on a giant screen and it really feels like you’re right there in space.

            Got long-time Trekkies and other Star Trek enthusiasts? You’ll have a blast with Star Trek Beyond. It has everything a Trekkie wants, recognizable characters, chemistry, action, imagination, humor, and fan-service.

            It’s time to boldly go to your local theater and experience the third Trek film.

            Beam me up Scotty!