Verdict
Summary
Star Trek Beyond is a fun but vacuous summer blockbuster so if you’re looking for anything philosophical or deep then you’d best look elsewhere. It’s an entertaining night at the movies though so grab some popcorn and you’ll enjoy it for what it is.
Plot: The USS Enterprise crew explores the furthest reaches of uncharted space, where they encounter a new ruthless enemy who puts them and everything the Federation stands for to the test.
Review: The trailers for this movie didn’t exactly win me over but thankfully Star Trek Beyond was much better than expected and at times surprisingly actually felt like an episode of the TV series. Clearly bringing in a new director was a good idea as this is an improvement from Into Darkness (and has zero lens flare) but it is still flawed.
It was strangely uneven and like Chris Pine said recently “you couldn’t make a cerebral Star Trek movie today” which sadly may be correct but it doesn’t make the movie any less entertaining. The cast are all comfortable in their roles and I’ve really grown to become a big fan of Chris Pine as Kirk.
I liked how rather than starting off with a huge action sequence we get some character moments and my favourite scene was between Kirk and Bones as they discuss Kirk’s upcoming birthday. It felt like one of the scenes from the old movies where Bones gives Kirk glasses as a birthday gift.
There is a lot of humour throughout the film so things never get too serious or deep, keeping the tone light so this is pure summer blockbuster fare. I think die hard Trek fans may still not enjoy it but I thought it did at least have the feel of classic Trek.
Jaylah (Sofia Boutella) was my favourite new addition to the cast as she was suitably badass but also managed to be very likable too; she has a great fight scene at one point which is almost worth the price of entry alone.
The special effects were excellent but some of the action was difficult to make out due to fast editing and quick cuts which have become the norm in so many movies today.
I really liked Idris Elba as the villain Krall and his story didn’t go the way I expected; at first I thought he was going to be the same as Nero from the 2009 movie but his motivations were suitably different.
Michael Giacchino returns to score the movie and although he does a fine job I still don’t really like the new theme tune; I still say Jerry Goldsmith’s was the best.
Overall, Star Trek Beyond is a fun but vacuous summer blockbuster so if you’re looking for anything philosophical or deep then you’d best look elsewhere. It’s an entertaining night at the movies though so grab some popcorn and you’ll enjoy it for what it is.
