Having switched allegiance to Star Wars, J.J. Abrams steps out of the director's chair for the third installment of his rebooted Star Trek movie series. Star Trek Beyond is helmed by Justin Lin (the Fast & Furious series) and written by Simon Pegg & Doug Jung. Out of these three newer movies, this is the one that feels the most like classic Star Trek. It's also the least entertaining.
Here we find the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise at the mercy of Krall (Idris Elba), a villain who despises Starfleet and everything it stands for. With the crew divided and held captive on a remote planet, it's up to Captain Kirk (Chris Pine), Scotty (Simon Pegg), Chekov (the late Anton Yelchin) and the fierce nomad Jaylah (Sofia Boutella) to get everyone back and stop Krall from wiping out Yorktown, a vital Starfleet base.
Facing steep odds, the crew use the visceral power of none other than the Beastie Boys' hit song "Sabotage" as a space weapon to destroy thousands of technologically superior swarm ships.
Seriously, that happens.
It isn't a spoiler for the end of this movie so much as it spoils the franchise. Now, every time I think of Star Trek, I will recall this scene and be salty. The shark has irrevocably been jumped. Thanks, Justin Lin / Simon Pegg.
More of the problems I had with this movie...
Elba proved back in April that he can play a ruthless, terrifying villain when given the right material (see The Jungle Book). Here, he's underutilized as Krall and feels like yet another disposable "baddie of the week." His exact motive isn't revealed until the last 25 or so minutes, so prepare to spend most of this movie wondering exactly what in the hell this guy's beef with the Enterprise is.
I also couldn't stand the cinematography. The frame seems to constantly rotate 180 degrees, and when it's not doing that, everything feels like it's shot at a 45 degree angle. I walked out afterwards with a splitting headache, (Chris) pining for the days of J.J.'s lens flare.
I'll show myself out in a minute...
Otherwise, Star Trek Beyond is less of a "bad" movie and more of a "decent" two-hour TV episode. As I mentioned, out of the now three rebooted films, Star Trek Beyond is the most in-tune with the original television series. The character dynamics are more consistent with their original counterparts, which fans of the show should love. Kirk finally drops the smarmy playboy shtick and fully embraces his role as a leader. Spock (Zachary Quinto) and Bones (Karl Urban) spend most of the film together, and their repartee could not be more perfect. Yelchin makes what is likely his best turn yet as Chekov, and I look forward to seeing what remains of his tragically curtailed, unreleased filmography.
Star Trek Beyond just doesn't have much else that makes it feel distinctly cinematic and therefore worthy of your hard-earned cash at the box office. The IMAX showtimes may try to convince you otherwise, but this is precisely the kind of action flick you wait to enjoy on cable.
C+
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