Review of Star Trek (2009) by Alex H — 27 Jul 2016

The 2 big questions on everyone's mind with regards to the latest Star Trek instalment is - Will the departure of J.J. Abrams be missed? AND, Will it please just be better than "Star Trek Into Darkness"?.

.. Please? Good news is... Star Trek: Beyond goes beyond all expectations and delivers, in my opinion, the best in the series. With the script penned by Simon Pegg and Doug Jung you can tell there is real attention and deep adoration to the source material of the past.

Where "Into Darkness" failed in my belief with regards to nostalgia and influence of previous instalments; Beyond succeeds and borrows tone and feel of old rather than constructing beat by beat homages of iconic scenes from the franchise.

Justin Lin takes over the reigns of director from Abrams and injects fun into the proceedings as he did with the Fast and Furious franchise. Chris Pine is great once more as Captain James T. Kirk as well as Zachary Quinto as Mr.

Spock. However much more screen time is devoted to Bones, Chekov and Scotty which pay off in the film's favour providing some great one liners and banter between characters and make the film feel much more of an ensemble piece than it has ever been before.

Idris Elba plays the big bad villain and is fearsome and domineering whenever on screen despite the cliche nature of his character. The visuals and action are thrilling and engaging but at the same time sometimes a little messy - but this COULD be to do with the 3D that I saw it in (don't bother with it - see it in 2D).

It must be said though that this is the most fun and camp Star Trek of the last few years and that may not be to everyone's taste, but for me, Beyond is well worth the price of admission and just all round great popcorn fun.