Review of Star Trek Beyond (2016) by Trevorsview — 13 Dec 2016

Fifty years ago, through their home televisions, the world was introduced to a new way to explore new frontiers. Extraterrestrial worlds could be explored and made peace with from the comfort of the living room, later spawning a long series of theatrical releases that still won’t quit. So now, Fast & Furious director Justin Lin takes the responsibility of creating the first Star Trek feature shot entirely on digital cameras, in an effort to balance out the uniqueness of the franchise along with Paramount’s populist style of entertainment. The anticipation may sound hopeful, but Star Trek Beyond fails to stand out as its own entity, instead becoming exactly what Star Trek into Darkness turned into, minus the unnecessary underwear shot of Alice Eve.

I was never a fan of Star Trek; the original series always came off as boring to me, and the movies have been just plain predictable and unexciting. So how did this film appeal to me as an outsider of the franchise?

Right from the first scene I knew I was in for something I was not going to like; basically Kirk gives a message of goodwill to a council of aliens, offering them a symbol of peace. I felt some disaster coming when I saw the embarrassingly bad composition of the CGI aliens, made all the more painful to watch during their attack on Kirk in response to his offer. Kirk then explains in voiceover about how he can’t feel at home midway through this five-year mission, an important character trait that has little resolution by the film’s end. The USS Enterprise then arrives on this mystical high-tech planet coated in glass, where Spock hears some untimely news about his peoples’ ambassador. An unidentified vessel soon arrives, where an alien mistress calls to them for help. At this point, I’ve seen this whole routine happen before in better movies.

As the USS Enterprise flies toward the alien’s rescue mission, a swarm of enemy ships attacks. Now, this part here could have blown my mind with its spectacle, except it didn’t for some reason. The ships hijack the Enterprise, and their leader marches onto the ship in precisely the same fashion as Darth Vader in the beginning of A New Hope. He takes the crew members captive, and the Enterprise breaks apart, crashing onto the destination planet with a devastating catastrophic burn. Nope, still don’t care.

I think that the excitement could have been better if the screenwriters took more care to add tension and conflict within the scenes that exist only to explain important plot details. But the actors weren’t doing much to flavor up the dialog either. Zachary Quinto as Spock was the only actor I enjoyed, as his straight emotional expression actually made his lines of comic relief all the more effective. Now don’t get me wrong, I see potential in the story, but the drama should have been more intensified to heighten the action.

The characters also had plenty of potential to generate much more staying power than the end result. Clear backstories are given to each of them, but the countless subplots add to the confusion of remembering all the details. It’s the same problem Independence Day: Resurgence had, except with a more committed cast. While I’m not against the idea of multiple subplots, it still takes a lot more effort from the writers to achieve this complex format. Of all the old and new characters that Star Trek Beyond crams together, the only character that I wanted to learn more about was the white alien girl Jaylah (Sofia Boutella), who I honestly would have wanted to see as the main character of this feature.

Now look, I certainly did not enjoy this film as you probably did, but I would not say that it was a total loss. While I would complain that there’s too much CGI, cheap-looking makeup effects, and a lack of exploration of new worlds, there’s still plenty of neat sound effects and enormous size to add enough fun for your Trekkie senses. Again, it’s the type of movie you have to have the proper taste for, but if it aligns with your taste, and you’re willing to shut off your disbelief enough for the reasons I stated above, then you shall live long and prosper with this exhilarating journey.