Review of Star Trek Beyond (2016) by Mrmoviebuff — 25 Jul 2016

'Star Trek Beyond' soars, and it never slows down. This is a movie that takes what the first two were about being summer spectacles and mashes it into a dangerous search mission with our heroes separated and always in the midst of danger.

The USS Enterprise in nearly three years into its five-year voyage, and Captain James Kirk (Chris Pine) along with his crew arrive at Yorktown in order to replenish some dwindling supplies. We also see that Spock (Zachary Quinto) and Uhura (Zoe Saldana) have ended their relationship, Spock also receives some devastating news, and wonders whether or not he should continue his mission with the rest of the Enterprise.

The film's main enemy is Krall (Idris Elba), and he plans to bring the Enterprise down, which leaves many of the crew members separated and stranded onto Nebula. It is there that we see Spock stranded with Dr. Leonard McCoy (Karl Urban), Kirk with Chekov (the late Anton Yelchin), Scotty (Simon Pegg) encounters Jaylah (Sofia Boutella), and Uhura and Sulu (John Cho) are trapped with the evil Krall.

The crew members take their time to find each other and get back to their mission, but they struggle to find out where they all are, nor can they keep up with what Krall wants to do.

There is a lot to talk about, but without spoiling too much, what I can say is that this film is fun...even more so than its predecessor 'Star Trek Into Darkness' (2013), which was also fine, but for the most part, the ending towards that film seemed convenient and almost too easy. Director Justin Lin of 'Fast & Furious' (2009) does an impressive job of keeping the tone significant and consistent throughout, and the sometimes sharp screenplay by Simon Pegg and Doug Jung do provide some comic relief, but as is the case with its 2013 predecessor, sometimes the lines sound cheesy and unnatural.

When J.J. Abrams (who serves as this film's producer) rebooted the franchise in 2009, it was a strong start for a new generation of fans to get invested with these characters and their missions, then in 2013, what we had was a rather middling adventure that ended too conveniently as I mentioned above. This is a solid installment to the franchise, but after the first two acts, it does lose some momentum as it feels as if the mission takes its time to actually get complete.

Idris Elba is fine as Krall, and plays him with such intimidation, but overall, he is forgettable. You will find yourself getting mostly invested with Sofia Boutella's character, Jaylah, who proves to be something exciting for this franchise's future sequels (if they are to come).

Overall, this is an enjoyable summer flick, better than its predecessor, but not as strong as its first installment. "Star Trek" fans in general should be happy with what Justin Lin has done.