Star Trek Beyond, 2016.
Directed by Justin Lin.
Starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Idris Elba, and Sofia Boutella.
SYNOPSIS:
The USS Enterprise crew respond to a deceitful distress call and are divided on a barren planet. Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) and his crew must reunite to stop Krall’s (Idris Elba) vengeful plan.
Star Trek Beyond begins in the third year of the Enterprise’s five-year mission to “boldly go where no one has gone before”, and Kirk is going through another existential crisis: he’s bored, he reminds himself and others that his initial enrollment at the academy grew from a quasi-joke, and he believes that Spock (Zachary Quinto) would make a formidable captain by contrast. Putting aside this tiresome plot-thread, which, quite frankly, adds very little tension or drama to the story, the film does introduce the personal lives of the crew, albeit only the primary characters. During this extensive isolated period in space, changes have occurred since last time; Spock and Nyota (Zoe Saldana) have ended their relationship, Sulu (John Cho) misses his partner, and Scotty (Simon Pegg) struggles with the dwindling supplies. For others, it’s business as usual.
Screenwriters Simon Pegg and Doug Jung do briefly focus on the daily life upon the Starfleet, and the impact the last three years have had i.e. certain crew members have become more intimately involved. Along with director Justin Lin (Fast Five, True Detective), they emphasise the human affairs and keep this up the film’s sleeve.
Kalara (Lydia Wilson) made the distress call, claiming to be the sole survivor of an attacked spacecraft, and leads the Enterprise through an asteroid field to reach the barren planet located outside the nebula. As the ship is attacked by a swarm of drone soldiers, under the command of Krall, and decimate the ship, the crew launch via escape pods, and are separated from each other. What should’ve been a tense moment is squandered by the reboot-franchise’s insistence on destroying the Enterprise (honestly, how much more damage can it take?).
Lin makes this retread duller by resorting to shaky-cam aesthetics, and quick-editing techniques for the action scenes. Inside the Starfleet’s tight vicinities and the low-lighting shots, the fight choreography becomes an incomprehensible blur. It is easy to differentiate the crew members from the helmeted drones, but not so much for everything else in the middle. This plagues the rest of the film, making the audience wait in dread for the next headache-inducing action scene rather than in anticipation – not good for a sci-fi action film.
Where the film excels is the chemistry between the characters. In parallel to Kirk’s existential crisis, Spock is reconsidering his position at the Starfleet following the death of Ambassador Spock (Leonard Nimoy). This tension of their respective uncertain futures is smartly underplayed. The film opts to have them separated for most of the picture, as Spock and McCoy (Karl Urban) are co-survivors on the barren planet. In what becomes a double-act, their exchanges earn a bountiful of chuckles; the chemistry between the actors help breathe further life into the witty dialogue as their characters take delight taking (endearing) potshots at each other.
Idris Elba’s Krall is a grunting, snarling, monstrous villain that pushes the film franchise into full Star Trek mode. Beneath the makeup Elba can deliver an ugly, broken, adversary that is evil personified; not a terrifying or particularly complex character – it’s a Star Trek blockbuster, we had a convoluted villain last time – but one with a simple plan for power i.e. to retrieve an ancient alien artifact. The film builds this character up, abound with extraordinary powers and twists in his origin story, only to be rewarded with a high-stakes, yet a visually undercooked climax. It doesn’t go all the way with its own potential.
Despite an unrewarding payoff, the film understands it’s the journey that matters to a film, and Star Trek Beyond delivers. The two-hour runtime moves at a swift pace in this fun, joyous, and highly charged sci-fi blockbuster; as soon as audiences leave the theatre, they’ll be waiting in anticipation for the next instalment.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Matthew Lee
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Originally published July 21, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
