"Star Trek: Beyond" Movie Review

By: James Southworth
Rating: 2.5/5 Stars

If you haven't heard of "Star Trek" before, chances are you're living under a rock. It is one of the most well known sci-fi TV/movie series of all time, rivaling the fame of "Star Wars". Names like Captain Kirk, Spock, and Scotty have been put into infamy for all time, and with good reason. All of them have their memorable traits and are considered by fans to be a lot fun to watch and follow. The show and movies are also more than just sci-fi action: they have an intellectual backbone to them, having a lot of thought-provoking things to say on acceptance and friendship among other things. The series has had a lot of different versions, but the one that is getting the most attention right now is J.J. Abrams' interpretation of the series. He did the impossible of putting together a cast of mostly unknown actors for a series that was very loved and made almost all fans happy. Many have called the new Star Treks great modern adaptations with the characters reflecting the likeness of the ones from the past. I have only seen "Into Darkness" and I have to say, I was impressed. The movie had deep thematic ideas and Benedict Cumberbatch excellently embodied the complex villain Khan. "Star Trek" has returned for its third installment, "Beyond". The basic premise is this: a surprise attack on Enterprise causes Captain Kirk and crew to crash land onto a new unknown planet. Here they discover the villain Kraal, who has a plan to take down the Federation as well as Kirk and his crew. In the midst of this, Kirk is having conflicts on whether to continue his journeys on the Enterprise, Spock is wanting to continue Ambassador Spock's mission, and a new character Jaylah is introduced.

Let's start with the positives of this movie. If there is one thing that Justin Lin knows how to do well in this movie, it's the intimate character moments. Spock and Bones are actually given time together in "Beyond", and the moments with them together are some of the best. Great chemistry is created between the two of them, with some of Spock's best character development shown. Scotty and Jaylah, two totally different types of characters, also have some pretty interesting scenes together, and many of them end up having funny payoffs. The last moment between Kirk and Kraal is intriguing to watch, as it reveals things about Kirk's character that we hadn't really seen before. In relation to Lin's ability to do well with character moments, all of the actors here overall shine in their respective roles with some exceptions. Zachary Quinto once again embodies Spock so well and takes on many of the mannerisms of Leonard Nimoy with grace. There were several touching moments where Quinto honors Nimoy in this movie, and he gives just the right amount of emotion and weight to Nimoy's death without it being to overbearing. He's undoubtedly the best part of this movie, as he was with the previous Star Treks. Simon Pegg is delightful to watch as Scotty, and has quite a few hilarious lines that bring some of the best comedic relief. I always found myself enjoying the movie a bit more when he's on the screen. Karl Urban as Bones has some his best moments in this movie, combining his comedic lines with serious moments very well. And, while Chris Pine has never been one of my favorite actors, he still plays Captain Kirk (a generic protagonist in the way Abrams has created him) well with what he has been given. The only performance I felt was weak was Sofia Boutella as Jaylah. She played her very cool-looking character in such a generic way, making her a typical female fighter type that brought to mind a cheapened version of Rey.

The other thing that Lin does very well in this movie is the usage of visual effects as well as some of the action scenes. Visually, this movie is just stunning. There were many times while watching it that I could feel the wonder of being in space, especially with some of the longer shots (which were unfortunately short in supply). The Enterprise looked as big and impressive as ever. The planet that Kirk and crew landed on was the real visual highlight though. The planet had a lot of creative things,combining the use of CGI and practical sets pretty well. I felt like the planet was very tangible and it was great to look at in general. There were also a lot of good action scenes in this movie. The ending ship fight was nothing short of impressive, with Lin able to balance the chaos of the battle with some wide shots as well as quick camera movement to indicate the intensity. It never felt overbearing here (it did in other scenes but more on that later). The first fight which revealed Jaylah's special skill was cool to watch, even if it was sadly short. This movie definitely knew how to keep one's attention in several of the action scenes.

Unfortunately, that's really all I can say about the good stuff going on in this movie. I was surprised to find myself very uninterested in what was happening throughout the whole of "Beyond". I thought at several moments "surely know I'm going to feel the weight of what is going on", but I honestly never did. The plot was very bare bones. It can easily be summarized in one sentence. The subplot of Kirk trying to decide whether he should stay on Enterprise or leave felt very weird and unnecessary, as most anyone in the audience already knew what he would choose. It even seemed out of character for Kirk to question this aspect of himself. I get what Lin was trying to do, but it honestly made no sense. What made me feel there were minimal stakes in this movie more than anything else was because of the very generic villain Kraal. Idris Elba does his best  as always to give life to his character, but even his great acting couldn't really help with this badly written character. After Khan, I was expecting "Beyond" to take things a step further and give an even more compelling villain, but instead they give one with the most generic villain-type lines. His motivation throughout the movie was also very unclear. But event the "twist" reveal at the end did nothing to change my perspective on him. He was just boring through and through, and I already knew that Kirk and crew would win. I didn't feel at any time they were in danger, and that created a pretty significant investment problem for me that stayed throughout the whole run time of this movie.

Perhaps an even bigger problem with the movie, though, was the pacing. The intimate character moments which Lin did so well were unfortunately few in quantity. Instead, this movie was just barraging you with action scenes. It was very excessive and sometimes stressful. In the beginning when Enterprise is being attacked, there was so much going on at once that I couldn't even focus on what the characters were saying. This was a serious problem for me throughout the movie. Too much was going on almost all the time. The best example of the bad pacing was immediately after Spock and Bones had a great moment together, there was an immediate cut to an action scene. It felt like this cheapened the aforementioned moment. In fact, all the character moments really felt like they didn't have much weight to the plot either, most of them were just little sentiments expressed, and then quickly forgotten about by the next scene. Lin was more concerned with making the audience laugh or feel mindlessly excited by the action scenes. What made these scenes even more problematic was the way they were shot. The camera angles changed at annoying rates. It actually became nauseating and made so many action sequences confusing. I was never sure on what to focus on. It brought down what could've been a solid action movie. I really missed Abrams' more focused and purposeful camera work here.

So, what is my ultimate opinion on this movie? Well, it wasn't a bad movie; it was just okay. All the main characters were as charming and likeable as ever, with Spock and Bones having the best moments in the movie that ranged from touching to hilarious. The movie certainly looked beautiful, with the planet it took place on being visually impressive. Some of the action scenes were undeniably fun, but many were shot in way too stressful ways, with the camera constantly moving in a sickening way. But the worst problem was the plot, which was way too thin and included a villain that was so generic and not compelling in any way. I'd recommend to watch this movie in big screen at the dollar theater just to still see how visually impressive and fun it is. Unfortunately, the movie isn't very intellectually deep, and just comes across as a decent popcorn action flick; nothing more, nothing less.