In 2009’s Star Trek, J.J Abrams reinvented a sci-fi classic for a new generation with a phenomenal ensemble cast and a smart excuse for revisiting classic Trek lore. It felt like a perfect reintroduction, one that Abrams struggled to build upon with Star Trek Into Darkness in 2013.
Bagging the hopeful sci-fi series down with themes of war, and overplaying the notion of homage, it turned many fans off the rebooted tales of Kirk and the USS Enterprise. Now, with the director’s chair handed over to Justin Lin (Fast & Furious), the Enterprise crew embarks on a more traditional journey in Star Trek Beyond. As a result, fans will be delighted to see this series come back to the fun, inspirational side of the great unknown.
Moreso than the two previous Star Trek installments, Beyond feels like a standalone episode in the ongoing adventures of Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto) and the crew. Three years into the five-year voyage that began at the end of Into Darkness, Kirk has found himself lost in the emotional duties of being a Starfleet captain. While attending to a distress call from a distant planet, the Enterprise is compromised and the crew stranded upon a wild planet dense with secrets. Among them is the fiendish Krall (Idris Elba), who threatens to upset the peace beneath the Federation.
The setting lends itself to a more diverse dynamic. Our heroic team is split in the crash, which allows each character to get a bit of screen time. Spock and Bones (Karl Urban) steal the show and play off one another with perfect comedic chemistry, as other characters find themselves in the presence of new allies. It’s a welcome change of pace. It also highlights just how phenomenal the cast for this series has become, a who’s-who of young actors who bring new life to familiar faces.
Justin Lin became known as a master of action set pieces during his tenure with the Fast & Furious franchise, and brings that sensibility to Beyond. The action on screen isn’t constant, but happens in explosive bursts. Each one is unique, but not all are great. A sequence of the Enterprise collapsing in battle is immense, but stretches out far longer than necessary. A motorcycle chase through a prison camp feels like a stunt show at Universal Studios, painted up in CG colors. The film really hits a stride in the final third, however, which includes a music-focused sequence that is hysterically huge.
For the first hour of Beyond, die-hard Trekkies may find themselves cursing at the screen upon watching an intelligent sci-fi franchise turned into such a bombastic action flick. Yet as the story progresses, Beyond starts to reveal itself in subtly profound ways. The philosophical arguments at the core of this franchise are very much present, though concealed until the final act. It’s a shame, because the ideas presented are worthy of more extrapolation than they get.
Star Trek Beyond is an imperfect movie, but presents a very hopeful future for this tale of the Enterprise. Even with Abrams’ direction now in the rearview, his re-imagination of Roddenberry’s utopia has found solid footing. Where the crew goes next, nobody knows. But just like the world presented within Star Trek, it’s a very optimistic future.
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