As a fan of Star Trek, I was always rather sceptical of the recent films directed by J.J.Abrams: Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Simon Pegg. While I appreciated the casting and fluidity of the action in those films, I was never a fan of the storytelling, which I felt was too Star Wars in nature and was frustrated by the plots of the two films, which were essentially reiterations of films we’d seen before (specifically Into Darkness being a semi-remake of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) except more action-packed.
So when Star Trek Beyond was announced with an action-packed trailer and Fast & Furious director Justin Lin at the reigns, it really felt like Star Trek had fallen into a bad place, a depressing thought considering that this year was the show’s fiftieth anniversary. However, one shining beacon of hope in all this was the actor and Trekkie Simon Pegg, who was slated to co-write the new film. Could this finally be a new Star Trek adventure to enjoy?
What I got from Beyond was an enjoyable sci-fi adventure, the film finally managing to mix the right amount of Star Wars action with Star Trek adventure, appropriate for a modern blockbuster-loving audience. Much like the original Star Trek films, Beyond feels like an episode from the original series, with the character arcs and themes that made those original films so perfect. The story takes place three years into the Enterprise’s five year mission “to boldly go where no one has gone before”.
Kirk (Pine) is frustrated by the episodic nature of his life and grows frustrated by the seemingly never-ending vastness of space, applying to enter the Starfleet admiralty as a means to escape, cutting his five year mission short. At the same time, Spock (Quinto) learns of the death of his future self, played by the late great Leonard Nimoy, and believes that he should leave the Enterprise to continue his future self’s career as Vulcan ambassador. Both characters are at a crossroads, and have lost their love for adventure, the film even implying that due to the nature of their alternate universe existence, that they never really had a passion for it to begin with, feeling burdened by the achievements of their alternate selves.
The opening of the film is surprisingly sober for these recent Trek films, Dr McCoy (played by Karl Urban) providing the only comic relief. As the adventure unfolds, beginning with the Enterprise encountering a new villain named Krall (Idris Elba) and his fleet of bee-ships, we see the theme of being trapped in a seemingly inescapable situation push each character forward. It feels like a real adventure where every character is useful and motivated, where even the villain’s reasons make sense.
While the film’s story and characters are fun, I was disappointed by the way the action was filmed. Shaky-cam was used to the point of being obnoxious, frustrating some otherwise very well done action sequences. I understand that we’re in space and that the ship is shaking about, but that doesn’t mean the camera should be shaking with it.
The editing also made the scenes less impacting, as shots would cut from one to another, leaving the audience without much focus on consequent actions. Nonetheless there was happily no filler in Beyond, with every action serving a purpose, and although I was disappointed by the filming of these scenes the ideas behind them were exciting, with each sequence set-up beforehand and nicely paid off later, especially the final showdown with Krall. Though the film has a sober opening the adventure becomes more fun as it gets going, especially scenes involving Scotty and the mysterious alien Jaylah.
I should mention it’s amusing that Scotty, played by Simon Pegg, just happens to spend the most screen time with the film’s leading female alien protagonist, which I’m sure had nothing to do with fulfilling any childhood fantasies. Props should also go to the writers for forcing McCoy and Spock together, as their mutual dislike makes for some interesting character development. I appreciated that there were few soap opera moments, with dialogue devoted mainly to the story. Spock and Uhura continue to have a complicated relationship, but the reasons for their problems are, in a Vulcan sense, logical, and don’t feel forced. Krall’s motivations make sense and although information about him isn’t paced out perfectly, the actual story is interesting and makes for a sinister villain with an understandable desire for revenge (then again, would it kill Hollywood to learn that Star Trek villains can have a motive other than vengeance?)
Star Trek Beyond is a fun sci-fi adventure. It manages to balance a dark story of vengeance and frustrations with a light-hearted tone full of fun character moments and set pieces. Every actor is on-point in their portrayals of the original characters, and new characters are interesting though leaving you wanting more. Although not perfect, the action is entertaining and the set-pieces are imaginative. With a wholly new adventure Beyond feels like Star Trek, paying homage to the original series without blatantly retelling it as so many soft-reboot films do these days. As a new Star Trek series beckons on the horizon, all I’ll say is if that series follows this film’s example, Star Trek fans have nothing to worry about.
Unpublished review for student newspaper 2016
Brooking The Vault 