Star Trek Beyond (2016) | Review

Folks, there’s no reason to waste a lot of time here. You know Star Trek by now, so I don’t need to explain the Federation, who Captain Kirk is, and the history of the Enterprise. Frankly, to do so would take hours and thousands of words, all of which would be wasted because we know Star Trek. Even if you’re not a Trekkie, you get the gist of it. So, instead of all that backstory let’s just warp jump right to the film.

Three years into their five-year mission, Kirk and crew are growing listless. Excitement is few and far between when you’re mapping star systems and negotiating the occasional peace deal. After finally taking a break to refit and refuel, excitement finds them when a strange ship emerges from a nearby unstable nebula and warns of a great hidden danger that took out her ship and her crew. Since he has the most advanced ship in the fleet, Kirk volunteers to lead a mission into the nebula to ascertain just how terrible this threat is. What he finds is worse than anything he could have possibly imagined.

For the most part, this is pretty standard fare so far as Star Trek goes, and the cast are more than up to the challenge of giving it life. At this point Chris Pine IS Captain Kirk. He’s bold and reckless, but he’s also brave and pure of heart. The same for Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, John Cho, Simon Pegg (who pulled double duty as a co-writer), and may he rest in peace, Anton Yelchin. All of them live and breathe these characters, and none of them disappoint.

New to the Star Trek universe are Idris Elba and Sofia Boutella. It’s hard to recognize Elba under all the makeup he has to wear, but his powerful voice still carries through as the villain Krall. Sofia is his opposite in many ways, a light to his darkness, a ray of hope against unending fear and violence. Both were a pleasure to watch, and fine additions to Star Trek canon.

What really makes this movie special, and in my opinion the best of the three in the Kelvin timeline, is Justin Lin’s direction. The man knows how to make a beautiful movie, and he knows how to throw the audience around in space. There are moments of such spectacular loveliness you almost forget the terrible nature at the heart of it. Lin honed his chops in the Fast & Furious franchise (Tokyo Drift through Fast Five), learned how to weave his camera through carnage and exhilaration, and all of that paid off in Star Trek Beyond. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a more gorgeous science fiction movie in my life. But he also knows how to bring things down to a quiet moment between two people, and that’s a rare feat. If I was making a movie, Lin is the man I’d stalk and pepper with emails.

It’s not just the space visuals that are beautiful to look at. The props, the makeup, the sets, the CGI, all of it comes together to make a lush film, even down to the tiny details. The entire cast and crew put their all into this movie, and it shows.

Is Star Trek Beyond perfect? Not really, no. There are a few too many plot holes for my liking, and the 3D was rather pointless. I also wish Krall had had more time to be developed, because his character is deeper than just about any we’ve seen so far after the reboot. That said, there were also some genuinely pleasant surprises, and all the main cast were given moments to shine. There’s enough action to keep you on the edge of your seat, but also enough story and main cast character development to assure you this is a franchise to still be contended with. All in all, incredibly well done.