Despite getting slated by fans of the sci-fi series ahead of its release – due to the Fast And Furious style of the trailer, courtesy of director Justin Lin – Star Trek Beyond manages to surprise by being much more than the high-octane, Beastie Boys-blasted flick it looked like it would be. Not all of the surprises are necessarily positive, but for the majority of the film it’s a credible modern take on the traditional spirit of Star Trek.
The problem, though, is that it’s all undone in the last when a late in the film twist makes it all feel a bit ridiculous. Take that out of the equation and it’s a lot of fun with the same big issue concepts we all know and love from the boldly going franchise. However, at the end of it all, you can’t help but feel cheated a little out of what could have been a great film.
Twist aside, the story works well to set up a tough adventure for James T. Kirk and the crew of the Starship Enterprise. A troubled Jim and Spock head out to a remote super space station on a routine visit for shore-leave and to take on supplies, but when an escape pop turns up out of the blue from an uncharted nebula, they have to cut things short to head off on a rescue mission for the rest of the ship’s crew.
This leads on to one hell of a thrill ride with a ferocious attack in the nebula and the resulting crash landing on the nearest planet, all orchestrated by their new dangerous enemy, Krall. It makes for a daring escape film with all of the parties doing their bit to get off the rock and stop Krall from doing his worst back on the Yorktown starbase.
All of the soul searching from the Captain and Spock works well to develop the characters and bring some credible emotion to the film. It makes you feel like you they’re not just cookie cutter reprints of the old guard, creating a bit more subtle character analysis and relationship building, which is impressive for a deep space sci-fi adventure.
The cast put in decent performances with good connection to their roles from Chris Pine (Wonder Woman) as Captain Kirk and Zachary Quinto (Snowden) as Spock. Karl Urban (Dredd) is as tough talking as ever and Simon Pegg (Ice Age: Collision Course) mixes things up well with some decent comedy moments, good on-screen chemistry with Sofia Boutella (The Mummy (2017)) and even a little action. It was sad to see the last of Anton Yelchin (Broken Horses) as Chekov following his tragic death earlier this year.
There are some good special effects to gaze in awe at throughout the film with a very cool starbase for the , huge space battle, crash landing and perfectly timed transporter beam action. Justin Lin also manages to throw in just enough octane to give the film good pace and stunt work with cranking things up to the fast and high proportions we thought we were going to be getting.
It’s hard to say whether or not our disappointment in the final stage of Star Trek Beyond is a preference thing or not, but for us it was enough to undo all of the good work from the rest of the film. It just all seemed a bit too contrived and clumsy to really add up all that much or fit well within the construct of the rest of the sci-fi action adventure.
Star Trek Beyond DVD review: 3/5
