Short version: AWESOME!! Instantly better than the last two, and easily the second best summer movie this year. Keep reading, but BE WARNED FOR SPOILERS.
The Star Trek reboot series was the most frustrating series out of a franchise I’ve ever got familiar with. Looking past the grand spectacles and brilliant casting, the series cannot help but fall short in capturing the true spirit of the original shows. The first one cripples its visual flourish and charismatic leads with a multitude of plot conveniences and the insistence of appealing to the average movie crowd. Doubly so with Into Darkness, which tries and fails to implement political infighting and the series original lore. With plenty respect to Abrams and no respect from his bumbling screenwriters, all their efforts of emulating the same intelligent charm of the original series taints this reboot series, making them what extents to bloated, stupid action movies.
So who would’ve guessed that the series saving grace amounts to just being an action movie, stripping all the convoluted pretense and tedious self-referencing in the process? That is probably the biggest secret to Star Trek Beyond’s greatest success: executing a straightforward, small-scale, surprisingly character-driven piece of action movie devoid of any extra weight. The result is not only the most action-packed movie of the summer but one that pays true to Gene Roddenberry’s original vision of space exploration and monster-fighting.
The story picks up after the Enterprise crew depart from Earth after the events of Into Darkness as Kirk, Spock and the gang set off to find new life in the outer world. During this mission, they come across a new species of aliens, led by Idris Elba as Krall (who is easily the best use of a great talent as a villain in this series EVER!) that threatens to attack if they don’t comply to give them what they want. So once they refuse, the Enterprise crashed and burned in a nearby remote planet – yeah, get used to seeing that shit happening all the time now – which separates the crew. So it’s up to the scattered crew to find themselves once again, save the rest of the crew, and stop Krall. Along the way, Scotty (played by Simon Pegg, who still rocks!) finds a new alien companion who just so happens to inhabit a working Starfleet called the USS Franklin, which may or may not hold deeper information about Krall’s past.
So if any of that sounds more or less like a filler episode rather than a grand scale third entry, that’s because it mostly is, but by no means to a fault. The hidden genius of this film lies in how much its invested in finding compelling ways to keep its small scale reminiscent of the classic pulp adventures of the show. Which means fist fights are more upfront and abundant, character drama gets more of a focus – which is a breather since we don’t have to be reminded constantly of how important Kirk is for a change – the science is utilized to the best of its abilities when it comes to encountering danger, and there is not a hint of the plot bending over backwards to heighten the stakes with bloated bullcrap. It’s the type of deceptively simple approach I thought I never get in a Star Trek movie in this decade, and I’m glad we get it now than not at all.
The actors are all terrific once again. Simon Pegg’s script strips out all of Kirks personal baggage and just have him be a full-fledged commander, which allows Chris Pine to finally shine. Zachary Quinto finally convinces me that he’s the OG new Spock, Pegg and Karl Urban are still the films comedic charmers, and Zoe Zaldana can still remind us that, even after the shitty Nina movie, she can have real screen presence. More impressive in this series is the more credible yet menacing villain in Krall, who sole motivation stems from his depleted faith in his commanding officers who failed to find him, thus descending him to physical madness.
All that is due to new director Justin Lin, who honestly deserves more credit than what he gets. Sure it seems sacrilege to have a guy from the Fast & Furious movies taking the helm of a smarter series (which is honestly not much the case. See the original series) but his love for the material, joint with Simon Pegg’s script, shines through more than Abrams in two movies. The leads finally get some well-deserved banter as they crack jokes and attempt to fix their issues rather than ponder on them while at the same time we can enjoy some inventive camera-swooping space combat. The type of character dynamics mixed with over-the-top action that defined the Fast series could not befit this series more than what we could expect.
Which ultimately comes with a crutch, although not as big as the last movies. There’s probably too much action and not enough downtime, most of the connective tissue - although still effective - feels undercooked, there is still familiar story beats (like another McGuffin) and some might not like the smaller scale. It’s not much of a deal breaker as this is a blockbuster, which pretty much comes with the territory, but credit where credit is due.
Still, this is probably the Star Trek movie I always expected would happen yet never thought we get. One that stays true to its simplicity and makes the most out of it rather than failing from doing too much. Who would’ve thought we needed three freaking movies to get to the good stuff. Overall, I recommend this!
PS: The tribute to Leonard Nimoy will make you cry!
Rating: 8/10
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