July 2016 came and went but it was a good month thanks to Star Trek Beyond, the third installment of the original series reboot starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, and Anton Yelchin. Taking over for J.J. Abrams is Fast & Furious director Justin Lin. On that alone I was interested. What interested me even more in the project was that Simon Pegg was co-writing the script.
Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and the crew of the USS Enterprise continue their trek through deep space hoping to continuously explore and catalog faraway species, planets, and galaxies. It looks like the Federation has a bit of more than it can chew, because our heroes have to now face a new race of alien species hell-bent on their destruction. This new race of beings delivers a devastating and coordinated attack on the USS Enterprise and crew, with severe ferocity. They’re led by the sinister being Krall (Idris Elba). Krall is in search of an artifact that is may be on the ship. Unbeknownst to him Kirk has it and is able to eject from the ship and land, with company in tow, to the surface of a nearby planet.
Once on the ground, so to speak, Kirk and the rest of the crew become separated. Kirk is intercepted by Jaylah (Sofia Boutella) – a warrior-type of alien, with white skin and peculiar design patterns on her face and body. It seems like she’s been down on the planet for some time and it would also appear that she has a history with Krall. While Kirk settles in with Jaylah and hopeful avoid Krall’s search parties the rest of the crew are scattered about.
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Spock and Doctor McCoy have to team up if they want to stay alive while Uhura and Sulu have to do the same – as Krall’s prisoners. Star Trek Beyond is the simplest of the new films in that it’s a straightforward science fiction action flick and nothing more. I think it can also be considered the most accessible of the three films. It runs about 2 hours and one does not have to watch the previous two films to “get it.” If anything, watching the first two will make one see how comfortable the cast has become at working together inhabiting these characters and worlds.
In my opinion, the revelation in Beyond is that of Doctor McCoy. Karl Urban is terrific as “Bones” and nails that short-tempered flair quite nicely. Sofia Boutella as the mysterious Jaylah is badass and Idris Elba as Krall is also cool. Due to the website having technical difficulties during the month of July I was not able to post this review but now that we are in August and having seen two other highly anticipated films like Jason Bourne and Suicide Squad. I can say that Star Trek Beyond was the best film out of the three.
Justin Lin, the cast, story, crew, etc., all jelled, as they should have and delivered a pretty cool film. There was a sense of wonder still present, and in fact, had that old school television show vibe. It felt like a stand-alone film that didn’t retread on previously established story lines used in the original series like the Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness films.
For fans and those still on the fence about this third installment – I would say it’s the tiebreaker of the current trilogy. The first film was cool and the second one was less cool. Star Trek Beyond has more going for it in that sense, because it’s not necessarily tied down to the events that came before in those other films. One thing is certain for sure – there will definitely be a fourth film in the future. The “when” is still being worked on. As for the “now” – Star Trek Beyond is totally worth your movie dollars.
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