“Star Trek” is a phenomenon that has taken the world by storm on just about every corner of pop culture. Ever since the original series made its debut in 1966, the franchise created by Gene Roddenberry has evolved into spin-off shows, comics, parodies, inspirations for other shows, and eventually, movies. Everyone has given out their views on the “Star Trek” film series, but the ones we’ll be focusing on are that of the reboot series.
The first film, simply titled “Star Trek,” directed by J.J. Abrams, told a new origin story about the enterprise crew on their first mission, and of a young James T. Kirk working his way up to the position of Starfleet Captain, all while going up against a fleet of Romulans after they destroy Planet Vulcan. While most fans called foul of the idea of their beloved characters being recast (not much has changed, has it?), Abrams managed to deliver a new installment of the series that took a lot of people by surprise. It opened the door for a new breed of “Star Trek” fans to come about, and brought a breath of fresh air to a series that was thought to have been left in the dust.
Its sequel, “Star Trek Into Darkness,” continued with Abrams at the helm, but this one was met with a less than stellar welcome. Not that it was a bad film, I mean the production value, performances, and action are still amazing to witness, but the story was where fans were turned off at. Why? Because, while it had a great villainous performance from Benedict Cumberbatch, the fact that the film was just a retread of “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” was taken as a big insult. Despite this, the film managed to be a success with most critics and was box office smash.
When discussions of a third film were talked about, J.J. Abrams was unable to return, as Disney wanted to enlist him as the director for “Star Wars The Force Awakens,” just in time for Christmas of 2015. So the director’s chair for the next film was to be filled by Justin Lin, best known for directing some of the “Fast and the Furious” movies.
So with this year marking the 50th anniversary of the original “Star Trek” series making it’s debut on television, what did I think of the film to celebrate it, “Star Trek Beyond?” Well, I’d have to say that it was a pretty damn good movie, and easily the best written of the trilogy.
Now, notice that I said “written,” because while the film does have a great script that captures the feel of “Star Trek,” I can’t necessarily say the same for the direction. That’s because, most of the action scenes were pretty hard to watch, with the camera shaking too much than it needed to. Granted, I was sitting in the very front row, but there have been other action movies where I saw the action clearly despite being in the very front. It’s a shame, because Justin Lin is a great director of action scenes, and yet this one just feel flat with it.
Aside from that, everything else about the film was pretty damn solid. Like I said, the writing of in the film is really well done, with the strongest aspect of it being the back and forth between characters separated into groups. We get some great scenes with Kirk and Chekov, Spock and McCoy, Uhura and Sulu, and even Scottie gets some great moments with their ally of the film, Jaylah. The dialogue shared with just about everybody in each of their scenes is really investing, whether it’d be discussions on how they view mortality, the forgotten past of Starfleet, and what it means to show your services to the people you’re tasked to protect. With being such a big “Star Trek” fan, Simon Pegg really knew how to deliver a film that truly speaks from the heart and give us something that felt very true to its source material. It’s just too bad that the trailers had poorly represented it.
The entire cast does a fantastic job, just as they’ve always been. Christ Pine as Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Spock, Karl Urban as McCoy, Zoe Saldana as Uhura, Simon Pegg as Scottie, John Cho as Sulu, and Anton Yelchin as Chekov, still manage to keep you invested. Pine delivers his best performance as Kirk, as the character goes through a mid-life crisis revolving around him and his father, as well as what the future truly holds for Starfleet. You get a sense of the kind of fatigue that he’s going through, and how it can truly make someone feel about continuing someone else’s footsteps, only to continue walking where they stopped. Quinto and Urban also give out their best work as Spock and McCoy. With the film focusing on these two for a good while, we get a good amount of time seeing these two work off of each other, which we didn’t get that often. I especially love the scene where McCoy is trying to improvising with sealing up one of Spock’s wounds after crashing, leading to some of the funniest lines in the entire film.
I was really impressed with Sofia Boutella’s performance as Jaylah, a scavenger and former prisoner of the villain. She serves as a very prominent character to the story, and her chemistry with some of the members of the Enterprise are very enjoyable, especially with Scottie. Speaking of the villain, let’s talk about Krall, played by Idris Elba. I have to say, Elba was a pretty awesome villain. He was intimidating, his backstory was tragic and well established, and his plans were very well calculated. I don’t want to give away too much, since that would result in spoilers, so I’ll leave it at that.
Now with the talks of a fourth film being planned, what do I think about that? Well, while I did wish the series would end it here while it’s still fresh, I am open to see what they’ll bring next, as long as they’ve got a damn good script on their hands. So until then, we’ll have to wait and see.
Overall, I do highly recommend “Star Trek Beyond.” It’s a shame that it wasn’t as successful as it could have been, especially when it’s been a pretty lackluster summer season. But if you can still catch it in theaters, go out and give it a watch. If not, then definitely get it when it comes out on blu-ray. Happy 50th anniversary “Star Trek,” and live long and prosper!
Rating: 9/10
In memory of
Leonard Nimoy
March 26, 1931 - February 27, 2015
In memory of
Anton Yelchin
March 11, 1989 - June 19, 2016
No comments:
Post a Comment