Star Trek Beyond

I honestly can’t tell you why I didn’t go and see Star Trek Beyond in theaters. I really enjoyed the other two Star Trek films, despite what is said about the second one. I’m also not a huge Star Trek fan but the new movies have a feel about them that I really like. I enjoyed Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and the entire group as the crew of the Star Trek Enterprise.

I think Star Trek Beyond just fell at a time where people weren’t really calling for it. JJ Abrams left the project to do Star Wars, there were so many weird stories about the making of the film, and of course there was the first trailer that really wasn’t that good. Everybody saw that and assumed that Star Trek would go the same route as a lot of third movies in franchises go and just decline in quality.

I finally got around to watching it and I have to say, this was a really fun movie.

Star Trek Beyond takes place 3 years into the Enterprise’s 5 year journey through space to find new worlds and be ambassadors to the Federation. Kirk even mentions that things have gotten pretty episodic in space, a cute homage to the fact that they’ve basically been doing the episodes of Star Trek on their voyage. Before I go on, I should mention that the movie did a pretty good job paying homage to the things they need to pay homage to. Star Trek Beyond came out after a lot of tragedy has happened in the Star Trek world. Leonard Nemoy passed away. Anton Yelchin sadly died recently. I think there was some kind of anniversary as well. So this movie needed to pay homage to many elements. And they did a really good job doing that. They didn’t take away from the story or the progression of the film, they were perfect little nods that you couldn’t help but appreciate. In fact they actually mesh really well with the story as they help the progression of the characters.

Anyways, Captain James Kirk (played by Chris Pine) mentions that things have gotten a little bit episodic and he starts questioning his choice to be a Starship Captain. He’s looking to get a job in a more stable environment and leave the Enterprise. Interestingly enough, Spock (played by Zachary Quinto) is having his own existential crisis and he is thinking about leaving as well. This exhibits the relationship between these two and really made me appreciate how good these two have been for this franchise. Pine and Quinto have really melded into the characters and they just do a good job. I don’t know if these are the roles you immediately think of when you think of these two actors, but they do a good job.

When the Federation receives a distress signal from a mysterious ship and need to send a response team into an unknown nebula, Kirk volunteers his team and they go on the mission to unknown space.

They however run across an ambush and are boarded by a mysterious group of aliens. This group is led by their brutal leader Krall (played by Idris Elba). The Enterprise is destroyed and the crew are either captured or jettison onto the foreign planet.

At that point, Kirk must find his crew and stop Krall from gaining an ancient artifact that could spell trouble for Kirk’s crew. The rest of the enterprise returns. Simon Pegg returns as Scotty. Carl Urban returns as Bones. Zoey Saldana returns as Uhra, John Cho returns as Mr. Sulu and Anton Yelchin returns as Chekoff. Sofia Boutella joins the cast as an alien marooned on the planet who helps the crew.

I’ll start right off the bat, this movie didn’t need Sofia Boutella’s character. I guess they’re trying to bring in more female characters but at least give us one that is a little more interesting. I didn’t absolutely hate her character, I just didn’t see her point. I think we could have diverted her screentime to more of the crew and I would have enjoyed it more because I’m familiar with that crew and want to see them do more.

Then there’s Idris Elba. There’s a little bit of a twist with his character that isn’t very hard to figure out. On one hand I could complain that there wasn’t anything hugely significant about the bad guys in this movie and they were more the bad guys you would see in an episode of Star Trek. They don’t amount to much and they’re gone in a 60 minute episode. However, thinking about it, I don’t mind that it was that way. Idris Elba’s character serves a purpose for our characters. We learn more about him and because of him we learn more about the main characters. Yes he’s not the world’s greatest mastermind but I actually don’t mind. Idris Elba does a great job being the bad guy in any movie he’s in and while his character wasn’t Darth Vader, I liked how he was used.

And that’s the theme for a lot of this movie. It didn’t feel groundbreaking or epic, it just felt like an episode of the show. And while you expect more from a major motion picture, I can’t really complain. I enjoyed the simple nature of the film and it achieved what it set out to achieve. It didn’t claim to be more than it was and it was entertaining.

The biggest thing of Star Trek Beyond is that it is essentially a love letter to Star Trek. Its goal is pay homage to the legacy of Star Trek, both in the achievements the franchise has had and the losses that they have felt. I don't know if they totally succeed in what they try to do but I thought it was at least somewhat successful. It gave me a little bit of the feels and I did feel a connection to the franchise. 

Is it the best movie I’ve seen this year? No. I don’t know if its anything to write home about but I actually had a lot more fun with this movie because it was so simple.

With the exception of Sofia Boutella’s character, I loved the cast. They really do play off one another really well and there is actually a lot of chemistry between them all. Its hard to point out any stand outs because they really work together as a team. I think this is probably the reason that people don’t immediately think Captain Kirk when they see Chris Pine or Spock when they see Zachary Quinto. These guys are talented actors but there’s not a standout best performance.

The biggest thing I pulled from Star Trek Beyond was that this franchise is not done in my mind. I still want to see future outings with the crew of the Enterprise. I want there to be more Star Trek movies. I think it would be a shame for their not to be another entry in this series because they have been good movies. The first movie is pretty damn good in my book. The second one in my opinion is good but definitely has its problems. And the third one, while simple is a lot of fun too. These movies are scoring at least solid Bs in my book and while that may not seem like its essential, I still think there are stories to be told and fun to be had in the world of Star Trek.

But those are my thoughts on Star Trek Beyond. Did you enjoy this outing of the crew of the Star Trek Enterprise? Do you think they should keep making these films? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @cmhaugen24 as well as send me your requests for films I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviewing coming out of this blog. 

I'll leave you with this. Here's the How it Should have ended. They are better at picking out the plot holes than I am. Enjoy!