Star Trek Beyond Review
Star Trek Beyond is the third film in the JJ. Abrams Star Trek universe and god knows what film this is if you include the originals. It's directed by Fast and Furious alumni Justin Lin and written by comedy alum Simon Pegg of 'Hot Fuzz' fame. And finally we get some proper Star Trek here! So in this movie we're 3 years into the Enterprise's 5 year mission to explore deep space and Kirk is going through a bit of an existential crisis. He's not quite sure he's doing what he's doing, what the purpose of it all is. That is until when answering a distress call the Enterprise is attacked and basically ripped a new one by the villainous Krall. The Enterprise is destroyed and the crew crashes on this unknown alien world. Seperated from each other in combinations yet experienced on screen this is a survival story at heart, whilst Krall's sinister plan ticks over in the background.
If you've read my blog before then chances are you know I've not been too hopeful for this. When I first saw the trailer I basically thought to myself, "Yep. That's Fast and Furious in space." JJ. Abrams leaving due to his Star Wars commitments and leaving it in the hands of Lin did concern me. And then the song by Rihanna accompanying this film didn't grab me at first (although it's truly grown on me since). And also although Simon Pegg has writing credits to his name, and very good ones in fact (e.g. Hot Fuzz), writing a comedy is a completely different kettle of fish to writing for Star Trek. The whole production was riddled with problems with JJ.'s departure, then followed by Roberto Orci who was in line to replace him. Scripts were completely scrapped and rewritten several times. It didn't seem good for the crew of the Enterprise.
Truth be told, I was so wrong to think this. For me this has been the biggest surprise of the summer cause I had so much fun with this movie.
The script by Pegg is electric. Filled with wonderful humour, references to classic Trek, warmth and adventure too. They really took on the feedback from the first two saying that they were too concerned with creating big action set pieces that they in turn have been ignoring the adventure of the original series. Substance over specticle really. And it paid off. They strike a balance between action set pieces and character building adventure. Krall's attack against the Enterprise was one of the most stand-out action pieces of the last year in cinema. They had the explosions and the destruction porn but they didn't let it take away from the individuals involved. You sense how they're all feeling and what's going through the minds of the main players. It wasn't senseless, it served a purpose to escalate the character arcs as well as the story arc in placing them on the planet as you saw in the trailers. And they were able to solve problems experienced in Into Darkness too. Instead of Spock's ridiculous sprinting skills (that could probably match Usain Bolt's) and a single punch to the bad guy and cutting to black, they actually provide a satisfying conclusion to Krall and his plans.
Now Krall- best take this one. He is what is needed. Nothing more. Abrams tried desperately to create a supervillain in Benedict Cumberbatch's Khan but fell short. Star Trek never worked on supervillains. Enemies were small time in the Star Trek universe and Krall does what he's suppose to do in providing our heros with an antagonist and he is good in that. But if you're expecting a big time terror like Khan then you'll be disappointed. Bitterly. Because Krall is a villain of the old. Truth be told his plan centres around a pretty basic MacGuffin plot and it takes us all perhaps too long to realise what his plan is and what his motivations are. It's an exposition heavy moment when it does eventually come so that did concern me.
The pairings pretty much go like this. Chechov and Kirk, Spock and McCoy, Scotty and new character Jaylah and Sulu and Uhura. The latter two having been captured and held as hostage by Krall. The pairings made the movie for me. I read in an interview somewhere that Lin came in and he was like, "we cannot make it all about Spock and Kirk bromance again" which is true cause the last few movies have been Spock/Kirk heavy. The stand-out pair by miles though had to Spock and McCoy. The no nonsense metaphors of McCoy clashing off the Vulcan mind of Spock really had me in fits of laughter at times. The new character of Jaylah works really well- provides a breathe of fresh air and is a surprising emotionally grounding presence. Her backstory is really interesting and hit a chord with me personally.
Okay so the bad thing. This movie choppy. Very choppy. There were so many wide angle spinning tracking shots that by the end of it I was beginning to feel sea sick and there are are lot of jumpy, poorly edited frames particularly in the first half. Remember how JJ. Abrams had his signature lens flare? Justin Lin has spinning tracking shots.
So all in all this has been a really fun and entertaining romp and I had a whale of a time during what has been a mediocre summer of film. Lots more to come including reviews for Finding Dory, Suicide Squad and Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates. But I will give Star Trek Beyond a B.
If you've read my blog before then chances are you know I've not been too hopeful for this. When I first saw the trailer I basically thought to myself, "Yep. That's Fast and Furious in space." JJ. Abrams leaving due to his Star Wars commitments and leaving it in the hands of Lin did concern me. And then the song by Rihanna accompanying this film didn't grab me at first (although it's truly grown on me since). And also although Simon Pegg has writing credits to his name, and very good ones in fact (e.g. Hot Fuzz), writing a comedy is a completely different kettle of fish to writing for Star Trek. The whole production was riddled with problems with JJ.'s departure, then followed by Roberto Orci who was in line to replace him. Scripts were completely scrapped and rewritten several times. It didn't seem good for the crew of the Enterprise.
Truth be told, I was so wrong to think this. For me this has been the biggest surprise of the summer cause I had so much fun with this movie.
The script by Pegg is electric. Filled with wonderful humour, references to classic Trek, warmth and adventure too. They really took on the feedback from the first two saying that they were too concerned with creating big action set pieces that they in turn have been ignoring the adventure of the original series. Substance over specticle really. And it paid off. They strike a balance between action set pieces and character building adventure. Krall's attack against the Enterprise was one of the most stand-out action pieces of the last year in cinema. They had the explosions and the destruction porn but they didn't let it take away from the individuals involved. You sense how they're all feeling and what's going through the minds of the main players. It wasn't senseless, it served a purpose to escalate the character arcs as well as the story arc in placing them on the planet as you saw in the trailers. And they were able to solve problems experienced in Into Darkness too. Instead of Spock's ridiculous sprinting skills (that could probably match Usain Bolt's) and a single punch to the bad guy and cutting to black, they actually provide a satisfying conclusion to Krall and his plans.
Now Krall- best take this one. He is what is needed. Nothing more. Abrams tried desperately to create a supervillain in Benedict Cumberbatch's Khan but fell short. Star Trek never worked on supervillains. Enemies were small time in the Star Trek universe and Krall does what he's suppose to do in providing our heros with an antagonist and he is good in that. But if you're expecting a big time terror like Khan then you'll be disappointed. Bitterly. Because Krall is a villain of the old. Truth be told his plan centres around a pretty basic MacGuffin plot and it takes us all perhaps too long to realise what his plan is and what his motivations are. It's an exposition heavy moment when it does eventually come so that did concern me.
The pairings pretty much go like this. Chechov and Kirk, Spock and McCoy, Scotty and new character Jaylah and Sulu and Uhura. The latter two having been captured and held as hostage by Krall. The pairings made the movie for me. I read in an interview somewhere that Lin came in and he was like, "we cannot make it all about Spock and Kirk bromance again" which is true cause the last few movies have been Spock/Kirk heavy. The stand-out pair by miles though had to Spock and McCoy. The no nonsense metaphors of McCoy clashing off the Vulcan mind of Spock really had me in fits of laughter at times. The new character of Jaylah works really well- provides a breathe of fresh air and is a surprising emotionally grounding presence. Her backstory is really interesting and hit a chord with me personally.
Okay so the bad thing. This movie choppy. Very choppy. There were so many wide angle spinning tracking shots that by the end of it I was beginning to feel sea sick and there are are lot of jumpy, poorly edited frames particularly in the first half. Remember how JJ. Abrams had his signature lens flare? Justin Lin has spinning tracking shots.
So all in all this has been a really fun and entertaining romp and I had a whale of a time during what has been a mediocre summer of film. Lots more to come including reviews for Finding Dory, Suicide Squad and Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates. But I will give Star Trek Beyond a B.
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