Movie Review: Star Trek Beyond

Star Trek Beyond is a pleasing extension of the undying franchise, though not quite as funny, thrilling or thoughtful as previous voyages.

Early in Star Trek Beyond, Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) complains of the “episodic” nature of his USS Enterprise’s mostly diplomatic missions.

It’s a tongue-in-cheek nod to the TV series upon which the movie is based, but also a portent of things to come.

Incoming director Justin Lin, replacing J.J. Abrams (who was busy on a Star film of his own), gives us the smallest-scale entry of this rebooted Trek to date. If it weren’t for the intermittent action scenes set outside the confines of various spacecraft, you’d call it a bottle episode, driven by new pairings of old characters in self-reflective (and often mopey) moods.

We’re not sure this was the kind of action Kirk was looking for.

You could say Beyond - written by Doug Jung and Scotty himself, Simon Pegg - calls back to the more philosophical roots of Gene Roddenberry’s original Star Trek show, especially when compared to its more rollicking predecessors. It might even be a kneejerk reaction to the critical palpitations that came after Into Darkness, Abrams’ attempt at a Wrath of Khan remake that only infuriated die-hard stans.

But here I must confess I found Into Darkness a much more satisfying experience (its emotional manipulations and general pointlessness aside). There, characters grew amidst Abrams’ clockwise-precise set pieces, and Benedict Cumberbatch’s Khan proved a worthy adversary.

Admittedly, it’s also responsible for leaving Beyond in a prickly position. When the previous instalment literally cures death in its climax, it’s hard to feel much tension in any supposed life-or-death scenarios that follow.

Nonetheless, the villain with galaxy-ending plans this time around is Krall (Idris Elba), a scaly gent who fools the Enterprise into answering a distress call in the far reaches of undocumented space. There, the iconic ship is wrecked by Krall’s swarm of fighter ships, and much of the crew is enslaved on a desolate planet.

A few find themselves scattered across the empty landscape, including Kirk and his navigator Chekov (the late Anton Yelchin), and, further out, the frustratingly logical first officer Spock (Zachary Quinto) and perpetually irritated MD ‘Bones’ McCoy (Karl Urban). Elsewhere, engineer Scotty (Pegg), less cool-headed in a crisis than the others, is rescued by one of Krall’s escaped prisoners, Jaylah (Sofia Boutella), who is as space-savvy as she is intricately tattooed.

Once they all find one another, they turn their attention to Krall’s compound, where Lieutenants Uhura (Zoe Saldana) and Sulu (John Cho) are being held captive, and failing to educate the despotic Krall on the strength of “unity”. Is it a coincidence that Beyond hits cinemas the same week Donald Trump takes the Republican party's nomination for President?

Lin is no slouch when it comes to directing action, having helmed four of the Fast & Furious entries. He even trolls Trekkies by recreating Furious 6’s iconic, impossible Vin Diesel/ Michelle Rodriguez jump with Jaylah and Kirk. However, there are times where Star Trek Beyond cannot even meet the basic cinematic requirements of lighting and composing sequences in a manner that makes them comprehensible. The dim, muddy 3D certainly doesn’t help. Pegg, meanwhile, is responsible for some of the best comedies of the past two decades, and yet his script features fewer jokes – and more groans – than those that came before. Perhaps these are just two great tastes that do not go great together.

Thankfully, the chemistry of the cast has already been proven, and they collectively elevate Beyond, even when divvied up in unusual combinations. Boutella is a welcome addition to the team, though Elba – who, like Oscar Isaac in X-Men: Apocalypse, is plastered with disfiguring makeup – is somewhat wasted. After all, his talents are bottomless and varied, and his dance moves must be reckoned with.

A fourth Star Trek has already been announced, with Chris Hemsworth returning as Kirk’s dad. If the filmmakers won’t let Idris be Idris, perhaps they’ll allow Hemsworth to reprise his Ghostbusters musical number.

Whatever is done to recalibrate the sequel, here’s hoping a better balance of humour, meditative contemplation and thrilling, big-screen spills is struck. Still, there are worse crews to be shipwrecked with for two hours.

3.5/5

In cinemas now. Rated M for science fiction themes and violence.