Boldly Going Once Again
Star Trek Beyond is the summer blockbuster of the moment. At a time when regressive and divisive rhetoric is spewed at an international level, it's so very refreshing for Star Trek to fully own what it's always meant to be: a vision of the future in which mankind pushes forward to the latest frontier. J.J. Abrams' 2009 Star Trek reboot was the first chapter in a brand new series of adventures, though his Star Trek Into Darkness is a problematic yet fun redux of the series' best film. Director Justin Lin's Beyond doesn't reinvent the warp drive as it retains Abrams' shiny, souped-up action, but it does return the series to its roots in more ways than one. For the first time in this new Star Trek timeline, the crew of the Enterprise gets to explore.
Beyond begins as Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and his crew aboard the USS Enterprise are three years into their journey to explore the outer reaches of space. Kirk is fatigued and seeking a promotion away from his ship, but agrees to first lead an investigation into a crashed vessel on a distant, unknown planet. Before long, the Enterprise crew is scattered and stranded on the planet's surface, facing a hostile alien race.
The story is a simple one, and the "stranded on a strange planet" premise could be the logline of an episode from the original 60s television series, but the characters and themes are strong, and elevate Beyond to be a superior Trek outing. Gene Roddenberry envisioned a future in which all human races are completely at peace, as are many alien ones, and are equally represented in Starfleet. The strength of unity, humanity, and optimistic exploration are at the cores of both Starfleet and Star Trek, and screenwriters Simon Pegg and Doug Jung have constructed a story that considers these notions both in the lives of the characters and in the greater view of life in the universe. As in the best Trek stories, the problems and questions of today—doubting a unified world; looking to the past for progress—are addressed by moving them from the human domain of earth to the alien depths of space, where even in the bright future of the 23rd century the same essential conflicts continue. (1991's Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country is basically about racism and the fall of the Soviet Union.)
The cast first assembled with such an excellent eye for chemistry by Abrams (who serves as producer here) continues to gel wonderfully in their third voyage. Pine is a terrific Kirk, a handsome and brilliant tactician who deeply cares for his crew. He shows the age and experience born from his three years in command of the Enterprise, making Kirk less reckless than in the two Abrams films while still retaining his penchant for risk-taking. Zachary Quinto continues to do the unthinkable and unenviable by handily filling the shoes of the late, great Leonard Nimoy as Spock, not to mention putting his own spin on the character by surfacing Spock's suppressed emotions with admirable restraint (Spock is half human, after all). Rounding out the core trio is Karl Urban, who sells every Dr. McCoy one-liner with Bones' trademark, half-feigned indignation.
The rest of the returning Enterprise crew is in fine form, though John Cho as Sulu and Zoe Saldana as Uhura are left with relatively little to do for much of the film. Anton Yelchin, who passed away just weeks before the film's release, is given a handful of moments to shine as Pavel Chekov, though he will be sorely missed, both as a talented young actor and as a terrific, funny member of the crew. Sofia Boutella makes a great first Trek impression as the tough loner Jaylah, who thankfully has enough of an arc to avoid being two-dimensional (which she easily could have been). Idris Elba is a bit wasted as the alien Krall. He makes for a physically imposing villain, but he remains generic until the film's third act, when new information about the character helps flesh out his motivations. Elba is expectedly good in the role, making those motivations believable, but the character isn't likely to enter the annals of all time great Trek villains. (Although he is remarkably relevant, as his ultimate goal could be distilled down to "making humanity great again.")
Justin Lin's action is hectic and a bit less fluid than Abrams', but is often thrilling nonetheless. A handful of sequences set in dark corridors and tunnels lack visual clarity, though it may be more a symptom of a dying projector bulb than of Lin's direction. Aiding the visual dynamism is Michale Giacchino's soaring score. He continues to bestow upon this rebooted series the best major franchise music this side of Star Wars, and with Beyond he retains his truly great main theme while playing with it in new ways to fit the film's growth from its predecessors.
Though Star Trek Beyond has its faults with a moderately interesting villain and some wonky action beats, the film excels at carrying the mantle of hope envisioned by Gene Roddenberry. Late in the film, the audience is given a moment of recognition of Nimoy's passing, as well as a chance to reflect on the cast that originated the Enterprise crew. It's a reminder that as it turns 50, Star Trek has been, and always shall be, the franchise that looks forward to the brighter and better days that lay ahead.