Hey guys! I just got back from a special advanced screening of Star Trek Beyond (not advanced by much, I know!) here in Australia. I have to say, the film was great! In short, it fits snugly within the "Abramsverse" and pays homage to the original series quite well. Whilst I did have a few gripes, overall the film is quite good! Before I get on with the review, I'm going to fully disclose a few things. Firstly, I never saw any of the original films or the TV show (however, I know most of the references etc). Secondly, I was a massive fan of the 2009 reboot and can confidently say it is one of my favourite science fiction films - J.J. Abrams delivered a film that was both visually stunning and successfully rebooted a timeline in an extremely efficient and clever way that I now hold as the standard whenever I see a reboot. Now that that's out of the way...
Director Justin Lin (known for his work on The Fast and Furious franchise) is new to Star Trek and Sci-Fi in general. Going in, I was worried that he couldn't handle the elements that go into making a great Star Trek film and wasn't familiar with Sci-Fi elements. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Lin directs the film at a breakneck pace - but with a pretty big issue, which I'll touch on shortly. As a whole, the film feels very complete and tight with no loose ends. Simon Pegg and Doug Jung's script is excellent, balancing solid action sequences with a surprising amount of heart and humour. It is very evident that Pegg's gifted sense of humour shines through the script resulting in some genuinely funny moments - particularly several interactions with Bones and Spock who go off on a little bit of a side adventure. The old cast are amazing as always. Chris Pine as James T. Kirk turns in an excellent performance that brings the character arc of Kirk full circle from the first film by playing Kirk as a more mature version of the character that we saw him in the 2009 film. As for Spock (Zachary Quinto), his arc primarily revolves around his relationship with Uhura (Zoe Saldana) which I was a fan of as their relationship wasn't as fleshed out in the earlier films. Bones (Karl Urban) and Scotty (Simon Pegg) are both excellent here, but are mainly used as comic relief.
Onto the newcomers - both Idris Elba and Sofia Boutella are great in the film and make fine additions to the already brilliant case. Boutella plays Jaylah, an alien who the crew meet while stranded on the planet that Elba's character maroons them on after destroying The Enterprise. Jaylah is an excellent character who provides a few laughs but, as Kingsman fans would know, knows how to kick ass! She brings another level of physicality to her fight scenes and has an array of gadgets which make the action scenes fun to watch. Elba on the hand is a great villain and I certainly liked what they did with his character toward the end, he brings a certain menace to his character that was missing in Cumberbatch and Bana's villains.
On a technical level, the film is stunning visually with brilliant CG and an amazing score once again composed by the brilliant Michael Giacchino. However, I felt that the action sequences were sometimes poorly shot with the framing being too close to the action making it hard to make out who was who and where they are geographically within the shot. This also results in a lot of shaky-cam which is not very appealing. Additionally, the film suffers a bit of a slump during its second act and does tend to drag. This is very noticeable because the first and third acts are amazingly done and come and go with a very quick pace, particularly a VERY fun third act which involves a great call back to the 2009 film with Beastie Boys' - Sabotage.
All in all, Star Trek Beyond is another excellent film in what is now an excellent trilogy. Justin Lin has made an excellent science fiction film, full of action and heart that fits very well in the pantheon of the better Trek films within the sprawling franchise. The fan service also toward the end was also a nice surprise to those who have followed the franchise from the TV show and the original films. I give Star Trek Beyond 8 out of 10!
Let me know what you guys think below ! :)