STAR TREK BEYOND - NON-SPOILER REVIEW

[Darth Knox]

PLEASE NOTE - THE FOLLOWING IS A SPOILER FREE REVIEW. I WILL NOT REVEAL ANY MAJOR PLOT POINTS FROM THE MOVIE.

Ever since JJ Abrams rebooted Star Trek in 2009 with what is now known as the Kelvin timeline, fans have been split. There are some who grew up watching the tv series in all its incarnations and the movie franchise that followed who have been less than happy with this new timeline. Others are completely fine with it. And then there is wider audience whose first exposure to Star Trek was the 2009 movie who love everything JJ has brought to the table (with the exception of all the lens flares). In this, the 50th year anniversary of the franchise, will this latest movie bring all the fans together or push them further apart?

The story/plot
3 years into their historic 5 year journey aboard the Enterprise, Kirk and Spock are having some misgivings about their respective futures and whether that future will involve starlet. While docked at a deep space station, they embark on a mission of mercy to an uncharted nebula. The ship is attacked and the crew scattered. Will they find each other again and be able to stop the alien Krall from his mission of destruction against the Federation.

Overall opinion
Let me start out by saying that I have been on the fence about Trek's Kelvin timeline. I really liked the 2009 reboot but thought that Into Darkness was a poor remake of Wrath of Khan and a missed opportunity for them to go in a new direction and tell some truly original stories. That being said, with Justin Lin directing a script co-written by Simon Pegg (who is a MASSIVE geek as we all know) this is actually a really good science fiction movie. However, it still doesn't feel like a Star Trek movie. I know that the studio rejected a script by original writer Robert Orci for being too "Star Trekkie" so it's obvious that they want to attract new audiences to the franchise by rejecting the themes of exploration, humanity's tolerance in the future and fan favourite "Trek speak" (dilithium crystal, remodulating shield variance phase harmonic etc). However, the movie was really enjoyable. It had some good jokes (as well as some that didn't really hit), the set pieces were executed well and the CGI was amazing, with one or two noticeable exceptions.

The Performances
Chris Pine - Captain Kirk
Chris Pine has done a great job in the first two movies embodying the spirit of the character without doing a William Shatner impression. He definitely feels more assured in the role in this movie and does throw in the odd subtle Shatnerism occasionally, which truly fits the character well.

Karl Urban - Bones
From the start, Karl Urban has done a really good update of the Leonard Bones McCoy character and that continues in this movie. He actually has most of the best lines in the film and is clearly having a ball as a slightly grumpy Southern doctor in space.

Zachary Quinto - Spock
In my opinion, no-one has ever been truly able to portray Vulcans properly on screen outside of Leonard Nimoy and Mark Lenard (who played his father Sarek in the original show/films). However, Quinto's performance as Spock is really good, truly capturing the internal conflict the half human half Vulcan character has. If I had on criticism (and it is a minor nitpick) is that Quinto can't quite get the deadpan delivery style of Spock right. Some of Leonard Nimoy's more humorous moments came from his stonefaced deadpan delivery. But Quinto might get there one day.

Anton Yelchin
RIP Anton. You will be missed. His Chekov was once again a joy to watch on screen. Although, given the circumstances, I felt a little twinge of my heart every time he was on-screen.

John Cho
I love George Takei. He is a talented actor and an amazing activist. However, John Cho is really outshining him in the role of Sulu. Confident. assured and funny, Cho gives another great performance.

Zoe Saldana - Uhuru
From a confident and skilful linguist in the reboot and reduced to bickering with her Vulcan boyfriend in the second, Saldana gets to bust out her skilful Gamora moves in this movie. She is only given a few scenes and not much to do, however, whenever she is on screen you cannot help but be drawn in.

Simon Pegg - Scotty
The Scottish accent fluctuates a little here and there, but Pegg brings all his considerable liveability and humour to the beloved character of Scotty. And he definitely has more to do in this movie that Into Darkness.

Sofia Boutella - Jaylah
For those of you who do not know who she is, she was the blade legged female assassin in the 2014 movie Kingsmen. Once again, she is completely badass. However, this time she actually gets to act. She brings a very emotional weight to the character that is nicely balanced with the humour and moments of action.

Idris Elba - Krall
I think in years to come, people will take away Morgan Freeman's voiceover crown and award it to Idris. Completely unrecognisable under the excellent prosthetic make-up, he brings an intensity and air of menace to a role that could have ended up being played totally over the top. However, much like Ricardo Montalban as Khan in The Wrath of Khan, Idris understands that less is more and understated menace and an amazing voice can make a compelling villain. And what a twist too!

The effects
Great CGI for the planet environments, space station and action in space.

The action
This is my main gripe with the movie (not just this movie). Bloody shaky-cam. Very few directors know how to use it properly in action scenes to help ramp up the intensity of that scene. In fact, the only director I can think of who uses shaky-cam well is Paul Greengrass in the Bourne movies. So many of the action set pieces and fights scenes used this technique that I couldn't engage with the characters at that moment.

Away from the shaky-cam, you can definitely feel Justin Lin's Fast & Furious imprint all over the action. Was it bad? Not really, but it was nothing amazing either. Ultimately I felt the set-pieces felt a bit flat and empty and not the thrill ride I was expecting.

Other stuff
Aliens! Aliens everywhere! The movie introduced 50 different species of alien with some truly amazing VFX and prosthetic make-up. It really did flesh out that the United Federation of Planets included hundreds of planets, cultures and species.

There was a very touching tribute to not only Leonard Nimoy but the entire cast of the original series which did almost give me a lump in my throat.

The score was really good, although the levels of the sound design sometimes drowned out the dialogue.

The way they explain the motorbike we saw in the trailer was really well done, as was the way they subtly linked this movie to the Enterprise tv show.

Final verdict
Great performances from all of the cast again. Definitely a better movie than Into Darkness, although I can see some of the more diehard Star Trek fans not liking it. The plot is certainly original and ties in nicely to the mythology opened by Enterprise the tv show. The pacing was off in places for me which ultimately affected the flow of the movie. The set pieces could have been trimmed down to make them tighter and we definitely didn't need all the shaky-cam. However, I think there was only three really noticeable lens flares, so that's a plus!

I would say it is a huge improvement over Into Darkness, but not as good as the 2009 reboot. Is it worth watching? Most definitely. Will you enjoy it if you're a lifelong Star Trek fan? I'll leave that for you to answer.

My Movie rating system
10- Citizen "F*%king" Kane (A+)
9- Bloody Great (A)
8- Really rather good (A-)
7- Pretty decent (B+)
6- Definitely above average (B)
5- Middle of the road average (C)
4- Mediocre (D)
3- Meh (E)
2- Crap (F)
1- Why the hell did I waste my my time and money of this abomination (unrated)

Score - 7.2/10

After-thought: Future of the Franchise
While I was sat on the night bus on my way home after watching this movie I had an epiphany about the Kelvin timeline movies: they are taking their inspiration from these new movies from the existing movies and not the tv show.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture      - first cinematic movie
Star Trek (2009)           - first cinematic movie in the Kelvin timeline

Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan
Star Trek Into Darkness    - a remake of Wrath of Khan

Star Trek 3: The Search for Spock   - biggest iconic moment in the movie? The Enterprise is destroyed
Star Trek Beyond               - The Enterprise is destroyed

Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home   - time travel adventure
Star Trek 4 (untitled)         - a time travel adventure in which Captain Kirk will co-star with his dad, Chris Hemsworth.

God knows what they will do when they get to Final Frontier, in my opinion the worst Trek movie in the entire franchise.

[Darth Justicar]

I have to say, I really enjoyed myself at this movie.  And having just come off of seeing that horrendous animation for Discovery, I do wonder if there's an eventual desire to scuttle the prime universe in favor the Kelvin universe.

Without offering spoilers, I will say that the thing that was VERY strongly impressed on me was the huge jump in maturity levels of all characters.  These aren't squabbling children anymore--these are adults.  Quirky adults, yes, but actually adults.  This is the first time I was impressed with Uhura as a character...I felt she was done a disservice in BOTH prior movies, and now I actually saw some of the dignity I associate with Nichelle Nichols' version of Uhura in the original series movies.

There was one thing that kept coming to mind during the movie though, that I'm wondering if I was crazy for spotting.  Is Jeremy Lin or someone affiliated with this movie a Mass Effect fan?  I could have SWORN I heard voices intended to sound like EDI and Tali'zorah, the bad guys' armor made them look like Collectors (Protheans) in a major way when fully suited up, and without saying when I saw it, there was a location in the movie that gave me a major Citadel vibe.

I ALSO think I spotted a couple of nods to Galaxy Quest in the alien designs...

[Darth Knox]

I have to say, I really enjoyed myself at this movie.  And having just come off of seeing that horrendous animation for Discovery, I do wonder if there's an eventual desire to scuttle the prime universe in favor the Kelvin universe.

Without offering spoilers, I will say that the thing that was VERY strongly impressed on me was the huge jump in maturity levels of all characters.  These aren't squabbling children anymore--these are adults.  Quirky adults, yes, but actually adults.  This is the first time I was impressed with Uhura as a character...I felt she was done a disservice in BOTH prior movies, and now I actually saw some of the dignity I associate with Nichelle Nichols' version of Uhura in the original series movies.

There was one thing that kept coming to mind during the movie though, that I'm wondering if I was crazy for spotting.  Is Jeremy Lin or someone affiliated with this movie a Mass Effect fan?  I could have SWORN I heard voices intended to sound like EDI and Tali'zorah, the bad guys' armor made them look like Collectors (Protheans) in a major way when fully suited up, and without saying when I saw it, there was a location in the movie that gave me a major Citadel vibe.

I ALSO think I spotted a couple of nods to Galaxy Quest in the alien designs...

the admiral is the voice of one of the characters in mass effect, so you're not going mad

what do you think about my after-thoughts?

[Darth Justicar]

Aha!  I knew that was another familiar voice, but I couldn't place it.  Another quarian, I see.

To me, Jaylah's voice resembled Tali's, and Kalara's Universal Translator voice sounded like EDI.

And as for your afterthoughts, yep, a lot of Star Trek fans have pointed that out too, though generally not so nicely as you have.

[Darth Knox]

Aha!  I knew that was another familiar voice, but I couldn't place it.  Another quarian, I see.

To me, Jaylah's voice resembled Tali's, and Kalara's Universal Translator voice sounded like EDI.

And as for your afterthoughts, yep, a lot of Star Trek fans have pointed that out too, though generally not so nicely as you have.

EDI was voiced by Tricia Helfer who was in Battlestar Galactica, but I see where you're coming from.

But Jaylah didn't sound as mechanical (or adorably geeky) as Tali.

As for the direction of the new movies, I don't see why any fans would be less than nice about that fact. Especially when you look at The Force Awakens and it's similarities to A New Hope.

However, given the similarities so far with the Trek movies, it seems obvious that the studio sees the future of the franchise lays with the movies and not on tv (although given the nature of the talent involved with the new series I don't think they are deliberately making something that will fail)

[Jev Moldara]

As an FYI, Jaylah was played by Sofia Boutella, the same actress who played Gazelle, the henchwoman with the bladed prosthetic feet, in Kingsman: The Secret Service.

[Darth Knox]

As an FYI, Jaylah was played by Sofia Boutella, the same actress who played Gazelle, the henchwoman with the bladed prosthetic feet, in Kingsman: The Secret Service.

as stated in my review

[Jev Moldara]

as stated in my review

Well, I didn't read your review at first because I didn't want to spoil anything even slightly (I went on a complete internet Star Trek blackout from Thursday Night to Saturday afternoon when I got back from seeing it). And now, I guess I skipped over that part entirely in my speedreading.

[Darth Justicar]

EDI was voiced by Tricia Helfer who was in Battlestar Galactica, but I see where you're coming from.

But Jaylah didn't sound as mechanical (or adorably geeky) as Tali.

I wouldn't have called them exact resemblances by any means, but it did make me think of those characters.  I think part of the quarian resemblance with Jaylah may be that they seem to go for a Middle Eastern vibe with the way the quarians speak in Mass Effect, and both actresses that I thought had a quarian connection were of Middle Eastern origin.

As for the direction of the new movies, I don't see why any fans would be less than nice about that fact. Especially when you look at The Force Awakens and it's similarities to A New Hope.

There are people that will trash the JJverse at all costs. :\

However, given the similarities so far with the Trek movies, it seems obvious that the studio sees the future of the franchise lays with the movies and not on tv (although given the nature of the talent involved with the new series I don't think they are deliberately making something that will fail)

I'd like to hope that's true, that they aren't setting it up to fail.

[Darth Knox]

Well, I didn't read your review at first because I didn't want to spoil anything even slightly (I went on a complete internet Star Trek blackout from Thursday Night to Saturday afternoon when I got back from seeing it). And now, I guess I skipped over that part entirely in my speedreading.

i did the same thing with Civil War and Star Wars. It's actually quite easy to avoid facebook, websites and various forums when you really want to.

And why on earth would you want to speedread through my review? It's extremely well-written, full of deep insights, humour and analytical brilliance.

[Jev Moldara]

i did the same thing with Civil War and Star Wars. It's actually quite easy to avoid facebook, websites and various forums when you really want to.

And why on earth would you want to speedread through my review? It's extremely well-written, full of deep insights, humour and analytical brilliance.

...because I am a speedreader by nature.

I actually read everything you wrote EXCEPT the bit about Sofia Boutella. For some reason, it skipped right past my eyes when I scrolled down.

[Darth Knox]

I wouldn't have called them exact resemblances by any means, but it did make me think of those characters.  I think part of the quarian resemblance with Jaylah may be that they seem to go for a Middle Eastern vibe with the way the quarians speak in Mass Effect, and both actresses that I thought had a quarian connection were of Middle Eastern origin.

i get that. And jaylah was a great addition to the trek-verse. Hope to see more of her in the next movie.

There are people that will trash the JJverse at all costs. :\

i think people are hating on the Kelvin timeline less because of the content and more because they have a dislike for JJ. Which is a shame, as he has made some great movies. And some duds too, like all directors, but the good far outweighs the bad.

I'd like to hope that's true, that they aren't setting it up to fail.

what gave me the most hope is that they have brought Nicholas Meyer into the fold, he who is responsible for two of the best Trek movies in the franchise. He truly understands how to tell a great Trek story.

...because I am a speedreader by nature.

I actually read everything you wrote EXCEPT the bit about Sofia Boutella. For some reason, it skipped right past my eyes when I scrolled down.

natural speedreader. Cool mutant power to have.

Missing that part is understandable, so I may forgive you. Eventually. At some point. Maybe.

[scifidude79]

Great review, as usual.  I'm waiting for a rental release on this one, as I haven't seen anything in the trailers saying I need to go see it.

And having just come off of seeing that horrendous animation for Discovery

You mean the test footage that was done at the studio, as opposed to being done by someone at an actual effects company?  (they haven't even hired an effects company yet)  It truly amazes me how people are going on and on about that.

[Darth Knox]

Great review, as usual.  I'm waiting for a rental release on this one, as I haven't seen anything in the trailers saying I need to go see it.

You mean the test footage that was done at the studio, as opposed to being done by someone at an actual effects company?  (they haven't even hired an effects company yet)  It truly amazes me how people are going on and on about that.

people are going on about it as it was officially released at comic-con. If there was a disclaimer or something saying it was unfinished/temporary/demo footsge that would be one thing, but as far as i know there has been nothing like that.

Glad you liked the review. I would say it is definitely worth seeing on the big screen.

[Darth Justicar]

If it's as scifidude says, then they made a major PR snafu by not making that clear.