'Star Trek Beyond' Review

Image from Screenrant

By Diego Coya

            Star Trek Beyond is the third installment in the rebooted Star Trek series. Taking place three years after the events of Star Trek Into Darkness, Kirk and his crew get attacked by an unstoppable wave of aliens which leads to the Enterprise almost getting destroyed. As a result, they land into a dangerous new uncharted territory with no form of communication since the whole crew is separated from each other. The crew also has to go against Krall, who will stop at nothing to create havoc on the Federation. Along the journey, the audience meets new characters and we learn more about Kirk and his crew.

            I absolutely loved the previous two films Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness; not only were they great summer blockbusters, they were great movies in general. With that being said, I was not very excited for this third installment. The main reason being that JJ Abrams was not coming back to direct this film, and the trailers were underwhelming to say the least. I have to say, I really enjoyed the film. Star Trek Beyond is a very good summer blockbuster that has tons of action, humor, and explosions. It’s an entertaining movie that certainly is fun.

            The chemistry between the characters is outstanding. Kirk and Spock once again show how well these characters work with each other, and every character was very likeable. Simon Pegg, who also co-wrote the film, injects a lot of humor that really works and the audience in my theater was laughing from time to time. The dialogue is well realized and overall the screenplay was terrific. My favorite character in the film, is Jaylah, who is played by Sofia Boutella. She is an outstanding new addition and she stole the show. I am most certainly looking forward to seeing her in the next Star Trek film.

Justin Lin, who is the director, surprised me with how he filmed the action scenes. Although he has impressed me with the Fast and Furious films he directed, I was skeptical to see how the action scenes were going to turn out since JJ Abrams did such a fantastic job with them in the previous two films. Justin Lin does a great job with the actions scenes; they are well directed and entertaining to watch. The CGI is also very good, and even though there are tons of explosions, Star Trek Beyond is not mindless fun like the Transformers franchise. There are great characters and a solid story.

As far as flaws goes, I enjoyed the previous two films much more; I felt as if they were more emotional and impactful. Additionally, the villain Krull does not quite deliver despite Idris Elba’s great performance. I felt the same way about Apocalpyse from X-Men: Apocalypse, as I do about Krull. As the movie goes on, his motivations become more clear and they start to make more sense. Unfortunately, when compared to Eric Bana’s and Benedict Cumberbatch’s villains in the previous films, Krull does fall kind of short. The pacing in the beginning drags just a bit, but after a certain scene, the film picks up and it is a blast.

I would definitely recommend Star Trek Beyond if you are a Star Trek fan. After a streak of mediocre and awful films, it was refreshing to see a film that is quite good in the theaters. Despite some of the flaws the film has, the positive easily outweigh the negatives. This was a solid third installment and I am definitely to the next Star Trek film.

Rating: 8.5/10