Star Trek: Beyond Review: Sorta Kinda Beyond-ish

Our beloved captain looks to hang up his ship for a desk job.

Star Trek Beyond, the third installment in the Abrams’ Kelvin timeline, would be the first movie of the diverged universe in which Abrams would not direct, passing duties on to Justin Lin of Fast and the Furious fame, with Abrams chipping in as producer. While this was disappointing at first glance, the hope was that Lin would inject the franchise with new life, and not fall into the ho-hum cadence that so many franchises sink into after a few films.

Looking back at the progression of this trilogy, the previous film in the franchise, Into Darkness, was good but not great. Like any sequel, it relied heavily on all the things that made the first film a success, coupled with a double dose of nostalgia — albeit maybe too much. So the real question lies in what the franchise could become if it went for something a bit more original and less re-hash.

Enter Star Trek Beyond. James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) is attempting to find himself after reaching the halfway point of a laborious five-year mission. A mission that is seemingly wearing him down, predicated by misgivings of trying to capture a dream that was not his, but that of his father.

We are told this mission has taken the crew into the far reaches of space, which may contribute to some of the captain's issues, giving him the feeling that the life of the starship captain may not be the one for him. Though nothing to me about the movie really feels beyond, and after seeing a series like Star Trek: Voyager, some of those sensibilities may have been lost on me. The Voyager crew was really beyond, being stranded in the delta quadrant. When looking at the deep space aspects of this movie, the distant nature of the mission was lost on me due to the majesty and wonder of the Federation’s most advanced starbase, Starbase Yorktown, which made deep space feel a bit too much like home.

Soon after the revelation of Kirk’s intended departure from the Enterprise, we find that he’s not the only one who’s set his sites on leaving. Upon finding out that his alternate universe self has died, Spock (Zachary Quinto) feels a similar calling as he is drawn to New Vulcan to do good for his people.

But thoughts of exodus would be put on hold, as the Enterprise is sent out on what could be the duo’s last mission. A mission to rescue a ship located beyond a nebula that cuts off all communications with Starbase Yorktown. To much chagrin, a simple rescue mission starts off in the worst way imaginable, as the Enterprise is ripped asunder and a new life-sucking enemy and its swarm of ships lay waste to ship and crew in search of a powerful relic.

After the destruction of the Enterprise, the team is split up, setting the stage for some rather enjoyable team-up moments. We have a pairing of Kirk and Chekhov (Anton Yelchin), Spock and McCoy (Karl Urban), Scotty (Simon Pegg), and Jaylah (Sofia Boutella), then Uhura (Zoe Saldana) and Sulu (John Cho). I don’t know why, but the buddy system really worked for me. The unique pairings allowed for a different dynamic and feel than we have gotten in any of the other Kelvin movies, as character moments were the principal driver. Most notable were the Spock and McCoy moments, which seemed to lend themselves to a deeper humanization of Spock, and gave McCoy a bigger feel of importance in the overall design.

Then there is the swarm. While the idea of a vast array of small ships that operate in an orchestrated pattern by a controlled harmonic frequency is not particularly unique to the Star Trek franchise, it does provide an admirable foe that feels almost impossible in nature. It was a beautiful dark twisted fantasy to see these ships tear apart the Enterprise while being heart-wrenching at the same time as you think of the loss of its crew. This brings me to the visuals.

This is a visually stunning movie, in particular, when the Enterprise meets its destruction. During its demise we see the swarm shred the Enterprise to pieces. And we see this up close and personal; ships punching through its hull, visible holes throughout, rotating exposed corridors, and so much more. It was just a magnificently beautiful artistic piece.

But it doesn’t stop there, as the visuals of Starbase Yorktown are simply gorgeous; more akin to something you would see in a Japanese anime than anything we have seen in the Star Trek universe. The glass-domed enclosure was open and vibrant and felt more like a mini planet in-cased in a snow globe than any space station of times past. They managed to craft something that feels like an actual living breathing futuristic well-engineered planet. Its well thought out ship entry and gravitational design, play a key role in the final act of the movie.

Again, I really enjoyed this movie, but it certainly has a few issues. One that jumps out at me is the way in which the swarm was destroyed. I won’t dive deep into the details, but never should the resolution to defeating an enemy be Michael Diamond, Adam Horovitz, and Adam Yauch. Just never.

Then there is the issue with Krall (Idris Elba). While I had no issue with Elba’s portrayal of Krall per se, it sure feels like he is pretty much wasted in this film. The chain of events that leads Krall to want to destroy the Federation is not anything particularly new or even interesting. I guess one could say that Krall went mad because of the very thing that kept him alive, but even that feels like a bit of a stretch and is not articulated well on screen. Ultimately he felt like your run-of-the-mill villain, nothing more or less.

And what about the title of the movie itself, Beyond. I guess you can say they went beyond the nebula to rescue a ship in distress, or maybe beyond communications range. To be quite honest, other than Kirk’s murmuring about the taxing effect of being out in deep space for so long, nothing that happened really felt beyond. And I think in large part that is due to the immaculate Yorktown space station being their place of shore leave. While I love the design and feel, it felt a bit too elaborate to be something out in the far reaches of space.

Also, is the issue with the misgiving that Kirk and Spock had at the beginning of the film about wanting to leave and do other things. While the setup for that scenario to play out felt great, I really feel like we never get a resolution as to why either may change their mind by the end of the film. Yeah, I stopped the bad guy. Yeah, I really care about everyone on this crew. And? What was so different about now? Maybe I missed something, but I do not see how one great adventure would instantly change everything in this regard.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the meaning of seeing Anton Yelchin on his final adventure on the Enterprise. While he was the ultra-smart character he has always been, it was still sad to see him in his final appearance. And while the pairing of him and Kirk didn’t feel like anything particularly special, it was fun to see them both working closely together as they rummaged a crashed Enterprise for a means of getting off the planet.

Also, there is a particularly good moment near the end of the film as new Spock looks through old Spock’s (Leonard Nimoy) belongings. It will bring a smile to your face.

In closing, there are plenty of Easter eggs and the cast continues to channel that familiar feel while evolving the characters into their own. Lin provides a slight divergence from the normal character dynamics and displays a visual masterpiece, all while sticking to the core values of what the fandom wants from their beloved franchise. If you are a Star Trek fan, young or old, this movie is worth watching.