Too far past the Frontier..??

COLINS FILM CLUB Review STAR TREK BEYOND Cinema

Reaching it's 50th anniversary, Star Trek celebrated by releasing a new film - Star Trek Beyond! We are still firmly in the alternative timeline set up by JJ Abrams in 2009 but this time we have moved ahead some three years in the Enterprises 5yr mission. All the original cast are present along with some additional new faces and Simon Pegg pulls double duty as Scotty and script writer. Bad guy "Krall" is played by Idris Elba under layers of latex and is almost unrecognisable. Krall has a beef with a Federation which he believes has left him behind on a wasteland type planet, he plans his revenge with the help of a gadget type mcguffin that destroys matter. Enter the Enterprise crew... starting on what appears to be a rescue mission, things soon go very badly wrong as the ship is attacked and the crew ends up marooned on Krall's planet. As for the cast, the main leads are now very comfortable in their roles, with Chris Pine giving off some very Shatner-like mannerisms at times and Quinto infuses his Spock with a neat emotional centre at his core, betraying quite often his half human side. It is however Karl Urbans McCoy who shines in this installment with some wonderful lines and moments, in fact he has made McCoy his own and it's great to see him finally given more to do. Of course others fare less better, Scotty gets the lionshare of the other scenes but the likes of Sulu, Uhura and Chekov are relatively sidelined. As a villain, Elba doesn't quite hit the right note, his struggle against the Federation is somewhat weakened once more of his back story is revealed and it makes his position seem a bit strange. There is a certain latitude of sympathy towards his situation but once his formidable "swarm" is dealt with he is rendered somewhat powerless. For all its promise and spectacle, there are things which should have worked better too, like the Enterprise getting destroyed (again!) Which feels like a mash up of its near destruction in the previous film and a similar demise in Star Trek Generations. The gadget that Krall is after is poorly explained and there is never any reason given for why Krall became what he did. More interesting is the introduction of the USS Franklin which is a ship that manages to bridge the gap from the Enterprise series and this new timeline, the the former was left untouched by Abrams continuity changes. It's clearly an early Starfleet vessel and it's quite refreshing to see the new cast use this ship. Now, I'm in a minority here in that I quite enjoyed the Into Darkness film, so this follow up needed to impress me a great deal. And whilst it definitely has its moments and I did sit in the cinema feeling entertained, there was also a feeling of being underwhelmed too. Could it be that we have had enough of the frenetic style of these new Trek films and yearn for the slower and more cerebral pace of the original timeline... It's not a bad film, the fans will get all the in references to other series, films and characters in the Trek cannon. But it leaves you wanting for a little bit more than what it gives, and if you need more on offer then the total sum of the film must have been lacking. As a celebration for 50 years, it should have been really special. As it stands it's standard Trek fare which will tide you over. On a special note, the film is dedicated to the late Leonard Nimoy and his character of Spock Prime is shown to have passed away in this timeline. It's treated respectively and tastefully. In the closing credits there is also a simple mention to Anton Yelchin who tragically passed away just prior to its release.

So, Star Trek Beyond isn't a bad film, it isn't groundbreaking either and it certainly is no Wrath of Khan, but it's central premise runs out of steam and it's weak villain cannot hold things together on his own. It's no disaster but it could and should have been a bit better...

COLINS FILM CLUB RATING 🌟🌟