Star Trek Beyond Movie reviews

Movie Review

Siddharth Martis

4 / 5

Star Trek: Beyond is a film directed by Justin Lin and written by Simon Pegg and Doug Jung. It stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoë Saldana, and Simon Pegg along with John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Idris Elba, and Sofia Boutella.

The U.S.S. Enterprise crew explores the furthest reaches of uncharted space, where they encounter a mysterious new enemy who puts them and everything the Federation stands for, to the test.
Star Trek: Beyond has the Enterprise travel through charted territory to provide the summer of 2016 with its first spectacular blockbuster. Beyond boldly travels where the franchise has gone before and works more than it really should. The way I see it is, if Star Trek (2009) had the best plot, Into Darkness (2013) had the best villain, then Star Trek: Beyond features the best character relations.

With that said, Beyond in no way skimps on the action front. With a mix of breath-taking stunts, vibrant visuals, and gorgeous action sequences, director Justin Lin crafts a highly entertaining and often quite thrilling adventure that never seems to have a dull moment.

Though Beyond does follow the series' formula to a tee, it is redeemed by its heightened sense of comradery, absent in the previous two entries. As the film begins to develop its characters and eventually splits them up, I found myself invested in all four story lines.

I not only cared for the characters but was stunned by the structure backing them. With four distinct storylines eventually intersecting, the writers ran the risk of crafting an uneven film as some arches stand out while others pale in comparison. This risk paid off exponentially as each subplot established the film's characters as more than just archetypes, and with a blend of dramatic irony and personalized character flaws, the crew of the Enterprise became fully realized people with realistic motivations.

That leads me to my biggest issue with the film, Krall. Krall and his army acts as the main antagonist of the film and follow up the magnificent Benedict Cumberbatch’s Khan quite poorly. I believe that behind any great villain there is logic. This logic should raise the question of morality as viewers start to empathize with the antagonist. Khan’s logic and backstory were flawless and I could really get behind him.

On the other hand, though Krall was presented as a force to be reckoned with, he was never provided enough depth or persona to pull it off. Though his underdevelopment became a serious issue, especially in the latter half of the film, his muddled motivation is what really ruined his character in my mind. With that said, Idris Elba does give a very powerful performance that gives some much-needed definition to the one-dimensional character.

What’s most perplexing about Krall’s character is that in the midst of fully developed and robust characters, he sticks out like a sore thumb, unlike the other addition to the Star Trek cannon, Jaylah was a welcome addition to the roster and was brought to life marvelously by Sofia Boutella. Though Boutella was great and Chris Pine proves himself an apt James T. Kirk, Zachary Quinto and Karl Urban stood out as the most entertaining and consistently hilarious duo in the film.