Star Trek Beyond

2016 • 122 minutes

About this movie

From Producer J.J. Abrams comes one of the best-reviewed action movies of the year. Dispatched on a rescue mission to the farthest reaches of space the USS Enterprise is ambushed by Krall a ruthless warlord sworn against the Federation. Crash-landing on an uncharted hostile world Captain Kirk Spock and the crew are separated with no means of escape. Only Jaylah a rebellious alien warrior can help them reunite and find a way off the planet in a race against time to stop Krall's deadly army from triggering all-out galactic war.

Ratings and reviews

Wasn't sure how this was going to pan out because most of it takes place on a planet rather than on the Enterprise in outer space, and boy was it great. Good plot, story lines had you sucked in right from the get go, and I looked around the packed theatre during the beastie boys song sabotage and everyone...young kids, white haired ladies, and everyone in between...was bopping their heads to the beat and enjoying the show in 3D. This movie was great as a movie, not just a sci-fi film, which is why I rented it and made my wife sit through it at home and she liked it too. Side note: if you want to re-create the theatre experience then go into the washroom and pour water all over the sink, pee on the floor, sit behind her and kick the back of the couch, and throw juice and popcorn all over the floor....oh and spin her around until she sees double and ask her to wear the 3D glasses you brought home from the movies.

Star Trek Beyond is a solid science fiction action-packed adventure that juggles its ensemble cast well, but falls short on developing its main antagonist. While the past two films in the series focused heavily on Pine's Kirk and Quinto's Spock, Beyond did a solid job of fleshing out the rest of the Enterprise's main bridge inhabitants. Urban's "Bones" McCoy and Pegg's Montgomery Scott were solid performers and series newcomer Sofia Boutella as Jaylah provided a refreshing nonhuman character, something J.J. Abrams' Star Trek franchise sorely needed. The biggest problem with the film falls on the weak development of Idris Elba's villain Krall. Elba's performance is serviceable, but the character of Krall never really feels as dangerous or imposing as the narrative leads the audience to believe, nor does the random twist at the beginning of the third act settle in long enough to matter. That said, the action and theatrics in Beyond define summer blockbuster popcorn fare and fans of Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek Into Darkness won't be disappointed.

This film does a disservice to the Star Trek franchise. In fact, there is no opening title sequence to indicate it is even a Star Trek film. Like Kirk's fears, the plot lacks purpose and floats away into space. While Abrams and Lin give a constant adrenaline-punched ride, the action becomes boring because there is no climatic tension building up to it. Indeed, action outweighs story so much that the viewer is left wondering what is actually happening and why. In these times I wanted to turn off the movie but felt a duty as a life-long Trekkie. All the characters appear flat and lack any complexity. The relationship between Spock and Kirk does not develop in this film, as in the previous movies. Bones is meant to serve as a comic relief to the stoic Spock, but becomes annoying after the first half hour. Even worse, the dialogue is choppy and full of one-liners, which are only sporadically humorous. I felt sorry for the actors because they can perform better than the trite dialog they were given. The ending twist seemed unpredictable and implausible, and therefore unsatisfactory as a whole. Too bad it didn't come sooner. It wasn't worth the $1.25 I spent.