The action beats often work, even if it’s harder to roll your eyes at all this “Enterprise” recycling with 3D glasses on.Īs trite and repetitive as these movies have become, this weary franchise is still more fun or at least easier to sit through than any of those Diesel-powered car chase pictures.
The script and the director (Justin Lin has been doing “Fast and Furious” movies of late) lean heavily on “family” and “teamwork” and comedy.
Pegg plainly took the most pleasure in writing for McCoy and Spock. “Struggle made us strong,” he says of himself and his kind. He’s been watching “Next Generation” re-runs with all that mincing about on the Holodeck, talking about one’s feelings. But their martial foe has observed them and thinks they’ve grown soft. “There is strength in unity” the United Space Alliance members believe. As the survivors struggle to survive on a planet dusted with aliens enslaved by this Krall (Elba) and his minions, and littered with wrecked spacecraft as well, we see this “doo-dad” that motivates Khan - um, Krall - and get to the big conflict at the heart of Pegg and Doug Jung’s script. A hive of tiny ships piloted by reptilian beasties lure the Enterprise in, decimate the crew and wreck the ship. That’s the perfect time for a fresh alien menace to arise from a planet in the middle of a nebula. Spock is having second thoughts about his career, too. His boss (Shohreh Aghdashloo) understands, seeing as how “There’s no relative direction in the vastness of space…It’s easy to get lost.” He’s a bit young to be feeling his mortality, but he’s figured out that if space and time are infinite, “What’s the point?” But pandering with polish.Ĭhris Pine’s Kirk is no longer wet behind the ears, so he’s contemplating abandoning their “Five Year Mission” for a desk job and promotion with two years to go. For once.Īnd Kirk (Chris Pine)? He gets on a motorcycle and approves of The Beastie Boys, music to battle an alien menace by. Scotty, Simon Pegg’s character, lands his one-liners and may let the alien girl (Sofia Boutella) get him. Sulu (John Cho) finally comes out of the closet, Spock (Zachary Quinto) and Uhura (Zoe Saldana) break up (like we didn’t see THAT coming) so that he and Bones McCoy (Karl Urban) can resume the Greatest Romance in Filmed Science Fiction.
Yes, another interstellar megalomaniac has it in for Starfleet. So yeah, we see another version of the U.S.S. Neither Leonard Nimoy (Spock 1.0) nor Anton Yelchin (Checkov 2.0) will be around for Paramount’s just-announced fourth film in this latest iteration of the “Final Frontier” franchise.Īttention was paid to the villain, and even under makeup and effects, Idris Elba registers. The effects sparkle and the design dazzles in “Star Trek Beyond,” perhaps the best looking “Star Trek” movie ever.Īnd Simon Pegg - cast member and avid Trekker - has served up a pulpy and derivative script that panders to the fans, but generally pays off as it does.Įvery cast member has a moment or two in the sun.