It might seem exciting to have the opportunity to "...explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before". Captain James T. Kirk and his crew aboard the Starship Enterprise have undoubtedly had many adventures during the first 2-3 years of their mandated 5 year journey through unknown space. To be fair though, even while discovering new civilizations and expanding one's knowledge of the known universe, it can be easy to become, shall we say, complacent, to the point where such a journey eventually loses its appeal. Captain Kirk begins to wonder if it's time to leave the captain's chair and explore other opportunities in Starfleet. His best friend and right hand man Spock is feeling the same way - he contemplates leaving Starfleet and spearheading an attempt to rebuild the Vulcan homeworld. Both Kirk and Spock must set aside their ambitions for the time being, however, as they are sent on a mission to look into an abandoned ship which had been attacked by an unknown enemy. Their rescue mission turns out to be a trap, and so Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the crew are taken captive by a brutal, violent and cunning alien by the name of Krall.
Star Trek Beyond is the third installment of the rebooted Star Trek franchise, and it's safe to say that it's a heck of a wild ride from start to finish. It's easy to see the influence of some of director Justin Lin's other movies such as the Fast and the Furious franchise. The action sequences definitely had a Fast and Furious in space feel to them. Not necessarily an entirely *bad* thing, but also not necessarily a *great* thing either. Especially when action such as the sequences found in Fast and the Furious can possibly be considered a dime a dozen. I don't mean that in the sense that it was all just mindless action per se, but rather the adrenaline-racing pace of the action was obviously similar. As an action movie lover myself, I had a lot of fun in the theater. I could also see a notable difference in the writing between Beyond and the previous rebooted movies. With Simon Pegg in charge of script writing duties, I could see the tone of Beyond grow closer to the original, more philosophical idea of what Star Trek is, and not another Fast and the Furious clone. I hope that trend continues onto the next installment.
That said, Star Trek Beyond is not without its problems. I liked Idris Elba as Krall well enough, but it felt like something was missing to make him a truly memorable villain. I'm not really sure if it was his motivations behind his actions I didn't like, or something else, but either way I was left wanting just a bit more from him. The script did have a pretty creative way to bring Krall into conflict with the crew of the Enterprise, so that in and of itself was a plus. As mentioned above, the action is pretty thrilling and adrenaline-pumping, but (mild spoiler) the way in which Captain Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise defeated Krall was admittedly a little weird. I'm not sure if I'd say it was bad, it certainly was creative, but I feel like a less outlandish way to defeat Krall would have been better. Really the only other true beef I had with the movie was the soundtrack. Maybe it's just me, but the Beastie Boys and Public Enemy doesn't really seem like the type of music I would normally associate with a movie/series such as Star Trek. But that's probably just me.
As far as the rebooted franchise goes, Star Trek Beyond is probably my second favorite. I'm one of the (apparently) few who greatly enjoyed Star Trek Into Darkness, and it also happens to be my favorite of the reboots. Star Trek Beyond is yet another exciting, adrenaline-pumping ride through space that leaves me anxious to see what is coming next. Side note: I know it's probably a long way off, but I really am hoping sometime in the future for a new adaptation of The Next Generation or Deep Space Nine. I guess we shall see if it happens.
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