I’ve said it before, J.J. Abrams is close to taking over the
mantle where Steven Spielberg is residing. With his production company,
Bad Robot, inheriting the Star Trek franchise as well as Star Wars,
there’s no further elevation he can reach. Yes, he’s got a lot of
television under his belt, took over the Mission: Impossible series of
films, and has so many film projects lined up for quite some time, so we’re in
for years and years of cinematic adventures.
As for the Star Trek film franchise, not to mention the
multiple television series throughout the years, I’ve enjoyed some of the
earlier films and television episodes here and there. The first four
films I’d enjoyed quite a bit and actually own them on Blu-Ray, watching them
occasionally when the feeling arises. Part five and beyond had really
lost me and I’d never decided to venture forth with those sequels, forgetting
about them and seeing part four as the final film in that series. I’ve
seen some of the earlier television series of the 60s in syndication when I was
a kid, but never felt I was a big fan. All newer shows were never
within my radar and I’d just stayed away, thinking you had to be a diehard
enthusiast to watch and understand.
It wasn’t until my first theatrical viewing of Cloverfield that
a spark of interest lit up inside me, seeing the teaser for the 2009 film where
we see workers welding and laboring on a huge craft, hearing famous recordings
of John F. Kennedy and American astronauts, seeing that it was the USS
Enterprise as the shot widened out, all of it ending with Leonard Nimoy’s
voiceover: “Space…the final frontier…” I had been sold, right there, developing
the desire to see the movie when it was to be released.
So here we are now, seven years later, with the second sequel to
the series…2016’s Star Trek Beyond. I really like that J.J.
Abrams, et al, are going away from the number tagged on each sequel, choosing to
add a title after the words, Star Trek. With the first sequel, the
title convention was Star Trek Into Darkness. No number…not even a
colon to separate the title. With Beyond, it describes what
the main characters actually do in this story…they go beyond the reaches of
space and that’s how the main crux of the story begins.
The USS Enterprise crew, led by Captain James. T. Kirk (Chris
Pine), explores the furthest reaches of uncharted space, where they encounter a
new ruthless enemy, Krall (Idris Elba), who puts them and everything the
Federation stands for to the test.


Although Idris Elba does a magnificent job as Krall, I felt it was
a waste to have him spend the majority of the movie underneath all that
makeup. I’d known that he was in the film, but kind of forgot about it,
not knowing who was the actor playing this villain when I’d first laid eyes upon
him. You’d think that they could’ve gotten a stuntman or lesser-known
actor to play the part in this movie, like someone who’s used to wearing a
bunch of latex and makeup…someone like…Doug Jones…?

As I’d said, being that I’m not a big Star Trek fan, I really hadn’t caught a lot of the callbacks that
I’ve heard some people talk about. What
I had caught, however, was a few here
and there, reminding me of some of the previous Star Trek films that had
featured the original cast. For
instance, near the beginning of the film, when Kirk and McCoy share a drink, it
reminded me of a similar scene in Star
Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. A
deliberate one, but more of an accolade to the original actor—George Takei—who
had played Sulu in the television series as well as the original films, was to
write in a character development to have Sulu (John Cho) be represented
as gay. Unfortunately, that added characteristic was not condoned by Takei,
citing that it wouldn’t have been Gene Roddenberry’s intention to have the
character represented that way. Another
little touch that I’d noticed and have heard other people mention was towards
the end of the movie, when Kirk toasts his crew, making mention to the ones that are
absent. At that moment, the camera
lingers on Yelchin, giving a nice nod to the late actor as sort of a chapter
closing on his character.
The rest of the cast are all pretty much here, but one takes a
backseat and doesn’t do much except earn a paycheck—Lieutenant Uhura (Zoe
Saldana). She has a minor role in this
sequel, which is too bad, but she does
help move the plot along when it comes to an important point in the story. Interjected in the film is a new character,
and one that we’ll probably see again—Jaylah (Sofia Boutella). Her performance added a bit of levity and
played well alongside Simon Pegg’s Scotty.
Just like the television series, the rest of the crew on the USS
Enterprise are a series of faces that we’ll never see again, but that’s not
necessarily bad.

Of course, when you have Simon Pegg in the cast—and one of the
writers, I might add—you’re going to be treated to some humorous moments. Pegg’s scenes, as Scotty, keep those moments
lighthearted and fun, and that’s where the actor really excels. Scotty’s little friend, Keenser (Deep Roy),
is back as well and had me laughing when a skill is brought to life on screen
as he sneezes on a cell lock to disintegrate it, being that his snot is acidic. I’m not sure if that was a writing contribution
from Pegg, but I’m willing to bet it was.

So…my final “bit” on Star Trek Beyond?
Once again, J.J. Abrams, along with Justin Lin, bring us a pleasurable
family-friendly sci-fi adventure, with out-of-this-world visuals and
action. The film features a perfect
blend of action, science, some scares, and humor, with the Star Trek mythos perfectly in place. I loved every minute of it, even the little
bit of exposition between McCoy and Kirk, and look forward to more of this
reimagined film series. Though it may be
tough to go forward without the character of Chekov—though a minor character,
but memorable nonetheless—I’m still going to be rooted in the theater’s seat,
waiting to see what’s in store for the crew of the Enterprise on their next
adventure.
Thanks for reading!
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