At the risk
of making it seem like I only ever watch blockbusters these days, here are my
thoughts on the latest Star Trek instalment, Star Trek Beyond.
I loved the
first two reboots, 2009’s Star Trek and
2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness. I’m
not saying that they were perfect movies, but they were great sci-fi action films that managed to breathe new life
into the Star Trek franchise. Let’s not forget that before 2009, there hadn’t
been a movie for seven years and the last TV series (Enterprise) had ended four years earlier having been something of a
damp squib. JJ Abrams took a lot of flak for his action-heavy approach and his
insistence on reimagining bits of the canon (criticisms he also faced in
respect of Star Wars: The Force Awakens),
but I loved the fact that there was an incredible amount of energy being pumped
into the franchise. You could tell that everyone involved was on board and
having a bloody good time. And so, when Abrams departed the series, I was a
little bit worried. The new director, Justin Lin, had a bunch of Fast and Furious films under his belt,
which certainly meant that he knew about action, but sci-fi?
Well, no-one
need have worried, because Star Trek
Beyond is a complete package, and it’s a lot of fun. It has character
development (not just Kirk & Spock), a plot that’s both easy to follow and
engaging, and shed-loads of action. Simon Pegg and Doug Jung’s script manages
to balance the requirements of a modern-day blockbuster together with an intentional
focus on more traditional Star Trek elements: a strange new planet, a mystery
that needs to be solved… It was also quite touching to see the tributes to
Leonard Nimoy and Anton Yelchin in the credits, both of whom played significant
roles in the previous two films.
I’ll be
honest and say that Star Trek Beyond is
my least favourite of the three reboots, but there’s not an awful lot to choose
between them and I would happily sit through it again, right now. If you didn’t
enjoy the preceding two films then you should probably give this one a miss,
but if you did enjoy them then you’re sure to enjoy this one too.
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