Star Trek: Beyond; the third installment of the new Star Trek series which is directed by Justin Lin. This movie was an interesting twist of action and slight comedy (being written by Simon Pegg). After the enterprise gets pulled into a rescue mission that turns out to be a trap, the crew must find their way off a planet on which they were stranded to stop a crazed warlord who wants the eradication of the Federation.
The best part of the film was the set design. CGI has really come a long way since the next generation. There is one specific location that you can tell someone put a lot of effort into create. Most of the locations look sufficiently sci-fi, able to entertain the family. Most of the aliens look real, and the prize horse, the Enterprise upon examination, looks very much real. Everything looked spectacular (...Warcraft).
Actors in this movie were also great. Chris Pine as Kirk conveyed a real sense of leadership, and I were stranded on a distant planet I would want to be friends with James T Kirk. Zachary Quinto of Heroes fame was great. His calm and witty humour perfectly encapsulated the feeling of Spock. He was very logical (most of the time).
In this movie they also focused on relationships they never touched on before in the two other rebooted movies. Meaning, Bones and Spock got their time to shine together. Karl Urban as Bones as again, true to form. In Into Darkness, Bones was sidelined for the Uhura love story (not a fan of btw), however this time Urban is given a chance to shine. Spock and Bones are stranded together and have bonding time in which we get to learn more about their individual characters.
However there were some things about the film that could have been better. For the most part, the plot felt a little funny to me. Meaning that throughout the movie you as the audience wonder if there were better ways to do things, or if that situation actually occurred, would it have played out as portrayed in the movie. In one scene for instance, the crew needs to create a “distraction” to safely infiltrate the prison they wish to storm. What ensues is Kirk racing around the complex in a motorcycle while a machine produces holographic replicas of him. There is another machine that emits a fume that can crystallize into hard rock in seconds. All of this tech they borrow from a single local who acquired the equipment over the years. Of course the guards shoot at the holograms while never actually hitting Kirk himself, and they pull off the distraction!
There are a couple of problems with this plan. First off, it bugs me that a single local could have better technology then a militant group who was set up by the movie to be super cool, and not succumb to a bunch of holographic Kirks. She was also able to acquire this technology on a barren world, that’s technology is so limited that the locals don’t even possess interstellar capabilities.
Second off, there were probably better ways to create a distraction then to send Kirk riding around in a motorcycle, which was very dangerous in fact since even though the guards were shooting at the holograms, all it would take is for one guard to get lucky to lay down Kirk. The studio obviously just wanted to show off that cool motorcycle racing around, which was definitely not product placement. Alternatively they could have gone old fashion, and a plant a bomb since they knew the route in.
There are also some pacing issues. The movies setting for the most part is this alien world inhabited by bloodthirsty anti-federationist. The planet itself is not really that interesting, and for some time, there is a lot the crew sitting around and trying to come up with a plan.
However the movie was still an enjoyable one. The action was great and again the set design and costuming looked as real as can be. If you just turn your brain off and enjoy it for what it is, then you will have a better time. Unfortunately, hallmarks of a bad movie are that you have to switch your brain off. That’s why I can only give this movie a 7.6.
What would make it better is if they brought in the creative team from Ocean’s Eleven, or any Andy Weir from the Martian, instead of having a comedian write the scripts.