Star Trek Beyond
From the very beginning, all I ever wanted from JJ Abrams' rebooted Star Trek universe were (a) a sense of authenticity, and (b) the use of established history to tell new stories that couldn't easily be told in the Prime universe. They say the third time's the charm, and that's certainly true here. 2009 is a continuity disaster that has no business calling itself Star Trek; Into Darkness is a narrative disaster that gets the general gist of Star Trek; Beyond is actual, honest-to-goodness Star Trek. With a coherent script, a reasonable action-to-dialogue ratio, thoughtful use of the Star Trek history at its disposal, and characters with some measure of depth, Beyond is leagues...well, beyond its predecessors. I still have some criticisms, but for the first time since Insurrection, they're criticisms that don't call into question whether the director or writers are fit to lead the franchise.
The opening scene smacks a little of the previous two movies: you've got irritable natives who attack Kirk; you've got CG-driven comic relief. What makes this scene work are that Kirk is making an honest effort to be diplomatic, the artifact he's offering comes into play later on, and the sight gag of the aliens being much smaller than expected actually expands the diversity of the reboot universe (how many diminutive aliens other than Keenser and Balok can you readily call to mind?). It still leaves me wanting a mini-remake of a classic Trek episode instead of something that could have been done in the Prime universe, but it feels enough like real Trek that I won't complain. Well, I will gripe a little about the CG; after the impressive visuals of the last two movies, it's rather jarring to see aliens that look like they were created on a television budget rather than a movie budget. The aliens look fake to me, which makes it that much harder to take a borderline goofy scene at all seriously.
When Kirk gets back to the Enterprise, we're treated to something that's been sorely missing from the reboot universe: an introspective Captain's log entry. Kirk's monologue brings the audience up to speed on what's happened since the last movie, and it also offers an important framework for the story to come. For the first time in this new movie series, there's a real sense that the Enterprise crew is a family, and not just comprised of a half-dozen heroes with random people standing behind them. This is the film's first step toward developing its major philosophical theme: unity. Yes, Virginia. There is a genuine theme to this Star Trek movie, and it's not just stuff blowing up real good. There's a delightful subtlety here; you don't realize how important this Captain's log is to the story until you're much farther down the line, just as you don't immediately realize there's a deeper purpose to the opening scene. Beyond is very good about bringing back things you've already seen in unexpected and meaningful ways. It matters that Vulcan was destroyed. It matters that Spock and Uhura come from very different worlds. It matters that Kirk lost his father at birth. Beyond doesn't go rushing off to tell a new story the way 2009 and Into Darkness do; it takes the time to consider the events that preceded it and how they should shape the story.
It is a little unusual, however, that Kirk is under consideration for becoming an admiral. He's only a few years out of the academy, and his disciplinary record isn't exactly spotless (lest we forget both the Kobayashi Maru and Nibiru incidents); his heroics are certainly worth some kind of recognition, but that kind of a promotion seems premature. What strains credibility even more is Yorktown, a megalopolis of a space station that is easily bigger than any other man-made structure we've ever seen on Star Trek, short of maybe the Dyson sphere. Even taking into consideration that the Federation of this reality has more advanced technology and evidently more resources than the Federation of the Prime timeline, something as massive as Yorktown would presumably need to have been in the planning or even construction phase before Nero's temporal incursion 30 years ago. I can't see a fledgling Federation recovering from the Xindi conflict and the Romulan War being in any condition to think about attempting a project of this scale, and I also can't see a beautiful, finished starbase of this scope coming together in under three decades, at least not without a lot of outside help. It took the Cardassians about 5 years to build Terek Nor, which can house something on the order of 10,000 people and was designed with all the comforts of an ore processing plant; Yorktown is home to millions, designed with all the comforts and defenses you'd expect of a proper starbase. Like many things in the reboot universe, Yorktown certainly looks amazing, but its plausibility is questionable. Also, it's annoying to have a starbase named Yorktown when there's already at least one starship in the Star Trek universe with the same moniker; it's a little like having two Delta Vegas, or a shuttlecraft named Deep Space 9.
I do like the kind of Star Wars-y, Mass Effect-ish, vaguely Inception-y feel of Yorktown, though; Star Trek is good about expanding the universe with new planets and races, but it doesn't often have those huge "Whoa, that kind of thing exists!?" moments that rewrite your understanding of the universe. With all the fancy technology in the reboot universe, it's striking to me that the universal translator, which has historically been this invisible piece of hardware that makes life easy for the writers, seems to be even more primitive than what we see on ENT. Kalara stands in a booth and is scanned by this huge machine so that the others can understand her, and we hear her alien language at the same time as the English translation. This is probably a more realistic representation of universal translation, but it's a strange choice at this point in the franchise. However, it helps generate more of an air of mystery about Kalara and her request for help, and that's good for the plot.
Beyond makes an honest effort to develop all of its characters, even the minor ones, and the story is better for it. Unfortunately, doing so reveals the weak foundation these characters have been standing upon. 2009 and Into Darkness are so fast-paced that we rarely have time to slow down and get to know anyone other than Kirk and Spock, and 2009 is especially bad about forcing characters into relationships that haven't developed organically. Now that the characters finally have a chance to converse and banter with each other at length, without things exploding every three minutes to interrupt them, it's apparent that some of these actors don't yet have the ownership of their roles or the chemistry with each other that you'd expect after three movies. The Spock/McCoy dynamic isn't quite there yet. I know Spock spends most of the movie suffering or recovering from physical and emotional injury, so it's understandable that he's somewhat subdued, but he's missing the spark that separates that emotionless exterior from flat acting. Uhura is a little flavorless without being in a relationship with Spock. Scotty gets along better with Jaylah and Keenser than with any character who debuted on TOS. Lines such as "We make a good team, right?" highlight how forced the unification of this crew has been. 2009 and Into Darkness assume these characters are just younger versions of their TOS counterparts, but Beyond throws unusual situations at the characters that force them to discover who they really are. Emulating their TOS counterparts doesn't cut it anymore, and some people seem quicker to adapt than others.
On the plus side, I like how Kirk and McCoy are genuinely becoming more like the Kirk and McCoy we've known for decades—their close friendship makes a huge difference in making this crew feel cohesive, and Kirk finally feels like someone fit to lead the crew (and you can see in his stage presence and hear in his voice that he's more Shatner-esque than ever). I also like how Chekov, Scotty, and Sulu are embracing being a little different from the people we know from TOS (but not unrecognizably so). Jaylah is a dynamic addition to the roster, acting as a sort of glue between some of the characters who haven't completely clicked yet. I'm even fond of the side characters such as the admiral and the crewman who conceals the artifact the bad guys are after—both of whom are women, I might add, who aren't there exclusively to scream or look pretty. Beyond makes it a point to right the representational wrongs of the last two movies, which is a big factor in why it feels like authentic Star Trek: you've got a wide range of age groups, women who are real characters, people of color in major roles outside the main cast, and a strong suggestion that one of the main characters is gay.
That last bit of representation is one that's been nearly absent from Star Trek, and Beyond tries to sneak it in rather than fully embrace it, perhaps to avoid ruffling feathers among certain fans. Sulu's personal relationships have never really been seen or discussed in canon, so it's completely plausible that this has been part of his character all along—and even if it hasn't been, we've seen that Nero's temporal incursion has changed people's accents and skin color, so why not their sexual orientation as well? What's disappointing is that Sulu is presumably gay because the actor who originally played him is gay, and George Takei himself has expressed some objections about Sulu being anything but straight. Jaylah, as a brand-new character, would have been a better choice for adding LGBT representation to the cast—and because she's an alien, it would be completely in line with Trek tradition for her to be the one to spark discussion among fans prone to having their feathers ruffled. At least we catch a quick glimpse of Sulu's daughter, who is almost certainly the Demora Sulu we see in Generations, which is a small but reassuring sign that the people responsible for Beyond were paying more attention to the whole franchise than their predecessors did.
Indeed, Beyond is very much in tune with its place in the Star Trek universe, both in and out of continuity. I think the film understands how divided the fan community became after 2009, and so there are very clear attempts to win back the confidence of disenfranchised fans such as myself. As I've already started to discuss, the references to other Trek beyond TOS, the overarching theme of unity, and the overall feel of the movie all point toward an awareness of how much the last two movies alienated Star Trek purists and hardcore fans. At the same time, Beyond retains the action-packed flashiness and casual tone of its predecessors, albeit with a less frantic pace and more eloquent dialogue. The lines have a little more poetry, cleverness, and organic humor to them than before, and they feel like they belong to the characters who speak them (though, admittedly, the catch phrases are a wee bit heavy-handed, lassie). Beyond is a hybrid of the best parts of the old and new approaches to Star Trek, and it's the first Trek film since First Contact that doesn't leave me wanting more explanation or a different story direction altogether. I could do without all the shaky camera work in the action sequences (a filmmaking technique I've never liked), but otherwise, I'm very pleased with the overall product.
The film also acknowledges two major losses that occurred while it was in production: the untimely death of Anton Yelchin and the passing of Leonard Nimoy. On a personal note, Yelchin was one of my favorite actors in the reboot series; and although I've never connected with Spock as strongly as the rest of the fan community does, Nimoy's compelling portrayal of his character is a hugely important part of Star Trek's enduring popularity—the man was a legend. I still have my reservations about how Spock Prime was handled in 2009 and Into Darkness, but in a way, it's better that Nimoy was a more integral part of this reboot than anyone else who's passed a torch in this franchise; in a way that flows completely naturally with the rest of the story, we get to say a heartfelt farewell to one of the cornerstone members of the Star Trek family.
We also say farewell to another member of the Star Trek family. Or, in my case, I say good riddance.
So the Enterprise is attacked and destroyed by a swarm of ships. When the refit Enterprise self-destructs in Search for Spock, it's like losing a friend. When the saucer section of the Enterprise-D crash-lands in Generations, it hurts. When the Fisher-Price balloon Enterprise is torn apart in Beyond, it's all I can do to keep from clapping and cheering. As discussed elsewhere, I am not a fan of the ship's goofy and canonically questionable design, so I'm happy to see the slate wiped clean. But I think it says something about the reboot that I care more about starship design than the fact that the heroes just lost their home. This is not my Enterprise. I barely remember what sickbay looks like. Engineering is a brewery. There are probably a bunch of people on board, I guess. 2009 and Into Darkness treat the Enterprise as a vehicle that gets the heroes from A to B, occasionally having the heroes run around inside the ship like they're in a video game; Beyond is the first reboot film to treat her like a lady. The camera savors those long flyby shots, showcasing the exterior of the ship at various angles and distances so the viewer can truly get a sense of detail and scope. We get to see life as usual all around the ship during Kirk's aforementioned monologue. It's terrific. It's too little, too late. We should have gotten this two movies ago. Just when the Enterprise is developing a sort of personality worth crying over, it's written out of the movie.
I think that's also why the attack sequence seems to drag on for me. It's a lot of running around samey hallways, trying to defend something I'm not invested in seeing defended. The whole scenario feels very much like a video game, too, and I'd almost rather play this sequence than watch it. Plus, the teaser trailers for the film pretty much ruined any chance of me being left in suspense about the outcome of the battle, which feels more like filler when it's keeping you from the part where the main plot kicks in. There's an absence of purpose; self-preservation is all well and good, but the attackers' motivations and identities aren't yet clear enough to know what the heroes are fighting over. "Don't let the mostly anonymous bad guy take or destroy our stuff" is a decent start to a conflict, but I don't know if it's enough to support an extended battle sequence, let alone one that culminates in the kind of disastrous event that normally happens at the climax of a movie. I do like that the enemy is a swarm of little ships (a welcome change of pace from the Scimitar, the Narada, and the Vengeance—all solo behemoths), and I appreciate that the Enterprise's little-known saucer separation ability comes into play. I even appreciate the homage to Generations with the saucer section's crash-landing, despite it being a little too similar (it's almost a shot-for-shot recreation). Overall, it's a good action sequence, but unlike those in the last two movies, it gives enough breathing room for me to consider whether I'm really invested in what's driving the action.
Now, I'm generally pretty weary of stories where the heroes are kidnapped or captured, but with the Enterprise destroyed, there's no sense that the status quo will be restored just as soon as Sulu, Uhura, and the others are rescued or break free. There is no status quo anymore; anything could happen. Captivity isn't a tedious inconvenience; it's a serious problem that the heroes may not be equipped to handle in their current state. Fortunately, Kirk has a motorcycle, Jaylah has holographic generators, Uhura has an accidental tracking device (which is hysterical), and Keenser has the sniffles—more examples of relatively unimportant details coming back in unexpected ways. There's more at stake than usual with the majority of the crew being held hostage; chances are good that not everyone will make it out alive, and the heroes are more likely to get themselves into trouble when they're trying to protect more than just themselves. And with the rest of the crew being scattered across the planet surface, it feels less like a straight-up hostage situation and more like one very bad day for the crew of the Enterprise. All in all, it works.
I'm also pretty weary of stories where the heroes are stranded in the wilderness with all their cool stuff taken away, but Beyond once again makes it work. No time is wasted on the obligatory trust-building, "getting to know you" exercises with the locals; Jaylah can already speak the heroes' language, and the heroes already know a bit about where Jaylah calls home—that is, the USS Franklin. In a spectacular bit of continuity, Beyond uses the oft-maligned ENT as the foundation for a significant portion of the plot, tying MACOs and a contemporary of the NX-01 into the reboot universe in a meaningful way. Embracing a part of the franchise that seldom gets any mainstream attention is another sign that this movie cares about presenting itself as genuine Trek, and I cannot tell you how happy this makes me. A lesser movie would've picked any old alien vessel that was still functional, but Beyond did its homework, and the attention to detail shows in both the dialogue and the visuals. It's also neat to see how the heroes adapt to a new and unfamiliar situation using old technology and tools; McCoy still has that disdain for archaic technology that he does in The Voyage Home, and the limitations of the Franklin push the heroes to think critically and put all their training and skill to the test. Likewise, the crashed Enterprise saucer section presents some opportunities that Kirk and Chekov have to work for, not to mention some great atmosphere and one of the most memorable visual effects in the movie (how often do you get to drop a starship on a villain?). Honest-to-goodness teamwork and problem-solving save the day, and that's exactly what I want out of Star Trek.
I also want to be able to understand what everyone is saying. To make a comparison with The Dark Knight Rises, Krall suffers from Bane syndrome: his voice is distorted and he's got an accent that differs from everyone else's in the movie. I can handle one or the other, but the two together make it very challenging to figure out what he's saying sometimes. What I like about Krall is that he isn't simply a madman with a superweapon seeking vengeance; he's a forgotten hero who can't abide the injustices he and his crew have suffered. Unfortunately, he's still a madman with a superweapon seeking vengeance. The Trek movies are already overpopulated with his type, and the Abronath is yet another thing that can instantly wipe out a whole population (see: thalaron radiation, the Genesis Device, red matter, the Son'a metaphasic collector).
I can understand Edison/Krall being violently bitter about being abandoned by the Federation, and I can understand a soldier craving purpose when there's nothing left to fight for—and we've seen in the VOY episode "Equinox" how desperate a stranded crew can get—but I can't help but feel like mass murder is taking things a bit too far. Maybe nursing a grudge for a hundred years and literally losing your humanity are enough to get a person to that point, but there's never really a moment where Edison/Krall has to reflect and either embrace or hate himself for the monster he's become. Unless there is, and I just didn't hear what he said. Either way, I would've liked to have seen Kirk give Edison more of a "Return of the Archons"-style reality check during their confrontation at the end; even if it didn't change the outcome of the conflict, it would have been consummately Star Trek for Kirk to try talking his enemy into admitting they're wrong.
Still, there's nothing wrong with less talking and more punching in a summer action flick, and that's exactly what Beyond is. The difference between this film and the last two is that this one earns the name Star Trek. This film is about the characters, about exploring strange new worlds, about boldly going where this reboot should have been headed in the first place. There are meaningful references and homages to different corners of the Star Trek universe, and there is a heartwarming attentiveness to established canon and significant real-life events. The script is coherent, the dialogue is intelligent, and there's a theme tying the story together that prompts the viewer to respond thoughtfully to what they've watched. On top of all that, stuff blows up real good.
There are shortcomings, to be sure. The CG at the very beginning of the movie is lackluster; and the CG at the very end, with the Enterprise-A being constructed, also looks fairly artificial. It makes me want to cry a little that the Enterprise-A looks almost the same as its predecessor; I was really hoping for a major overhaul. Some of the actors are still settling into their characters. Krall could use a few tweaks. A few story elements strain credibility or too closely resemble things the Trek movies have done before (did I mention this is two movies in a row where a ship starts to fall out of the sky and pulls up to safety at the last moment?). The assault on the Enterprise could stand to be a bit shorter, less like a video game, and more focused on how it emotionally impacts the characters. And maybe it's just me, but the only part of the soundtrack I can remember is Michael Giacchino's ubiquitous NuTrek main theme, which is starting to overstay its welcome after three movies of being the only part of the soundtrack I can remember.
On its own, Beyond is an engaging and entertaining piece of cinema, and its flaws can be overlooked. Coming off of Into Darkness and 2009, it's simultaneously better and worse—better in that it's the kind of Star Trek reboot film I've wanted all along; worse in that it's almost boring in places, compared with the constant thrill rides that preceded it. Beyond doesn't change my mind about the reboot series, nor does it get me excited for a sequel; in fact, I'd be quite content if they left it at a trilogy and never spoke of this alternate universe again. However, Beyond does restore my faith that the Star Trek name still means something, and that alone is worth the price of admission.
[Last updated March 13, 2022]
The opening scene smacks a little of the previous two movies: you've got irritable natives who attack Kirk; you've got CG-driven comic relief. What makes this scene work are that Kirk is making an honest effort to be diplomatic, the artifact he's offering comes into play later on, and the sight gag of the aliens being much smaller than expected actually expands the diversity of the reboot universe (how many diminutive aliens other than Keenser and Balok can you readily call to mind?). It still leaves me wanting a mini-remake of a classic Trek episode instead of something that could have been done in the Prime universe, but it feels enough like real Trek that I won't complain. Well, I will gripe a little about the CG; after the impressive visuals of the last two movies, it's rather jarring to see aliens that look like they were created on a television budget rather than a movie budget. The aliens look fake to me, which makes it that much harder to take a borderline goofy scene at all seriously.
When Kirk gets back to the Enterprise, we're treated to something that's been sorely missing from the reboot universe: an introspective Captain's log entry. Kirk's monologue brings the audience up to speed on what's happened since the last movie, and it also offers an important framework for the story to come. For the first time in this new movie series, there's a real sense that the Enterprise crew is a family, and not just comprised of a half-dozen heroes with random people standing behind them. This is the film's first step toward developing its major philosophical theme: unity. Yes, Virginia. There is a genuine theme to this Star Trek movie, and it's not just stuff blowing up real good. There's a delightful subtlety here; you don't realize how important this Captain's log is to the story until you're much farther down the line, just as you don't immediately realize there's a deeper purpose to the opening scene. Beyond is very good about bringing back things you've already seen in unexpected and meaningful ways. It matters that Vulcan was destroyed. It matters that Spock and Uhura come from very different worlds. It matters that Kirk lost his father at birth. Beyond doesn't go rushing off to tell a new story the way 2009 and Into Darkness do; it takes the time to consider the events that preceded it and how they should shape the story.
It is a little unusual, however, that Kirk is under consideration for becoming an admiral. He's only a few years out of the academy, and his disciplinary record isn't exactly spotless (lest we forget both the Kobayashi Maru and Nibiru incidents); his heroics are certainly worth some kind of recognition, but that kind of a promotion seems premature. What strains credibility even more is Yorktown, a megalopolis of a space station that is easily bigger than any other man-made structure we've ever seen on Star Trek, short of maybe the Dyson sphere. Even taking into consideration that the Federation of this reality has more advanced technology and evidently more resources than the Federation of the Prime timeline, something as massive as Yorktown would presumably need to have been in the planning or even construction phase before Nero's temporal incursion 30 years ago. I can't see a fledgling Federation recovering from the Xindi conflict and the Romulan War being in any condition to think about attempting a project of this scale, and I also can't see a beautiful, finished starbase of this scope coming together in under three decades, at least not without a lot of outside help. It took the Cardassians about 5 years to build Terek Nor, which can house something on the order of 10,000 people and was designed with all the comforts of an ore processing plant; Yorktown is home to millions, designed with all the comforts and defenses you'd expect of a proper starbase. Like many things in the reboot universe, Yorktown certainly looks amazing, but its plausibility is questionable. Also, it's annoying to have a starbase named Yorktown when there's already at least one starship in the Star Trek universe with the same moniker; it's a little like having two Delta Vegas, or a shuttlecraft named Deep Space 9.
I do like the kind of Star Wars-y, Mass Effect-ish, vaguely Inception-y feel of Yorktown, though; Star Trek is good about expanding the universe with new planets and races, but it doesn't often have those huge "Whoa, that kind of thing exists!?" moments that rewrite your understanding of the universe. With all the fancy technology in the reboot universe, it's striking to me that the universal translator, which has historically been this invisible piece of hardware that makes life easy for the writers, seems to be even more primitive than what we see on ENT. Kalara stands in a booth and is scanned by this huge machine so that the others can understand her, and we hear her alien language at the same time as the English translation. This is probably a more realistic representation of universal translation, but it's a strange choice at this point in the franchise. However, it helps generate more of an air of mystery about Kalara and her request for help, and that's good for the plot.
Beyond makes an honest effort to develop all of its characters, even the minor ones, and the story is better for it. Unfortunately, doing so reveals the weak foundation these characters have been standing upon. 2009 and Into Darkness are so fast-paced that we rarely have time to slow down and get to know anyone other than Kirk and Spock, and 2009 is especially bad about forcing characters into relationships that haven't developed organically. Now that the characters finally have a chance to converse and banter with each other at length, without things exploding every three minutes to interrupt them, it's apparent that some of these actors don't yet have the ownership of their roles or the chemistry with each other that you'd expect after three movies. The Spock/McCoy dynamic isn't quite there yet. I know Spock spends most of the movie suffering or recovering from physical and emotional injury, so it's understandable that he's somewhat subdued, but he's missing the spark that separates that emotionless exterior from flat acting. Uhura is a little flavorless without being in a relationship with Spock. Scotty gets along better with Jaylah and Keenser than with any character who debuted on TOS. Lines such as "We make a good team, right?" highlight how forced the unification of this crew has been. 2009 and Into Darkness assume these characters are just younger versions of their TOS counterparts, but Beyond throws unusual situations at the characters that force them to discover who they really are. Emulating their TOS counterparts doesn't cut it anymore, and some people seem quicker to adapt than others.
On the plus side, I like how Kirk and McCoy are genuinely becoming more like the Kirk and McCoy we've known for decades—their close friendship makes a huge difference in making this crew feel cohesive, and Kirk finally feels like someone fit to lead the crew (and you can see in his stage presence and hear in his voice that he's more Shatner-esque than ever). I also like how Chekov, Scotty, and Sulu are embracing being a little different from the people we know from TOS (but not unrecognizably so). Jaylah is a dynamic addition to the roster, acting as a sort of glue between some of the characters who haven't completely clicked yet. I'm even fond of the side characters such as the admiral and the crewman who conceals the artifact the bad guys are after—both of whom are women, I might add, who aren't there exclusively to scream or look pretty. Beyond makes it a point to right the representational wrongs of the last two movies, which is a big factor in why it feels like authentic Star Trek: you've got a wide range of age groups, women who are real characters, people of color in major roles outside the main cast, and a strong suggestion that one of the main characters is gay.
That last bit of representation is one that's been nearly absent from Star Trek, and Beyond tries to sneak it in rather than fully embrace it, perhaps to avoid ruffling feathers among certain fans. Sulu's personal relationships have never really been seen or discussed in canon, so it's completely plausible that this has been part of his character all along—and even if it hasn't been, we've seen that Nero's temporal incursion has changed people's accents and skin color, so why not their sexual orientation as well? What's disappointing is that Sulu is presumably gay because the actor who originally played him is gay, and George Takei himself has expressed some objections about Sulu being anything but straight. Jaylah, as a brand-new character, would have been a better choice for adding LGBT representation to the cast—and because she's an alien, it would be completely in line with Trek tradition for her to be the one to spark discussion among fans prone to having their feathers ruffled. At least we catch a quick glimpse of Sulu's daughter, who is almost certainly the Demora Sulu we see in Generations, which is a small but reassuring sign that the people responsible for Beyond were paying more attention to the whole franchise than their predecessors did.
Indeed, Beyond is very much in tune with its place in the Star Trek universe, both in and out of continuity. I think the film understands how divided the fan community became after 2009, and so there are very clear attempts to win back the confidence of disenfranchised fans such as myself. As I've already started to discuss, the references to other Trek beyond TOS, the overarching theme of unity, and the overall feel of the movie all point toward an awareness of how much the last two movies alienated Star Trek purists and hardcore fans. At the same time, Beyond retains the action-packed flashiness and casual tone of its predecessors, albeit with a less frantic pace and more eloquent dialogue. The lines have a little more poetry, cleverness, and organic humor to them than before, and they feel like they belong to the characters who speak them (though, admittedly, the catch phrases are a wee bit heavy-handed, lassie). Beyond is a hybrid of the best parts of the old and new approaches to Star Trek, and it's the first Trek film since First Contact that doesn't leave me wanting more explanation or a different story direction altogether. I could do without all the shaky camera work in the action sequences (a filmmaking technique I've never liked), but otherwise, I'm very pleased with the overall product.
The film also acknowledges two major losses that occurred while it was in production: the untimely death of Anton Yelchin and the passing of Leonard Nimoy. On a personal note, Yelchin was one of my favorite actors in the reboot series; and although I've never connected with Spock as strongly as the rest of the fan community does, Nimoy's compelling portrayal of his character is a hugely important part of Star Trek's enduring popularity—the man was a legend. I still have my reservations about how Spock Prime was handled in 2009 and Into Darkness, but in a way, it's better that Nimoy was a more integral part of this reboot than anyone else who's passed a torch in this franchise; in a way that flows completely naturally with the rest of the story, we get to say a heartfelt farewell to one of the cornerstone members of the Star Trek family.
We also say farewell to another member of the Star Trek family. Or, in my case, I say good riddance.
So the Enterprise is attacked and destroyed by a swarm of ships. When the refit Enterprise self-destructs in Search for Spock, it's like losing a friend. When the saucer section of the Enterprise-D crash-lands in Generations, it hurts. When the Fisher-Price balloon Enterprise is torn apart in Beyond, it's all I can do to keep from clapping and cheering. As discussed elsewhere, I am not a fan of the ship's goofy and canonically questionable design, so I'm happy to see the slate wiped clean. But I think it says something about the reboot that I care more about starship design than the fact that the heroes just lost their home. This is not my Enterprise. I barely remember what sickbay looks like. Engineering is a brewery. There are probably a bunch of people on board, I guess. 2009 and Into Darkness treat the Enterprise as a vehicle that gets the heroes from A to B, occasionally having the heroes run around inside the ship like they're in a video game; Beyond is the first reboot film to treat her like a lady. The camera savors those long flyby shots, showcasing the exterior of the ship at various angles and distances so the viewer can truly get a sense of detail and scope. We get to see life as usual all around the ship during Kirk's aforementioned monologue. It's terrific. It's too little, too late. We should have gotten this two movies ago. Just when the Enterprise is developing a sort of personality worth crying over, it's written out of the movie.
I think that's also why the attack sequence seems to drag on for me. It's a lot of running around samey hallways, trying to defend something I'm not invested in seeing defended. The whole scenario feels very much like a video game, too, and I'd almost rather play this sequence than watch it. Plus, the teaser trailers for the film pretty much ruined any chance of me being left in suspense about the outcome of the battle, which feels more like filler when it's keeping you from the part where the main plot kicks in. There's an absence of purpose; self-preservation is all well and good, but the attackers' motivations and identities aren't yet clear enough to know what the heroes are fighting over. "Don't let the mostly anonymous bad guy take or destroy our stuff" is a decent start to a conflict, but I don't know if it's enough to support an extended battle sequence, let alone one that culminates in the kind of disastrous event that normally happens at the climax of a movie. I do like that the enemy is a swarm of little ships (a welcome change of pace from the Scimitar, the Narada, and the Vengeance—all solo behemoths), and I appreciate that the Enterprise's little-known saucer separation ability comes into play. I even appreciate the homage to Generations with the saucer section's crash-landing, despite it being a little too similar (it's almost a shot-for-shot recreation). Overall, it's a good action sequence, but unlike those in the last two movies, it gives enough breathing room for me to consider whether I'm really invested in what's driving the action.
Now, I'm generally pretty weary of stories where the heroes are kidnapped or captured, but with the Enterprise destroyed, there's no sense that the status quo will be restored just as soon as Sulu, Uhura, and the others are rescued or break free. There is no status quo anymore; anything could happen. Captivity isn't a tedious inconvenience; it's a serious problem that the heroes may not be equipped to handle in their current state. Fortunately, Kirk has a motorcycle, Jaylah has holographic generators, Uhura has an accidental tracking device (which is hysterical), and Keenser has the sniffles—more examples of relatively unimportant details coming back in unexpected ways. There's more at stake than usual with the majority of the crew being held hostage; chances are good that not everyone will make it out alive, and the heroes are more likely to get themselves into trouble when they're trying to protect more than just themselves. And with the rest of the crew being scattered across the planet surface, it feels less like a straight-up hostage situation and more like one very bad day for the crew of the Enterprise. All in all, it works.
I'm also pretty weary of stories where the heroes are stranded in the wilderness with all their cool stuff taken away, but Beyond once again makes it work. No time is wasted on the obligatory trust-building, "getting to know you" exercises with the locals; Jaylah can already speak the heroes' language, and the heroes already know a bit about where Jaylah calls home—that is, the USS Franklin. In a spectacular bit of continuity, Beyond uses the oft-maligned ENT as the foundation for a significant portion of the plot, tying MACOs and a contemporary of the NX-01 into the reboot universe in a meaningful way. Embracing a part of the franchise that seldom gets any mainstream attention is another sign that this movie cares about presenting itself as genuine Trek, and I cannot tell you how happy this makes me. A lesser movie would've picked any old alien vessel that was still functional, but Beyond did its homework, and the attention to detail shows in both the dialogue and the visuals. It's also neat to see how the heroes adapt to a new and unfamiliar situation using old technology and tools; McCoy still has that disdain for archaic technology that he does in The Voyage Home, and the limitations of the Franklin push the heroes to think critically and put all their training and skill to the test. Likewise, the crashed Enterprise saucer section presents some opportunities that Kirk and Chekov have to work for, not to mention some great atmosphere and one of the most memorable visual effects in the movie (how often do you get to drop a starship on a villain?). Honest-to-goodness teamwork and problem-solving save the day, and that's exactly what I want out of Star Trek.
I also want to be able to understand what everyone is saying. To make a comparison with The Dark Knight Rises, Krall suffers from Bane syndrome: his voice is distorted and he's got an accent that differs from everyone else's in the movie. I can handle one or the other, but the two together make it very challenging to figure out what he's saying sometimes. What I like about Krall is that he isn't simply a madman with a superweapon seeking vengeance; he's a forgotten hero who can't abide the injustices he and his crew have suffered. Unfortunately, he's still a madman with a superweapon seeking vengeance. The Trek movies are already overpopulated with his type, and the Abronath is yet another thing that can instantly wipe out a whole population (see: thalaron radiation, the Genesis Device, red matter, the Son'a metaphasic collector).
I can understand Edison/Krall being violently bitter about being abandoned by the Federation, and I can understand a soldier craving purpose when there's nothing left to fight for—and we've seen in the VOY episode "Equinox" how desperate a stranded crew can get—but I can't help but feel like mass murder is taking things a bit too far. Maybe nursing a grudge for a hundred years and literally losing your humanity are enough to get a person to that point, but there's never really a moment where Edison/Krall has to reflect and either embrace or hate himself for the monster he's become. Unless there is, and I just didn't hear what he said. Either way, I would've liked to have seen Kirk give Edison more of a "Return of the Archons"-style reality check during their confrontation at the end; even if it didn't change the outcome of the conflict, it would have been consummately Star Trek for Kirk to try talking his enemy into admitting they're wrong.
Still, there's nothing wrong with less talking and more punching in a summer action flick, and that's exactly what Beyond is. The difference between this film and the last two is that this one earns the name Star Trek. This film is about the characters, about exploring strange new worlds, about boldly going where this reboot should have been headed in the first place. There are meaningful references and homages to different corners of the Star Trek universe, and there is a heartwarming attentiveness to established canon and significant real-life events. The script is coherent, the dialogue is intelligent, and there's a theme tying the story together that prompts the viewer to respond thoughtfully to what they've watched. On top of all that, stuff blows up real good.
There are shortcomings, to be sure. The CG at the very beginning of the movie is lackluster; and the CG at the very end, with the Enterprise-A being constructed, also looks fairly artificial. It makes me want to cry a little that the Enterprise-A looks almost the same as its predecessor; I was really hoping for a major overhaul. Some of the actors are still settling into their characters. Krall could use a few tweaks. A few story elements strain credibility or too closely resemble things the Trek movies have done before (did I mention this is two movies in a row where a ship starts to fall out of the sky and pulls up to safety at the last moment?). The assault on the Enterprise could stand to be a bit shorter, less like a video game, and more focused on how it emotionally impacts the characters. And maybe it's just me, but the only part of the soundtrack I can remember is Michael Giacchino's ubiquitous NuTrek main theme, which is starting to overstay its welcome after three movies of being the only part of the soundtrack I can remember.
On its own, Beyond is an engaging and entertaining piece of cinema, and its flaws can be overlooked. Coming off of Into Darkness and 2009, it's simultaneously better and worse—better in that it's the kind of Star Trek reboot film I've wanted all along; worse in that it's almost boring in places, compared with the constant thrill rides that preceded it. Beyond doesn't change my mind about the reboot series, nor does it get me excited for a sequel; in fact, I'd be quite content if they left it at a trilogy and never spoke of this alternate universe again. However, Beyond does restore my faith that the Star Trek name still means something, and that alone is worth the price of admission.
[Last updated March 13, 2022]
