455: Star Trek Beyond

[00:00:00] 162. Let's get to the last film in the trilogy which is Star Trek Beyond. Came out in 2016. It is directed by Justin Lin, co-written by Simon Pegg, and it stars basically the same cast along

[00:00:20] with Sofia Batella, Idris Elba, and a few others. And the synopsis is, the crew of the USS Enterprise explores the furthest reaches of uncharted space where they encounter a new ruthless enemy who

[00:00:35] puts them and everything the Federation stands for to the test. So like I had alluded to in the previous reviews, I am a big big fan of this movie. I think it is so underrated and

[00:00:52] not to repeat myself too much but one of the best things about pairing this with Into Darkness or having them one after the other is they're both at about the same level for me star rating wise

[00:01:05] but for different reasons. I think they're two totally different movies. I think the tone, the visual style, the plot, it all feels very very different from Into Darkness but refreshingly so. I think that one of the best parts or most refreshing things and surprising

[00:01:22] things is where Into Darkness is more epic, it's more plot heavy I think and it partly comes down to I think Simon Pegg's writing because he's a great writer and also Justin Lin who funny enough

[00:01:37] I actually saw him speak at a Sundance Film Festival conference or press conference a few years ago which is pretty cool and not to sidebar too long but he's done a lot of work in the Fast

[00:01:50] and Furious franchise more so the latter films and is mainly a big action director guy. I don't love the Fast and Furious franchise more than a lot of others so when I heard that he was directing this

[00:02:04] movie I was like okay you know I'm not against that but he wouldn't have necessarily been my first pick but going back to long circle here this movie feels almost like an episode of the TV show

[00:02:19] like the OG TV show and even though lots of times when it comes to big franchises, cinematic universes, that sort of thing I don't like it when it feels more like television because it just feels

[00:02:34] like all right this is just content now it's not an actual franchise or big installment within a series it's just we need something to put out there but due to whatever combination of you know

[00:02:47] production and creativity it comes across like a huge budget version of a TV episode like a 100 million 200 million dollar TV episode but in the best way. I don't know why it works so well

[00:03:00] in this but it does. It's very simple plot it's just good guys versus the villain who I think Idris Elba perfect in this role. As with Into Darkness the motivation and the overall writing

[00:03:16] is very very strong but best thing personally about this movie is Sofia Batella who I love in everything. I think this was one of her big breakout roles she is amazing in this everything

[00:03:30] about that character I love the design and once again the writing, her performance, the physicality and I would be more than happy if she appears in the next movie should we get one there's just

[00:03:42] something about that character of Jaila that is so entertaining so fun so kind of badass you know it just I could not get enough of that character and even having only seen it once I was like I

[00:03:54] want to go see it again just to see that character on screen so wish she was in it more. Also on the point of what makes it work and how it's different from Into Darkness is it really has more of a

[00:04:09] focus on character relationships and just having fun with that crew like it's not overly serious I mean there is the destruction of the Enterprise which is awesome I know that was sort of a pitch

[00:04:20] for the movie where they're like I want to destroy the Enterprise and I think that's a pretty ballsy idea and I think it really works and I like the swarm of whatever it is the electronic or space

[00:04:33] bees bugs whatever it is who can like eat away at the ship and do his bidding I think that is really really cool and very effective within the context of the movie and when the Enterprise

[00:04:44] crashes on that planet like the almost rainbow sort of color palette of this movie beautiful the score once again always solid in these films love the Star Trek theme and also one thing that

[00:04:58] I haven't mentioned in the first two reviews is some people rag on it some people laugh at it I love the look of the classic Star Trek uniform some people say it looks like they're hotel

[00:05:09] clerks that's funny but I think it really works for me I don't know exactly why maybe it's just that classic look but I love the vivid coats that they wear of the you know blues and reds and

[00:05:21] yellows the very distinctive look the emblem I think all things design wise about Star Trek in general but especially these new movies very very good for me and talking about some other specific scenes the opening the peace offering with Captain Kirk hilarious a really really good

[00:05:41] start to the movie and I like the design of those creatures the prisoner breakout scene on the planet is really fun oh and one last scene the thruster run scene with like the destruction at

[00:05:56] night really good and what I can say that this movie does this is the only one of the three that is truly fun it's goofy it's weird it's colorful it's a little scattered you know it's

[00:06:11] just characters being put in different places on a map and they have to find their way back to each other awesome cannot get enough of that would love if more movies did that so I feel like if I

[00:06:22] had to rewatch one if I just wanted to have some Star Trek fun I would put on this one but if I wanted more of the darker stuff the grittier stuff the more heavy emotional weight you know the

[00:06:32] mental weight I would watch into darkness and I really hope that with four they I don't need to see this one repeated but I hope they really do take notes from why this one works which I mean

[00:06:42] maybe it doesn't work for everybody I know some people were kind of lukewarm on it and really I don't think you need to have even seen the first two maybe I'm wrong there but I think you

[00:06:52] could easily watch this one being fairly new to Star Trek and get into it and understand their relationships and the overall world which we can't really say that a lot about big franchises

[00:07:04] so I think the standalone nature of each of these movies is a big big plus but it is at times inherently less impactful like I feel like I have to do a little bit more digging to think of the

[00:07:18] scenes I actually really like it's more everything together that makes it what it is which is all right nothing wrong with that so that is a heavy four and a half out of five