Star Trek Beyond Review (Science Fiction Action)

Synopsis: The USS Enterprise crew explores the furthest reaches of uncharted space, where they encounter a new ruthless enemy who puts them and everything the Federation stands for to the test. – IMDB

Release Date: July 22nd, 2016 | MPAA Rating: PG-13 | Coolthulhus Earned: 4

Trailer: Star Trek Beyond

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Star Trek Beyond Review

I’m glad I didn’t pay way too much to watch Star Trek Beyond in theatres. However, at the same time, I’m also still glad I watched it. It was an entertaining movie that nicely continues the reboot I’ve become rather fond of. There were definitely parts of this movie that cracked me up, though. For example, one of the characters pulls out a ‘rare and precious artifact’ that looks like a stone copy of handheld game. Or the nod to the red shirts spelling death when several of them get kersplatted in one go.

As usual, the pacing was great. The action scenes were well done without feeling completely over the top. Okay, not true, there was one prolonged hand-to-hand scene that had me rolling my eyes a bit. The sound effects people went a little nuts with the whooshing sound of limbs moving quickly. There was a scene with one of the characters on a bike that had an awesome (yet fairly simple) special effect at the end. It pleased the CGI nerd in me. The dialogue was… Well, the dialogue wasn’t a stroke of genius at any point. But it was what we’d expect from a Star Trek film.

In terms of what I’ve come to expect from one of the movies in this series, I was satisfied with Star Trek Beyond. Hundreds to thousands of people in danger. Spock got his usual non life-threatening injury. Kirk got the bejesus knocked out of him, again. Bones dramatized everything to the point of parody. (Was it a conscious decision to have him channel William Shatner for this?) Uhuru kicked butt. Oh, and as usual, Spock had to get a little warm and fuzzy and Scotty ran around saving the day.

All the actors did a good job in their roles. They now all feel very appropriately cast and bonded to the characters. I was aware, watching it, of being sad about the fact that we would not see Anton Yelchin as Chekov again. He was so stinking cute in Star Trek Beyond and I liked seeing him have a slightly more prominent role. Anton Yelchin was a great actor, and I think following Star Trek movies will be missing just a little something now.

Overall, it was a good continuation of the series and didn’t feel nearly as long as it actually was! While Star Trek Beyond is not going to exactly wow people who aren’t already enamored of the series, it will definitely please fans.