'Star Trek Beyond' is consistently entertaining
'Trek' stars Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto and the ensemble works so well together that they reinforce the series鈥� central appeal: This crew is like family.
'Star Trek Beyond' stars Anton Yelchin (l.), Chris Pine (center), and John Cho (r.).
Kimberly French/Paramount Pictures/AP
The consistently entertaining 鈥淪tar Trek Beyond,鈥� directed by Justin聽Lin, gives a good name to franchise fodder. The Star Trek movies have聽been a decidedly mixed bag, the best still being the 1982 鈥淭he Wrath of聽Khan.鈥� But this new one manages to hold its own in the galaxy. Part of the聽reason for that is the way it works humor, often wry, into the slam-bang聽proceedings. In this, 鈥淏eyond鈥� is closer to the original Gene Roddenberry聽TV incarnation than most of its filmic predecessors. This is a smart move:聽Funny makes everything better, even the frights.
The Enterprise is three years into its five-year deep-space mission when聽it has the misfortune to encounter Krall (the suitably fearsome Idris Elba),聽a reptilian-looking alien lusting after a 鈥渄eath machine鈥� artifact in the聽possession of Captain Kirk and Co. Until that little matter is resolved, deep聽space is chockablock with mega-explosions, and the Enterprise crew聽find themselves marooned without a spaceship on a barren and聽unfriendly planet.
The Star Trek stalwarts are once again headed by Kirk (Chris Pine),聽Spock (Zachary Quinto), Sulu (John Cho), Uhura (Zoe Saldana), Bones聽(Karl Urban), Scotty (Simon Pegg, who also co-wrote the film with Doug聽Jung), and Chekov (Anton Yelchin, who died, at 27, two months ago, and聽to whom the film is dedicated; in addition, there is an 鈥淚n Loving聽Memory鈥� citation for Leonard Nimoy).
The actors work so well together that they reinforce the series鈥� central聽appeal: This crew is like family. A newcomer 鈥� Jaylah (Sofia Boutella),聽a sexy, zebra-faced alien with a full arsenal of martial arts moves 鈥� would be聽a welcome addition for future installments. And I do hope there will be聽many more future installments. I鈥檇 like to spend more time with these聽folks. Grade: B+ (Rated PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action and violence.)