"Star Trek Beyond" review

Star Trek is supposed to be about going where no one has gone before, yet the current big screen iteration hasn't covered new ground, err, space since it was brilliantly rebooted by J.J. Abrams back in 2009. While 'Into Darkness' cleverly rearranged familiar elements, it was still just a reworking of an existing story. In the same vein, Star Trek Beyond could easily pass as a glorified episode from the original series:

Captain James T. Kirk and his crew are stranded on an alien planet after an ambush lays waste to the Starship Enterprise. Scattered, with no way to communicate each other or outside worlds, our heroes must find a way to come together, take down their vengeful adversary and return home.



This time around, Abrams steps back into a producer role while Justin Lin takes the reigns as Director (Fast & Furious). It's a safe change of guards as Lin once again proves himself a master of huge, bombastic action; in particular, there is an extended sequence in which the Enterprise is again ripped a part that perfectly balances the chaos and melodrama of what's happening and freshens up an event we just saw in the last installment.

Action aside, the heart of any Star Trek story is and always will be the crew and the relationships they share. Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, and newcomer Sofia Boutella all do excellent work; however, this might as well have been called "The Bones Show" as Karl Urban practically eats up the scenery and spits it back out as a series of one-liners. He steals every scene he's in for better or for worse. And while Idris Elba is a terrific talent and his makeup is on point, he isn't given much to do here as the villain outside of growling the typical evil mumbo jumbo. It's also unfortunate that his motives are strong but the logic behind his actions is lacking.

While Director Justin Lin and company could do much worse than a glorified episode, Star Trek Beyond very much feels like a safe bet as opposed to a new frontier, which goes against the spirit of the franchise. Because there are no risks made, Star Trek Beyond, while entertaining, is wholesomely forgettable.