The past few years we have seen reboots and sequels of long-ago favorites come back to life on the big screen. Those may be a number of pros and cons to this and one of these pros is the fact that a whole generation can be re-introduced to the franchise.
Such is the case with Gene Roddenberry's "Star Trek". I can't remember whether my late father was a fan (I would have to check with my Uncles on that) but one thing is for sure, my father wanted to name his children Luke or Leia and not Kirk, or Spock for that matter.
Whatever the case, whenever I would think of "Star Trek" I would remember those old clips of Patrick Stewart and William Shatner and of course Leonard Nimoy's Spock but that was it and thanks to J.J. Abrams' successful reboot I have been able to enjoy two new Star Trek films.
A New Captain Onboard
With J.J. Abrams taking a seat as a producer for the third installment and "Fast and the Furious" director Justin Lin coming on board as director, fans were worried that "Star Trek: Beyond" was going to be "The Fast and the Furious-in space".
What I can say is that fans need not be worried - "Beyond is a fast-paced, deep space adventure that will leave you breathless. The comedy is on point and will leave you laughing out loud in the cinema, as the film explores the dysfunctional family yet effective crew of 'The Enterprise'.
More than just action and comedy "Star Trek: Beyond" also touches on deeper thoughts, pretty early out in the film as Chris Pine's Jim Kirk celebrates his birthday over a glass of (what appears to be scotch) with Karl Urban's Leonard McCoy (aka "Bones") and they reflect on Kirk's birthday, which ironically will also always be the day his father (Chris Hemsworth, in the first film reboot) sacrificed himself to save his family and crew.
I must admit that I was already fighting back tears at this point, since I could relate with Kirk, I understand his pain since my father died at a young age and now that I've reached thirty, I think that I'm just nine years shy of being the same age when he passed and seeing Kirk on screen with (almost) the same thoughts, I could feel my heart being pinched in about 10 places.
Just Another Day in the fleet
The film opens with Kirk's captain log of their past (uneventful) years in space, he talks of how mundane things have become but little does he know that things are about to become pretty exiting.
During a routine resupply stop, an unknown ship seeks help in an uncharted nebula in space. The crew of the Enterprise sets off on the rescue mission. A surprise attack from bad guy Idris Elba's Krall splits the team apart and I must say that I really enjoyed seeing the characters paired off with members of the crew, they wouldn't normally be with. I think it helped build the characters and allowed the audience to enjoy different dynamics in the team. I know I did.
New comer Sophia Boutella plays a strong willed Jaylah,who is currently in the same 'boat' err-planet as the rest of the crew. She was a pleasure to watch on screen, her make up was impressive, as was her skills with the stunts that she did.
From there, things are pretty much, edge of your seat excitement but music played a big part in the climax of the movie, and I'm just going to leave it here that it was mind blowing! Being a big fan of music myself, I really loved it. If you've seen the movie - can we just talk about this offline - because I just can't get enough of that scene!
Old Characters. New Loves.
I'd have to say that I got to love the old characters more, since they were featured in a different way in "Beyond" such as Karl Urban's 'Bones' who just had so much more hilarious lines in this film that you can't help to love the pessimistic doctor. It was also nice to see that the writers gave Spock (Zachary Quinto) and Ahura's (Zoe Saldana) relationship a little level up, yes, even in Spock's terms.
Of course the film was very bittersweet since it was the first Star Trek film, without Leonard Nimoy, who passed away in 2015 and was also the last film of Anton Yelchin, who played Pavel Checov, he died in June of a freak accident in his home in Los Angeles.
There has been much sadness at Yelchin's untimely death and every time you would see his face on the screen, you can just feel that punch to your gut.
So I guess, sentimentality also had a hand in the film and what made it so memorable. It was action-packed, yes with all the CGI graphics you could dream of but aside from that, it also stirred emotions because of its characters and the actors who portrayed them.
There is but a few franchises who can have that kind of effect and hold on fans, but if you've been around as long as Star Trek has, then this is definitely a possibility and I sat there and enjoyed the film immensely.
I would have liked some of the science fiction (in this science fiction movie) explained to me, even at a minimal extent, like Krall's ultimate weapon of mass destruction. Like how does that work exactly?
9 out of 10 stars. Star Trek: Beyond delivers in its promise of a big space adventure but also has emotions stir inside of you. It's message of 'strength and hope in unity' rings strong and true in our world today. As I said in an earlier post, seeing the crew work together, reminded me of what it was to work in a team, in a family and we can all relate to this and if creatures of different species from different planets and galaxies can work together in a united federation, going on missions and travelling through space, then surely so can different races of one planet.
Now playing across the Philippines, “Star Trek Beyond” is distributed in the Philippines by United International Pictures through Columbia Pictures. #StarTrekBeyondPH
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