What’s poppin’, y’all? Star Trek: Beyond was released this past weekend, and my mom and I decided to have a mother/daughter night and go see it. I have to say, I was thoroughly entertained. This go around, the Star Trek franchise has Justin Lin behind the helm as the director instead of J.J. Abrams, and the film received a fair amount of publicity, but not as much as I’d expect. I caught a few commercials for it, and I saw Rihanna’s music video for “Sledgehammer,” and that’s about it. When I learned the movie would be released on July 22nd, I was interested, but I wasn’t psyched about it. However, like I said, I walked out of the theatre a happy lady.
This go around, Captain Kirk has been in deep space for 3 years and is ready for a bit of shore leave to break the monotony. He’s even thinking about giving up his position as captain of the Enterprise, believing he can’t live up to his father’s legacy. Also, his birthday has arrived, which is a bittersweet moment for Kirk, seeing as the date of his birth was also the date of his father’s death. Spock also has some reservations about remaining with Starfleet after learning that Spock Prime (Leonard Nimoy) has passed away. However, Kirk and Spock’s personal issues have to take a back seat once a fellow Starfleet captain requests permission for the Enterprise to assist her with finding her lost ship and crew. In order to find the ship, the crew must travel through an unstable nebula, and what’s waiting for them on the other side has to be seen to be believed.
I can’t give away any more of the plot without revealing some major points. Trust me, you’ll want to see the end result for yourself. I really enjoyed this movie. It wasn’t quite as good as the first Star Trek reboot or Star Trek Into Darkness, but I still had a good time watching it. The first 20 minutes or so didn’t really draw me in, although the reason behind Kirk and Spock’s dark mood stirred up some interest (and it also explains why Rihanna’s “Sledgehammer” was chosen as the theme song for this film). However, once the Enterprise went through the nebula and all hell broke loose, I became fully invested in the movie. I was extremely impressed with Idris Elba. He played the villainous Krall in the film, and he did a doggone good job. His makeup artist deserves full props as well. He actually managed to make Idris Elba fugly and unrecognizable. Kudos! All the cast members provided solid performances, to be honest. Seeing Anton Yelchin play Chekov was bittersweet, especially considering that Chekov is the best character he’s ever played, in my opinion. I really loved that the movie was dedicated to the memories of Leonard Nimoy and Anton Yelchin. Another thing I learned as the closing credits rolled was that Simon Pegg wrote most of the script, which only furthers my love him.
Y’all, Star Trek: Beyond is a really good movie. If you liked the previous installments in the rebooted franchise, you’ll like this one as well. I highly recommend it.
—Written by Nadiya
So, have you seen Star Trek: Beyond? What did you think about it? Give me your thoughts in the comments section!
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