Clearly, this is a reference for those who have gone to see the film. I finally was able to see it tonight and I loved it. No, I was not scared off by the detractors of the latest entry in the Star Trek Reboot Franchise. I had every intention of seeing it the week it came out with a buddy of mine. But he kept putting it off with excuses that I later learned never came to be on his end. Maybe Rotten Tomatoes scared him away. Regardless, after 3 weeks of waiting, I said 'enough's enough." and decided to see it by myself.
In this chapter of the rebooted Trek universe, Kirk and crew are into year 3 of their 5-year mission and are about to enjoy some much needed R&R. While on shore leave on the Yorktown space station, the Enterprise is called upon to launch a rescue mission is an uncharted sector of space. The missing ship is located in a nebula, which means that the Enterprise will be cut off from communicating with Starfleet. Once through the nebula, it becomes immediately appearant that Kirk and his crew were duped as the are overcome by an unknown swarm of enemy ships that cripple the Federation's flagship.
After ordering all hands to abandon ship, the majority of the Enterprise crew are captured by the army of a completely new character named Krall (Luther's Idris Elba, as you've never seen him before under about 9 pounds of prosthetics and make-up), whose got a major beef with the United Federation of Planets for some reason. But not all of the Enterprise crew are held captive by Krall. Kirk and Chekov made it out safely. Can they organize the remaining uncaptured crew members, save their comrades, and find a way off planet before Krall unleashes a weapon that promises to destroy the entire Alpha Quadrant?
I don't know why some many people hatred this movie. I thought it was really good. By shear coincidence, I happened to see the film on the day that media outlets were declaring Star Trek Beyond to be a massive flop. But, this film had me and the 30 or so other patrons who saw the movie with me, flipping over how awesome it was. There was lots of great moments, some funny, lots filled with action. There's even a very touching tribute to the late Leonard Nimoy as well as the original Enterprise crew in this film.
In the original Star Trek films, it is commonly agreed upon that the even numbered films are the best. But if you ask me, the odd numbered films in the reboot franchise series are the best. Beyond captures the spirit of the original series so well and it just surpassed Into Darkness, the previous Trek film that critics and fans just raved over.
Star Trek Beyond was directed by Fast & the Furious franchise director, Justin Lin and it marks the first of the new series not to be directed by J.J. Abrams, who was busy with Star Wars Episode VII. But Abrams did have a hand as an executive producer and his good buddy Greg Grunberg even makes an appearance in the film.
Maybe critics of this film weren't happy that Justin Lin was at the helm for this one. I for one thought he did an very good job. I'm not very familiar with his other works but with all of the crazy angles and fast paced machinery, you could tell that the Fast & the Furious had something to do with influencing this picture. But some of these crazy angled shots made me a tad motion sick, but I quickly was able to rebound from that. So glad I did not opt for 3-D!
Don't let those who have trashed this film keep you away. It's a good way to spend 2 hours. In fact, it's one of those films that I kept looking at my phone not for knowing how much time until I could leave but I was checking to see how much time was left as I did not want this one to end.
Worth Consuming
Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.
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