Reviewed by Victor Rebikoff.
Director: Justin Lin, Paramount Pictures, M, 122 Minutes.
‘Fast and Furious’ filmmaker Justin Lin has taken over from J Abrams as director of the third Star Trek film in the rebooted series and surprisingly steered the Enterprise on a different course compared to Abram’s more pleasing productions.
The opening scenes appear to be right out of a TV episode with Kirk (Chris Pine) telling of the Enterprise’s two-year completion of its five-year deep space exploration assignment in addition to passing his captaincy to Spock.
But before being able to do so, Kirk and crew are suddenly sent on an urgent rescue mission to the universe’s uncharted part where a trap has been laid by the ruthless Krall (an unrecognisable Idris Elba – ‘Thor’).
Krall’s planned attack on the Federation’s spacecraft causes the Enterprise to crash land on an isolated planet separating key members of the crew and pairing Kirk with Chekov (Anton Yelchin – ‘Star Tek’).
After the crash landing the medical doctor Bones McCoy (Karl Urban – ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers’) manages to extract a metal piece out of the injured Spock (Zachary Quinto – ‘Margin Call’) while Scotty (Simon Pegg – ‘Shaun of the Dead’) makes friends with the planet’s fearsome Jaylah (Sofia Boutella – ‘Kingsman’).
With all hell breaking loose everywhere it is left to Kirk to rescue the rest of his crew and defeat Krall, only succeeding with the help of Jaylah, before returning home where he is granted the captaincy of the new Enterprise.
There is no denying that Lin has infused the same type of high-octane action settings seen in his ‘Fast and Furious’ films and surprisingly has still been able to ensure that the storyline is both enjoyable and entertaining.
At the same time those enjoyable interactions amongst the main characters appear to be missing, with even Spock’s love interest Uhuru (Zoe Saldana ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’) being sidelined.
It looks like Lin’s third ‘Star Trek’ instalment is designed to reposition the series which would be a regressive move as it is hoped that the next ‘Star Trek’ movie will again have sci-fi supremo Abrams at the helm.
Finally, the film’s conclusion provides a fitting tribute to the legendary Leonard Nimoy, particularly the talented Anton Yelchin, both of whom passed away recently.
Vic’s Verdict: 3 ½ Stars
Star Trek Beyond is to be televised on 9GO at 9.00pm on Saturday 25 September.
