Star Trek Beyond (2016)
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Star Trek Beyond Movie Review
Star Trek Beyond is a 2016 science fiction action film directed by Justin Lin and starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Idris Elba among others. It is an immensely disappointing entry.
The reason why this film failed in my opinion has to lie in its approach, execution and direction. This is basically an action film instead of being a nice science fiction adventure flick. The action is so overwhelming here that it basically overtakes the entire movie and what more would you expect from Justin Lin who is such a horrible director of that awful Fast and Furious franchise. This film is basically a blockbuster in its worst tendencies and I just don’t find that appealing at all.
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“To use a parlance with which you would be familiar,
Doctor, I have just confirmed that theory to be horseshit“
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The plot itself is awfully simplistic. The movie was saved by its third act, mostly just the ending in which they put at least some emotion in and at least some of the questions were answered. The villain was solid and the twist was fine, but his entire backstory and goal was incredibly familiar as is the entire storyline. The biggest problem in terms of storytelling is that the movie just moves through the motions and the action drives the movie instead of a plot or strong characterization and goals. The lack of backstories to most of the characters was immensely frustrating as well.
Spock is solid, but him being romantically involved here was odd. Kirk is solid, albeit not as memorable as this time around. Jaylah is a very problematic character who is very prominent, but remained incredibly thin. Chekov is forgettable, but Scottie is likable as always and Simon Pegg is good in this role. All of the actors did a perfectly fine job in their roles.
Star Trek Beyond is a technically serviceable movie with very good special effects and some excellent scenery. The movie really has some great and memorable alien landscapes, but it is such a shame that those are only small moments and we never really got to explore this planet leading to a film that is a failure as an adventure.
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Some of the hand combat fights were entertaining, but most of the other action sequences were very forgettable and never particularly exciting. And there lies the film’s biggest weakness. When you’ve got a film that is this obsessed with action, then the action in it has to not only strong, but exceptional. And it just never was this time around. Couple that with a very weak plot and you’ve got the weakest Star Trek movie in this new franchise thus far.
Star Trek Beyond has good special effects, fine performances, a solid twist and overall fine conclusion, but the film is overwhelmed with action that it just becomes one big tired and meaningless affair. The plot is overly simple and the film just goes through the motions, the goals of the characters and the backstories are sorely lacking and the film is frenetic to the point of being frustrating. Consequently, it is an immense disappointment and the weakest entry in this new series so far.
My Rating – 3
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