Review: Star Trek Beyond (2016)

My husband (awww!!) and I made right fools of ourselves at the cinema. It’s not very often that we see a movie in 3D, but we thought we’d make an exception for Star Trek Beyond. It looked stunning in the trailers, after all. We scoffed some dinner after work, I grabbed our 3D glasses out of the cupboard, and we raced off to the cinema (to catch a few Pokemon before the trailers of course). Mistake number 1. I’d stuffed our 3D glasses into my handbag. My very lovely Loungefly Stormtrooper handbag. Mistake number 2. My husband was wearing his favourite Darth Vader shirt. Mistake number 3. Those 3D glasses? They’re special edition Star Wars ones. I swear, the staff didn’t know whether we were being trolls or just plain stupid. Haha!! Star Wars junkies turning up to see Star Trek...why don't I know this story! We didn't look very cool taking those glasses to see Suicide Squad either...

Anyway, Star Trek Beyond is the third installment of the rebooted franchise, and in this movie we find the Enterprise’s crew 3 years into their 5 year mission. Captain James Kirk (Chris Pine) is questioning his commitment, and Spock (Zachary Quinto) is also considering leaving for personal reasons. The two agree to talk just before a distress call comes in, which turns out to be a trap.

Oh boy. That alien attack on the Enterprise inside the nebula was absolutely stunning. It honestly felt like the finale to the movie rather than the introduction. That was the moment I was glad to have shelled out for 3D. That scene was my favourite from the whole movie, actually. You know how it goes in these flicks, the heroes are facing certain doom but you just know they’ll make it out okay in the end. I was honestly fearing for everyone’s lives at that point, it was so well written, acted and shot. The sight of the Enterprise hurtling through space to crash was so sad.  I loved this scene and it did feel like the end of the movie, I am glad however that I didn't watch it in 3D...my god...I thought  I was going to spew countless times.  The spinning, oh god the spinning - I felt actual nausea....urgh!  Had i seen it in 3D I would not have gotten through it without being reintroduced to my earlier Nandos! You went to Nandos without me?! I'm hurt.

Speaking of sad, there I was clutching my pack of tissues ready for Chekov’s (Anton Yelchin) scenes, when I forgot all about Leonard Nemoy! There were a few touching tributes to him, both in the movie itself and the credits. I wasn’t expecting Chekov to have such a big role in this movie, which was bittersweet in a way. As much as I wanted to see him, I couldn’t help but feel a bit gutted. I don’t know if it was done deliberately (I don’t know how if it was) but there’s a bit right at the end when a toast is made to ‘friends no longer with us’ and I swear the camera was focused on Chekov. Sob… It actually did and I think it was done on purpose, that what I read anyway, it was on the internet so it must be true...right?!

I was fully prepared to be all emotional, I shed a few tears at both the tributes to Leonard Nemoy and Anton Yelchin but I waited for the credits and that got me!  I was blubbing like a baby, oh man!  My Dad was seriously embarrassed to be seen with me!

Cool action and touching tributes aside, I didn’t enjoy Star Trek Beyond as much as I hoped I would. It was a solid movie, but I loved the other 2 so much it would take nothing short of perfection for me to gush about this installment. It was just lacking something, and I’m not sure what. I didn’t understand the lead villain Krall (Idris Elba) very well for a start. It’s only in the final action sequence that you learn who he really is, and at that point I’d kind of stopped caring. That sounds harsher than I mean it to, actually. He was no Khan, let’s face it!  You were never going to like any bad guy as much as Khan, you are a biased source!!  I actually liked Krall as a bad guy and loved the story behind his bad-guy-ness!! My biggest issue is that I hadn't done much research into the cast beforehand and spent most of the film trying to work out who the bloody actor was! 

When I found out Justin Lin was taking over the director role and after I saw the trailer, I was genuinely concerned that it would be all action and fire power and no story.  I was pleasantly surprised.  The story was great and there was just the right amount of action, I loved the hints of comedy that we have come to love from this franchise.  

The Spock and Bones (Karl Urban) team up was a great choice, I could listen to the two of them bicker at each other for ages, but they were the only ones providing the laughs this time. That said, I really enjoyed the new character, Jaylah (Sofia Boutella) and her appreciation for loud music. A solid movie all round, but just not quite as good as I was hoping. The 3D was definitely worth it!

This didn't quite match up to the first two but it was entertaining enough to stop me fidgeting and there was a good mix of comedy, action and sentimentality.