“There is no such thing as the unknown only things temporarily hidden.”
Directed by: Justin Lin
Written by: Simon Pegg, Doug Jung
Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Idras Elba, Sofia Boutella
The Josh Chop: I’ll start off by saying that I never really watched the original series nor the original cast films. I’m not sure if this is a part of the original canon or not. With that being said, I enjoyed Star Trek Beyond, because I’ve come to really enjoy the characters and the actors who bring them to life. Ultimately I would give this film neither a great nor bad review, because after seeing it, I neither felt excited nor let down. Admittedly I had to let things marinate before I started typing to let my ideas come to head for reasons stated. While watching, I felt that I would have a hard time describing the film without giving too much away or spoiling plot points, but I’ll give it a shot.
What we can only imagine is years after the battle with Khan, the U.S.S. Enterprise crew is well into the swing of things with their ship exploring the far beyond reaches of the galaxies. Captain Kirk (Pine) begins to question his love for exploring when he’s reminded by his first commander Spock (Quinto) that “There is no such thing as the unknown, only things temporarily hidden.” This brings Captain Kirk to wonder if he will ever be satisfied with his exploration. If the universe is forever, how can one truly enjoy exploring it and find new things when you can only see so much? With space going on forever, are you exploring, or are you just lost? It comes to his attention that maybe this isn’t his dream. After all, he joined the Federation on a dare and did not have the same passion as his father. Or so he believes.
Soon we are brought to Star Base Yorktown where we see that it is home to millions of citizens and Starfleet crew. This reminded me of an enclosed star base similar to Deep Space Nine‘s, only in a bubble sort of looking containment. The architecture is a bit confusing and never really explained when we see towering sky scrapers inside that are upside down and horizontal. All the while citizens walk upright on spaces where the gravity seems normal. Imagine seeing the bending of concrete and buildings as seen in scenes from Inception or Interstellar with people functioning and living. Think about that and multiply it by twenty. You now have Star Base Yorktown.
Abruptly there is a single vessel careening towards the star base with no sign of stopping. The single life form aboard named Kalara (Lydia Wilson) is beamed aboard. She is an unknown alien and must have a device translate every word being said. She is apparently the only surviving escapee of a group stranded in a section of space beyond a nebula, she pleads for help from the Federation. Captain Kirk and his crew agree to aid and help rescue her remaining people.
The great adventure begins, and what was not said but implied (to me at least) about the dangerous nebula was really nothing especially difficult for the amazing crew of the U.S.S Enterprise. Once through, the Enterprise is quickly attacked by a fluid moving giant vessel. Turns out it is not one giant ship but rather thousands of smaller ships. Think of seeing thousands of flying birds or bees and how they each are individual but together look like a flying fluid mass. At this point sh** hits the f***ing fan!
Within minutes, the Enterprise is torn to sh** and literally all seems lost. You know when you’re watching a film and you think: “This is bad, but they’ll make it out.” Yeah, nope. Doctor Bones (Urban) who always tells it like it is, would definitely say: “We’re f***ed.” Its revealed that an alien, Krall (Elba) is behind the attack and is after a weapon that is aboard the Enterprise. The seemingly useless device is about as big as your fist, but if in the wrong hands it could destroy an entire universe!
With the help of a refugee Jaylah (Boutella) whose people have also been captured and killed by Krall, Captain Kirk and his team must fight with over 100 year old technology to destroy the enemy and stop the destruction of Yorktown and possibly more. Imagine trying to fight a war with an army that outnumbers you 100 to one. Now imagine fighting with old technology, tactics and firepower. Can it be done? Maybe. With a lot of luck and the ingenuity of Spock, Scotty (Pegg) and Chekov (Anton Yelchin) anything can happen. Or can it?
After writing this review, I’m reminded of certain scenes and will admit I did enjoy the film, but it certainly lacked something. What that is, I don’t know? I know most of you will enjoy this film, but it didn’t have what Into Darkness had. I never truly felt the fear that all was lost and you only have one last second to save everything. Believe me, Pegg and Jung wrote plenty of scenes like that, but for me I was never on the edge of my seat.
Do you agree? Or am I crazy? Tell me in the comments below. Rip me a new one, whatever. I’m up to discuss this one!
