Star Trek the original series is one of my favourite TV shows of all time and I do consider myself to be a fan of the new Star Trek films, but do still prefer the original series a lot better. While most would think that the third film in a franchise is usually a lot worse than the two before it, this film just isn’t that, it was actually a pleasant surprise. In fact it’s probably about equal to the other two films before it or even better than them depending on how you look at it. Is it worth watching? I would say it is worth it, it’s got great visuals, a decent story and a lot of fun actors and characters to look at. It certainly isn’t boring at all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FV6aQfCtt8A
In this film I would have to say my favourite part about it was the look of some of the new characters and aliens. Sofia Boutella’s Jayla looked excellent on screen and I do wonder how long it took to do all the makeup for that character because it was really well done, Jayla was probably one of the most interesting looking characters I’ve seen at the cinema this year. Same with the villains, Idris Elba’s Krall certainly doesn’t disappoint visually at all. The look of the characters and the creative design of them in Star Trek Beyond is probably the best I’ve seen in the series so far.
Special effects are also a high point with the the film. The Enterprise looks better than ever, the vastness of space is well presented, Krall’s ships looks excellent and overall special effects are as a good as they can be in 2016. If you’re going in for some nice special effects and some decent action, this film certainly will give you that. If you’ve seen the other two films in the series before, I’d say you could expect about the same amount of action going into this one. There is a ship sequence towards the end of the film that involves some music playing that I think really pushes this one beyond the other two films though.
Star Trek Beyond comes written by Simon Pegg and Doug Jong who definitely don’t disappoint. Between this film and the first in the series, I’m not sure which I consider to be the best written so far, but as I write this review I think this is the best one. I would have to watch it again to be sure, but it was decently done. Some parts are a bit messy towards the end, especially with the conclusion, but it didn’t matter too much. It was also good to see some decent characterisation in this film, Kirk (Chris Pine) is kind of feeling a bit lost and doesn’t really know what he should be aiming to do and this film kind of explores that, while Spock (Zachary Quinto) also goes through some issues as well. There’s also some light humour mixed in amongst it all as well. Out of all three films, I enjoyed this the most because it seemed to me to be the one that’s closest to original Star Trek series. it just had a kind of vibe to it and I think Star Trek fans will enjoy what they get out of this one.
Actors are all great, everyone always enjoys watching Chris Pine on screen and he gets a decent amount of things to do in this film, I do like his Kirk and I look forward to seeing him star in another Star Trek film in the future. The rest of the cast are all great and I’ve become used to seeing them all on the ship together, nobody really disappoints in this one at all Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg and Sofia Boutella all get their moments to shine in the film.
The only real disappointment and the thing that holds back the film slightly is really the ending for me and how they dealt with the villain. It just seemed a bit similar to the second film in the series, particularly the action sequence. It’s possible that director Justin Lin paced the ending of the film a little too quickly as things felt rushed to me, where before that, the film was quite well paced and then all of sudden it went quickly. The villain could have possibly had a larger impact, but sort of got a bit lost in the end. It’s a shame because the film is excellent really, but if it just had something just a little more impactful, it possibly could have been one of the best Star Trek films ever made or even one of the best films of the year. The film is great, but not spectacular, but that’s still pretty good and better than most out there.
So should you go and see Star Trek Beyond this weekend? I would say that you definitely should go and see it. It’s got a great mix of actors who definitely won’t disappoint you one bit and it’s got all the action and special effects you need to keep you entertained. Simon Pegg and Doug Jong did a great job with the script and this felt like one of the best Star Trek films in the series so far, if not the best one so far. It’s also got some of the most interesting looking character makeup I’ve seen all year and the special effects were beautiful on screen, certainly the best of the series. While I do have some minor gripes with the ending, don’t let that discourage you, this is a film I definitely want to see a second time and will make sure that I do. I’m a Star Trek fan after all and I do believe that possibly I enjoyed this one the most out of the three so far.
