Star Trek Beyond (12A.)
Directed by Justin Lin.
Starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Zoe Saldana, John Chu, Anton Yelchin and Idris Elba. 120 mins
Star Trek 13, the third with the recast original crew, opens with our new Kirk (Pine) reflecting on his life and purpose in a couple of crafty meta-jokes. Now that the crew is three years into their five year mission (the point when the TV programme was cancelled) he muses in his captain's log that their mission to explore the universe is getting to feel a little “episodic.”
He may have something there. This new instalment is lively fun but inessential. J.J. Abrams jumped starship to relaunch Star Wars, which may seem symbolic of Trek's place in the wider universe. His approach was quite abrasive – his films made a point of baiting the die hard fans with challenges to sacred orthodoxies – but it seemed to be the jolt the series needed to widen the appeal to a more general audience. Without him the series seems content to coast along and play it safe.
Which is a great credit to the new cast who now seem as embedded in their roles, as cosy and reassuring, as the original gang. The new adventure has them being sent off to answer a call for help that sees them getting stranded and separated on a strange planet, though not so strange that can't all bump into one another. The spreading out of the cast works best for Quinto and Urban, (still the closest impersonations of the original performers) who get to relive the banter of Spock and Bones; it is worst for Uhuru (Saldana) who ends up in the Special Expositionary Force, having baddy Idris Elba tell her all his evil plans.
The new film has some spectacular special effects sequences but also some moments on the planet that have cheap back lot spirit of the 60s show. New director Lin, the man who took Fast and Furious from desperate rip off sequels to global money machine, plots a steady course, though a lot of the action sequences are shot close up, and frantically edited which prevents audience involvement. Pegg co-wrote the script, which is consistently funny and endearingly warm.
Of all the lines I've written in film reviews in the Ham and High over the last ten years, the one about Star Trek Into Darkness being perhaps “the most perfect expression of Gene Roddenberry's creation” is the one I regret most. I loved it in the cinema but fell asleep when I tried to watch it on television. Clearly I was wrong. Still, I missed JJ's touch here because without him this is indeed “episodic” - another perfectly fine installment much like all the others, better than some and worse than others, but in no way, shape or form is it a Star Trek Beyond
Directed by Justin Lin.
Starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Zoe Saldana, John Chu, Anton Yelchin and Idris Elba. 120 mins
Star Trek 13, the third with the recast original crew, opens with our new Kirk (Pine) reflecting on his life and purpose in a couple of crafty meta-jokes. Now that the crew is three years into their five year mission (the point when the TV programme was cancelled) he muses in his captain's log that their mission to explore the universe is getting to feel a little “episodic.”
He may have something there. This new instalment is lively fun but inessential. J.J. Abrams jumped starship to relaunch Star Wars, which may seem symbolic of Trek's place in the wider universe. His approach was quite abrasive – his films made a point of baiting the die hard fans with challenges to sacred orthodoxies – but it seemed to be the jolt the series needed to widen the appeal to a more general audience. Without him the series seems content to coast along and play it safe.
Which is a great credit to the new cast who now seem as embedded in their roles, as cosy and reassuring, as the original gang. The new adventure has them being sent off to answer a call for help that sees them getting stranded and separated on a strange planet, though not so strange that can't all bump into one another. The spreading out of the cast works best for Quinto and Urban, (still the closest impersonations of the original performers) who get to relive the banter of Spock and Bones; it is worst for Uhuru (Saldana) who ends up in the Special Expositionary Force, having baddy Idris Elba tell her all his evil plans.
The new film has some spectacular special effects sequences but also some moments on the planet that have cheap back lot spirit of the 60s show. New director Lin, the man who took Fast and Furious from desperate rip off sequels to global money machine, plots a steady course, though a lot of the action sequences are shot close up, and frantically edited which prevents audience involvement. Pegg co-wrote the script, which is consistently funny and endearingly warm.
Of all the lines I've written in film reviews in the Ham and High over the last ten years, the one about Star Trek Into Darkness being perhaps “the most perfect expression of Gene Roddenberry's creation” is the one I regret most. I loved it in the cinema but fell asleep when I tried to watch it on television. Clearly I was wrong. Still, I missed JJ's touch here because without him this is indeed “episodic” - another perfectly fine installment much like all the others, better than some and worse than others, but in no way, shape or form is it a Star Trek Beyond
