Star Trek Beyond [Movie Review]

I've been mulling over what words to start this post with... and I've finally decided.

"Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Her five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before."
- Kirk speaking the Captain's Oath at the end of Star Trek into Darkness.

Okay... so that's kinda bad.

I would so live there! Why can't we build awesome cities nowadays?
I seriously ask this. Modern cities seem to be places of urban
sprawl and decay... not wonderful monuments to human achievement.

It is the third year of the Enterprise's five year mission. Kirk is feeling lost, days are blending together, and everything has become a little too 'episodic.'

It is a very good beginning to this third movie in the time-reset universe of Star Trek.

4 out of 5 stars.

The new alien menace foot soldiers are very... Mass Effect.

I kept trying to tell if her facial markings were skin tone, tattoos, or clothing.
I'm still not sure.

I am liking the new jackets.

Did you know that my first Star Trek review (Star Trek into Darkness) was reviewed before I started using a five star rating system... wow. Of course it was updated later to include a rating. Which right now seems a little bit high... like by half a star. That or I'm rating this movie half a star too low... either way. I have liked each of the new Star Trek films slightly more than the one before. 

Anyways back to the review... so, let me lay this out right now, right here.

This has been billed as an action movie, and while it has action, this is actually more of a mystery movie. Which is unexpectedly good. Certainly, mysteries tend to work a bit better in book form or TV form (as the suspense and questions can be dribbled in at a slower pace). But this movie still does a more than passable job presenting a mystery in a Star Trek, er Fleet, uniform.

Does that chair remind you of anything? It should...

If I had to knock the film for anything it would be the rather rough opening that is mainly to blame on the CGI creatures. I know why they did it... but it was just a touch rough. Not exactly bad, but rough. And there was one moment at the end where I got a touch confused on a bit of the Technobabble. Usually I'm good at following technobabble, but this time I was distracted by the scenery porn cities... and missed a bit. It was fine, I caught up in like a second, but still...

The bonus Trekkie fun in this movie are all the hails to prior Star Trek - especially Star Trek Enterprise. So many fun little details everywhere. Those alone make me want to see it again so that I can catch all the ones I might have missed.

Oh, and the comedy. Each of the new Star Trek films have involved some level of comedy... but honestly, and I think this is Simon Pegg's writing, this has the best comedy of the three movies. I laughed a ton, the audience laughed a ton, it was a very funny movie. It successfully wove together a mystery, a comedy, and an action film. That's pretty solid. Of course some of the best comedy comes from Bones and Spock, and Scotty, but even Kirk gets in on the humor pretty solidly. Who kicks the most action ass? Why that would probably be Uhura and Jaylah (the new alien with the milk white skin with black marks). Certainly Kirk, Chekov, Spock, and the rest fire many phasers... but when it comes to using martial arts to wail on someone, well that was mostly Uhura and Jaylah. Kinda really cool. 

I'm hoping to see this movie at least once more in theaters.
I gotta tease out more details.

So there's my recommendation - go and see this movie. It is well worth the matinee price (I always say this but that is because almost no movie is worth more than matinee).

Go. See it.

In memoriam of Anton Yelchin. I liked him as an actor, he was very good.
He brought a newness to Chekov that was not better nor worse than
Walter Koenig's, just different. It is a good take on Chekov.
He will be missed.
I also seriously hope that they treat his death respectfully and do not
bring Chekov back for Star Trek 4.
UPDATE: I have just learned that Chekov will not be recast in Star Trek 4.
Link.