PRE-MOVIE THOUGHTS: I’m not really what you would call a die-hard Star Trek fan. I don’t think I’ve really watched more than a couple of episodes of the original series, but I loved Next Generation. After that, DS9 and Voyager etc didn’t really capture me in the same way and I lost interest in the franchise.
When it comes to the movies, I’ve not seen many of the originals either. I became more interested when the Next Generation cast were involved, but even then these weren’t great movies in my opinion. So when the Star Trek reboot first came about, I was actually pretty excited, which is not something that usually happens with me when it comes to reboots. I think the fact that JJ Abrams was involved, the cast looked great and it really looked like they were doing something new and exciting just looked right to me. And when I saw the movie, I absolutely loved it. Following on from that came Into Darkness, which didn’t really do a lot for me, I wasn’t that impressed and it didn’t leave a lasting impression at all. So when Beyond was announced and first trailers/details emerged I was cautious. But recent buzz indicated that things were back on track, so I was pretty excited heading into this one.
POST-MOVIE REVIEW: We’re 3 years into the 5 year mission of the Enterprise. Things seem pretty mundane onboard and Kirk appears restless and unhappy. We discover that he’s looking to leave his post on the Enterprise and move onto a higher, more grounded role. Turns out that Spock is looking to move on to, but for different reasons.
They head off on a rescue mission into unknown space where they are subjected to a brutal attack by an unknown enemy. The Enrerprise is ripped apart in an impressive but very difficult to follow at times sequence which results in what’s left of the ship crashing into the nearby planet. A lot of the crew manage to flee in escape pods meaning that our team are separated and need to find their way back, all the while still having to deal with the enemy responsible for bringing them down. That enemy is headed up by Krall (Idris Elba).
I really do seem to be the only person in the world who doesn’t rate Idris Elba. Aside from his role in the Thor movies, I don’t think he’s been very good in anything else I’ve seen him in. Recently it was The Jungle Book, which he ruined for me, and he’s not much better in this either.
The time on the planet as our team attempt to regroup and work out a plan of action is interesting for a while, with some good character interaction and humour, but it soon gets dull. Things improve once we’re back in space and fighting back against Krall and his army though. It’s visually impressive, but fractured and again it’s hard to follow at times.
So, I’m writing this the morning after seeing the movie and I’ve got to say it hasn’t left a lasting impression on me at all. I found it marginally better than Into Darkness but just as forgettable and I have to say I was pretty disappointed.
Web developer by day, with a movie and TV watchlist that continues to grow as much as my spare time reduces! My favourite movie is Inception and, despite what everyone says, I do not have a man-crush on Tom Cruise.
