Star Trek Beyond - Movie Review

'Star Trek Beyond' is an evidence that the rebooted 'Star Trek' franchise doesn't need JJ Abrams in order to continue spinning. Abrams, who directed the previous two 'Trek' films, is passing the chair to Justin Lin, whose name is frequently attached to the 'Fast and Furious' series. Not the safest choice, but as someone who know how to have a lot of fun fitting for the diverting tone Abrams established in 2009, it seems he's an interesting candidate for the job.

In the film, James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and the USS Enterprise crew is ambushed by the villain Krall (Idris Elba) who demolished their ship and tear their group apart for the sole purpose of stealing a device to satisfy his evil intent. Isolated in a planet without communication to save them, Kirk seeks to re-assemble his team while also trying to saving the lives of the few.

It's a real shocker how this film ended up to be the more enjoyable than its predecessors. As a film clearly designed to have its audience have fun watching it, 'Star Trek Beyond' naturally pulled it off by retaining the energetic element of the rebooted films mixing it with the old-school vibe from the original series starring William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. In a way, it effectively manages to please fans of the franchise both old and new.

If not for Simon Pegg's sharp eyes on creating humor on writing the film's script (with Doug Jung), everything would end up feeling flat. Both Pegg/ Jung and Lin's hunger for excitement benefited to how satisfying the film turned out to be. A great sequence showing just that involves the song "Sabotage" by the Beastie Boys being used as a crucial weapon for the action. The scene was received with a lot of cheers in the theater.

As usual, Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto acted their way in to their movie with so much energy as Kirk and Spock. But the real star here is Karl Urban as Bones, whose performance provided some of the biggest laughs in the film. Sofia Boutella, the blade-footed henchman to Samuel L. Jackson in last year's 'Kingsman: The Secret Service', continues to impress as the alien Shaylah (completely unrecognizable thanks to an impressive make-up art).

The villain Krall is disappointingly flat and one-note due to poor characterization. Its a shame to not get him right since Idris Elba actually gave a decent performance to the role.

'Star Trek Beyond' turned out to be a lot better than expected. By by fusing the old and new elements of the 'Star Trek' franchise into one, the film manages to become a very satisfying space adventure that is surprisingly a lot of fun to watch.

The geek rates it 8/10!

'Star Trek Beyond' is now showing in cinemas nationwide from United International Pictures Philippines!