Review of STAR TREK BEYOND (2016)

Article by RABID TRIBBLE

This year saw the release of a new Star Trek movie, the 13^th in the long-running film series. STAR TREK BEYOND, which is the third entry in the current revival series, is an entertaining sci-fi romp and a return to form after the slightly lackluster second film, STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS. It moves along at a brisk pace, features lots of action, humor, and some impressive special effects. It’s sure to entertain Star Trek fans young and old. And what better way to celebrate the franchise’s 50^th anniversary than to watch a new adventure on the big screen, right?

In this movie, Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) and his crew are attacked by an immense fleet of small ships which swarm the starship Enterprise and destroy the iconic ship. The crew crash lands in the saucer section onto an alien planet, where they are confronted by the villainous Kraal (Idris Elba) and his minions, responsible for the attack on the ship.

One thing I didn’t like was that, for the third time in 13 films, the Enterprise gets destroyed (it first got destroyed in STAR TREK III: The SEARCH FOR SPOCK and the Enterprise D got destroyed in STAR TREK GENERATIONS). Seeing that iconic vessel meet its demise is always a little painful.

STAR TREK BEYOND joins the club of the better Star Trek films, i.e. STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN (1982), STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME (1986), STAR TREK VI: THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY (1991), STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996) and STAR TREK (2009). What I’m noticing is that the new Star Trek series set in an alternate timeline seems to have also created a new “alternate Star Trek curse”. To those unacquainted with the concept of the Star Trek curse, it’s that traditionally the classic films tended to have strong even-numbered entries and weaker odd-numbered entries. Now this newer series seems to show the opposite trend, with the odd-numbered entries better than the even-numbered ones (STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS). If so, that means we should brace ourselves for a more mediocre sequel next time around. I’ll leave you folks to mull this over.