The third installment in the rebooted movie franchise, Star Trek--Beyond
was, for me, one of the most anticipated movies for this summer. I have
been a fan of Star Trek since, well as long as I can literally remember.
The original series premiered a year after I was born (uh oh, letting the
age cat out of the bag there..LOL!!), so I am one of those individuals who has
been blessed to have grown up with this beloved franchise.
I will say this upfront, I am in no way a
fan of ALL the spin offs and such that have been presented through the years.
ST:TNG, Voyager, and ST:DSN were not at all to my liking. But, that is a
set of reviews for another time (maybe, maybe not, we will see).
This particular viewing was one of those
rare times that I go in with the movie set on a very high pedestal. My
expectations are reasonable, but are at the same time very specific. If
the movie does not meet these expectations, I come out feeling both let down
and somewhat upset. This being because the makers of this franchise KNOW
what the fans want, expect, and need from these movies. To do otherwise is a
slap in the face of the fandom. Slap them enough, and you WILL lose that
fandom...plain and simple.
With this particular release, there is the
extra added loss of the actor that played one of the most beloved roles, that
of Ensign Pavel Chekov. I am not going to go into this part too much,
other than to say that a truly talented young life was taken way too soon.
And, it is not without noting, in some form of cosmic foreshadowing, that
Chekov's character was presented with more screen time in this chapter of the
movies, than the other two movies combined. And, for that I am tearfully
grateful. To get one last look at this gifted actor who did such a
splendid job of bringing this character (my favorite by the way) to life for
me, and the viewing audience. Anton...you will be missed :(
As for my overall thoughts of Beyond, I
must say they are very mixed. First off, I think this installment would
have been better served as a small screen, say television episode or movie
event, adaptation rather than a large screen production. I am saying this
because, for me, it did not have that epic big screen feel to it, that those versions
preceding it had.
The plot line was okay, for what it was,
but it in no way held up to its previous two installments with regards to
suspense and action. This movie never did, in my opinion, steadily pick
up pace, pulling me to the end of my seat, ending in a crescendo of release.
From beginning to end it pretty much maintained the same pace--slow and
deliberate. Not at all what I have seen, or expect, in this movie
franchise.
The bad guy in this one, portrayed by
Idris Elba, was a bad guy only in that he aimed to do bodily harm to others.
With most of the baddies in these movies, whether you plan to or not, you
develop some sort of disdain for them, a basic visceral, primal feeling. You come away with a proverbial bad taste
in your mouth. In this case meh, not so much. I mean, I know he was
the bad guy, and I know he wanted to hurt those in the Federation, including
our band of heroes, but that was about as far as it went for me. Elba's
portrayal fell, I would say well short of the other baddies featured before
him, but that would mean I would have to admit that his performance was in the
same zip code. And that is not a
statement I am prepared to make.
Even the overall “tone” of the interactions of the three main
characters, Kirk, Spock and McCoy was different. It is hard to explain to those who are not life-long
fans, but to those that are, you will get the meaning. Sure Kirk and Spock had their usual
disagreements, on everything, and Bones had his usual one-liners (that at this
point are more redundant than funny), but the overall dynamic was off. I am going to attribute that to the fact that
J.J.Abrams handed over the reins on this one, as well as not the best choice in
writers in tapping Simon Pegg. It proved
that just because you play a character in the movie series, it does not make
you qualified to write a screenplay for such.
There were also times, when the scenes were so dark, and poorly
lit, that I had to take my 2-D glasses off just to try and see what was
happening. Nothing perturbs me more than
paying good money to see a movie, and in reality not being able to see most of
it. They have successfully made many
installments before this one, and the movie goers be able to follow and view
the action. So why not this one? My theories, they thought that it would make
it more suspenseful, but in actuality it played into the poor screenwriting
even more.
Lastly, with a reported budget of $185,000,000, they would have
been better off not putting it all into the special effects. From the beginning of the franchise,
including the big screen movie reboots, this was a series that did NOT rely
heavily on special effects—plain and simple.
The success was in the screenplay, the story, and the characters. But, this version diverted from that formula,
and came across as a (dare I say it?) a Star Wars wannabe (gasp!!!).
I will say that the character of Jaylah was a nice addition, and
the actress that portrayed her did a bang up job. Her interactions with each of the crew
members were spot on, and reminiscent of the original series days. This is one character that would be great to
see in the next movie (given there is one after this one…time and profits will
tell).
Written by: Tracy Few
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