Star Trek Beyond Is Fun, Full Of Problems

My parents were Trekkies. Not “We’re going to a con dressed up as Vulcans” Trekkies but taping every episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation as they were airing kind of Trekkies. I was born in the early 1980s and a lot of what was on the TV for Star Trek went over my head until I was preteen in the early 1990s. I have vague memories of the Star Trek cartoon show, and we went through the Star Trek NES game, but those things were my main points of exposure to the original crew.

My parents were not so big into the original Star Trek, but they were very into Next Gen, and everything since, so we watched it all. The first and only time I really got to see the original crew in action though was Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. I say all this to give some perspective on where I am coming from reviewing the movie Star Trek Beyond.

This is important because if there are any nods to the original episodes or if the latest movie is bringing in characters that were once in the original television series, I would not pick up on those allusions.

Also, I need to at least mention how I felt about the previous two movies in this series. I liked the first one, although I thought it was going a bit too far destroying the entire planet Vulcan. (What happens to Tuvok?) The cast, however, gave spot-on performances, and I was willing to just go along with the ride and see how it all would play out. For Star Trek Into Darkness, I did not see a single preview before going. I had just enjoyed the first one and thought, “Why not?” When they dropped the Khan I was actually surprised, which rarely happens with movies, and so I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I really wanted to pump myself up before seeing this third movie by re-watching an older Star Trek movie, so I went to Hulu and Netflix hoping to see something. Well Hulu was a wash but Netflix has one movie right now: Star Trek: First Contact. That movie is not very good. It’s also not very bad, it’s just really not as good as Star Trek Generations so maybe I’m a little harsh on it. Visually it did some neat things, but certain plot points did not always make sense. Main characters seemed to have valuable lives, but everyone else was pretty expendable. I don’t just mean the Red Shirt trope either, I mean all non-main crew people. Also, the other classic Star Trek trope, the pseudoscience, was off the charts in this movie. Then they did some corny things too, like the filmmakers threw in some current music to the audience which meant “classical” music to the crew. Why am I giving a review of First Contact when I should be reviewing Beyond? Well these two movies actually have a lot in common.

Star Trek Beyond was not a bad movie, but it was not an amazing movie the way Into Darkness was. The plot was simplistic: the good guys have a thing involving lots of pseudoscience; the bad guys want the thing to use against the good guys and the good guys try to stop them. If you’re at all familiar with the series, you can figure out what the deal is with the bad guys early on. Again, my problem was with random crew dying and no one really acknowledging it. My other little hang up was with the pseudoscience especially around having lots of broken glass in space. I know it’s a classic Star Trek trope but did we really need to play it up? I kept thinking of the parody singer Voltaire every time it happened, “Bounce a graviton particle beam off the main deflector dish. That’s the way we do things, lad, we’re making **** up as we wish.” As for the corny music thing, just wait for it.

Don’t think that this was a bad movie, though. It was fun and entertaining, just don’t go looking for any deep meaning or life-changing experiences. The actors were as they have been, spot-on to the characters they were portraying. When they interact and do things as those classic characters, they are funny and entertaining. It’s fun to watch them just go for it. I have a special place in my heart for Karl “why don’t we have a second Dredd movie already?” Urban. And it’s heart-wrenching that this will be last Star Trek film featuring Anton Yelchin as Chekov.

Most impressive were the costuming and makeup. As a seamstress, I’m always thinking about how costuming was made. The flight jackets that the Enterprise crew wore were gorgeous. They entailed an impressive amount of sewing with unforgiving materials. The cosplay that will come out of this movie will be Jaylah. a new character whose design has everything. She has awesome makeup, a comfortable yet complex and visually appealing outfit, and a strong, interesting personality. I think her makeup would be the focus, as it’s visually enticing much like Darth Maul’s complex red and black design. Expect to see lots of Jaylahs at cons, and she was not the most complex or impressive makeup job in the movie, though. Having watched some Face Off, I can appreciate the amount of effort and ingenuity involved. I really wish Star Wars: The Force Awakens had decided to go a similar route. Mama Yoda aka Maz Kanata had a terrible CGI face.

So should you go see it? If you have the money to spend, want to get out of the summer heat, and relax with an easy action/comedy movie, then go for it! Right now it’s up against Ghostbusters, and if I had to pick one or the other, I would see Ghostbusters. If I had young kids with me, I would see Star Trek. There are a few scary scenes in Star Trek, but nothing as scary as in Ghostbusters, which might legitimately frighten children.

It’s often easier to put movies into two categories, good or bad, go or stay home. Maybe the decision to go is a little more complex than if the movie is a “must see.” If you enjoy the act of going to the movies, and you enjoy the current series of Star Trek movies or just fun action movies, then go for it.