Prior to seeing the new film Star Trek Beyond I had never seen any of the Star Trek movies. I vaguely remember that my older sister Jodi was into watching reruns of the original Star Trek television show when we were little girls, but I had no interest in watching with her because quite frankly Mr. Spock’s pointy ears and funky hand gestures freaked me out a little. And seriously what was the deal with his haircut, creepy-looking eyebrows, and monotone voice?
After seeing Star Trek Beyond I can now understand why Trekkies are so passionate about Captain James T. Kirk and the whole USS Enterprise crew. The movie starts out during the third year of the crew’s five year long journey in space. Captain Kirk, played by Chris Pine, is clearly a success, but he’s reached a point in his career where he feels that life aboard the Enterprise is stale with each day blending into the next mundane day. As he contemplates making some serious changes, he and his crew are tasked by the Federation with a rescue mission that only their spacecraft is equipped to handle.
The rescue mission goes awry when the Enterprise is attacked by Krall, played by Idris Elba, and his followers. Krall, who’s anti-Federation, uses the crew’s solidarity against them as he ruthlessly tries to obliterate not only the Enterprise crew, but also everyone else in the Federation. Will the crew falter or are they strong enough as a whole to thrive under even the worst of circumstances? Will Scotty be able to beam them all up after they’re forced to abandon ship?
While I didn’t have an appreciation for Mr. Spock when I was growing up, I found myself surprised by how much I liked Commander Spock, played by Zachary Quinto. Spock works on trying to balance blending in with his human counterparts while respecting his Vulcan sensibilities, and I found the friendship between him and Dr. McCoy, played by Karl Urban, especially amusing. There were moments that made me laugh as well as one-liners that felt poignant. I made the mistake of assuming that Star Trek would be strictly an action packed sci-fi movie, and never considered that there would be emotional story lines and humor too. So many of the characters, including Lieutenant Uhura, Sulu, and Chekov, were instantly likable, and I found myself rooting for the new character Jaylah as she fiercely went face to face with the enemy.
I brought family friend Gunner, who’s eleven years old, to the movie with me. Just like me, Gunner had never seen any of the Star Trek series. While we agreed that neither of us ever plan on becoming die-hard Trekkies, we were both thoroughly entertained the whole time. “I wouldn’t mind watching it again,” Gunner declared, and added, “I would go watch the next one.” Gunner thought “mature kids nine and older” will be fine seeing the movie. There were a few curse words here and there, but none of them included the “F-word” or anything sexually suggestive.
Overall I was really impressed with the film. I’m not about to go back and watch all of the previous Star Trek movies, but I definitely agree with Gunner about being “curious what happens next” for the USS Enterprise’s crew! When the movie ended, the whole theater erupted in applause, including Gunner and me. “Live long and prosper” (and go see Star Trek Beyond.)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Director: Justin Lin
Actors/Voices: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Idris Elba
Rating: PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action and violence
Running Time: 2 hours
