Star Trek Beyond (2016)
Alright you guys let's put this Into The Wrath of Khan's Darkness rubbish to bed once and for all...*Did you know they've released a new Star Trek film? No? I mean, I didn't until I heard a rumour about a trailer, mere months, only moments before the release ("Hey this trailer looks great, when is this out... July?!"). Here's the thing: It's quite good. After 2013's author-enraging mess that was Star Trek Into Darkness (the tactic of losing the colon after the franchise name is novel but worthwhile), a nostalgia grab that borders on shameless parody and certainly not my Khan, this theatre-length episode of Season Four of the original characters, initially portrayed by Shatner, Nimoy et al., is quietly brilliant and definitely one of the better films of the franchise as a whole. You could even think of this as the Star Trek we need right now. Spoilers throughout, yo.
Okay, maybe I'm a little too invested in all of this. Right? This film is a much more able successor to 1982's seminal Wrath of Khan both tonally and in its plot. Let's get to our modern action blockbuster checklist though... Hey! The deadly weapon at the end which hangs above everyone's heads in the final moments... DOESN'T GLOW! Anyway, this film is a sunny day compared to its eternally damned prequel, and suspiciously free of universe breaking plot-holes. The premise is simple - after the destruction of the Enterprise, the crew must work together to defeat the seemingly unstoppable alien menace of Krall, who hates all that the United Federation of Planets stands for, and wants only to see its destruction. Right? Pretty easy, sorta villain-of-the-week format, right? Right?!?!
I've read in countless 'tipz 4 writers' that if you get stuck in your novel, take drastic action and kill someone. Kill the main character! And so does this film. In the opening moments, Kirk's monologue includes the term "episodic", riffing on the fact there's a new franchise supporting tentpole block buster film out every two months at a minimum, or that there are so many episodes of Star Trek (this year is the 50th anniversary after all) or just blah blah isn't everything safe and normal for us now. The following crash-landing of escape pods and one proton torpedo (The Search for Scotty?) on the alien planet also gives us an epic saucer section crash money shot. The crew get split up and this basically turns into a buddy episode, with the nameless and faceless army of extras posing as the starship crew captured pretty much straight away, and the main characters pair off in "unexpected" ways - Spock and McCoy are the breakout couple in the film... Unless you've seen any other, older Star Trek films that is, anyway.
Actually, a word about Spock: A week before seeing this film, I had started and finished William Shatner's latest book, Leonard. This is neither the time or place to debate the what really stopped them from talking and whether Shatner's account really is the truth, but it brings the incredible life and talent of Leonard Nimoy into sharp focus. He died from complications due to COPD, after a career as an actor, writer and photographer that spanned 60 years in 2015, while this film was starting pre-production. After cameo appearances as "Spock Prime" in the last two films, it wouldn't be too much of a leap to suggest that he would do so again, but, alas. Early on in the film, Quinto's Spock is taken quietly aside by Vulcan Ambassadors and told the news, which initially causes him to decide to leave Starfleet at the conclusion of this mission - but don't worry folks, he doesn't! At the end of the film though, he is handed some of old Spock's most important belongings - including a photo of the original cast in their red uniforms with the fold down panel, probably from Star Trek IV or V. As the film goes on we learn scraps about our mystery villain, Krall. There's no fakeout here (thinking about it the John Harrison/Khan flip is as obvious and bad as Arkham Knight/Jason Todd), as Krall is an original character with an interesting past, which lines him up better with a Khan figure (especially the character of Ricardo Montalban's Khan) - the former military commander Balthazar Edison, from before the Federation federated, who was given a starship to captain after the end of galactic conflict, is lost through a wormhole, crashes on the planet and then uses the life-preserving technology of the previous inhabitants to become the monstrous enemy. This references (and goes on to further homage) the ill-fated Enterprise, the only (so far and hopefully ever) part of the franchise to have a song as the opening title music. In making him a new character rather than "borrowing" him from the Prime timeline, the film succeeds in the same way that the original series did - taking contemporary issues and throwing them far into the future. Rather than the generic Nero of the first film of the rebooted series, Krall is on a mission to destroy the Federation, not just Kirk or Spock or some other revenge plot, no, he's out for the whole thing, ideology and all. A war veteran who feels deserted by the very establishment he fought to establish, he feels that the diversity and peace has weakened the resolve of the once-great civilization he fought for, and it must be stopped. As the final act tears on, his appearance gradually changes back to a more human visage, revealing him to be DUN DUN DUNN none other than fan-favourite Idris Elba, who ends up losing the climactic Zero-G tussle with Chris Pine for the deadly disintegrating weapon.
There are some really smart homages as well, and I couldn't let this feature length write up of a feature length episode go without mentioning at least some...
- Much like the Wrath of Khan, the opening act includes Kirk's birthday; instead of just getting old though, this timeline's Kirk is now older than his father was at his death (at the start of the first rebooted film).
- The climactic battle involves a space station at the edge of a nebula, in which hilariously The Beastie Boys are referred to as "classical music" (best gag that people didn't get).
- The station is named after the first draft name for the Enterprise, instead named Yorktown.
- The poster that I've used for the post image is a direct homage to a poster used for Star Trek: The Motion Picture (see here).
- The USS Franklin, dug out of the cliff is an NX class, same as NX-01 from Enterprise, which holds the uniforms with the coloured shoulders and flipped Red/Blue rank indicators.
- The MACO military organization that Edison was part of is also from Enterprise
- Kirk refuses a promotion to Admiral, to which the commanding officer or the Yorktown agrees, saying that it is his "First, best destiny" to captain the Enterprise (more Wrath of Khan)
- After the destruction of the Enterprise and the "borrowing" of the Franklin, the film ends with the crew departing on the newly minted NCC-1701-A, mirroring the construction of the new Enterprise at the end of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
I give this film lots of thumbs up, or whatever. In the great and unquestionable order of all things, I place this as my third favourite Trek film, behind Star Trek IV in second and The Wrath of Khan as the undisputed champion.
*No, I will never leave it alone. Bite me.
(Update: The photo Spock is given is a cast photo from Star Trek V: The Final Frontier)
