You know, I sit and I\u2019ve been wondering how to start this review of the latest entry into the STAR TREK franchise, and I can\u2019t help but think of a headline I read about this movie, \u201cA Half-Good \u2018Star Trek\u2019 Movie is Better Than No \u2018Star Trek\u2019 Movie!\u201d and I have to say, that is pretty apt when describing STAR TREK BEYOND.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019ve seen the trailers, you pretty much know the setup for BEYOND: Kirk is struggling with his sense of \u201cself\u201d, the Enterprise is attacked in deep space & the crew is captured, from there, a race to the end of the movie.<\/p>\n
But here\u2019s the thing, POTENTIAL SPOILER<\/strong>, that\u2019s pretty much it. I mean if you saw the trailer, you\u2019ve pretty much seen the movie. Even wrote about giving away the movie in the trailer, specifically citing the trailer<\/a><\/strong> for this movie.<\/p>\n But I digress. Essentially, after the setup you get from the trailer, it\u2019s pretty much a by-the-numbers adventure. And that was my worry, after the changes in directors, ultimately landing on Justin Lin (FAST & FURIOUS), and not having all the writers back from the first two movies. With Lin, his biggest claims to fame are the FAST movies, though PACKED with action, not really known for character development. And that shows in BEYOND. The action is GREAT. But as for the setup for the personal challenges the characters face? It\u2019s a little lacking. And that might be due to the pre-production shake-ups for BEYOND, but for me, it just wasn\u2019t there in the final product.<\/p>\n And it hurts me to say that, because I\u2019ve been a huge fan of STAR TREK since the TOS movies\u2026 you might give me shit for not going back to the TOS TV\u2026 but I wasn\u2019t alive when it aired. Haha.<\/p>\n But yea, I consider myself a big fan of this property, and it just felt like something crucial was missing from this entry. Heh, it\u2019s funny, I remember Chris Pine (Kirk) making a comment that you can\u2019t make a \u201ccerebral\u201d STAR TREK movie? Well Chris, you\u2019ve made a non-cerebral <\/em>STAR TREK movie, and it simply lacks the heart almost every other STAR TREK movie had, even the bad ones. There was no challenge for the characters, and no challenge for the movie-goer. It was just sort of there.<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Now I know this might sound like I hated the movie. I didn\u2019t. Disappointed, sure. But I didn\u2019t hate it. In all actuality, I did have fun. And regardless of my criticisms about BEYOND, it is a STAR TREK movie, so you really should see it in theatres. I mean, why would you NOT see sci-fi on the big screen?!! Haha.<\/p>\n As for anything else? I guess leading up to this film\u2019s release, making Sulu gay was getting steam online. So I guess, I\u2019ll mention it. I think it\u2019s great that the writers and producers introduced a LGBT character, existing or otherwise, into this universe. But the way the went about it just seemed so pointless. I mean, you knew going in that it was going to be an equivalent of a side-comment, not a huge plot device. But the way Sulu was introduced as being gay in this universe, felt so forced in. Almost like it was an after-thought. Like an executive was all, \u201cIt\u2019s hip to be inclusive, so let\u2019s do this as a nod to Takei to increase attendance!\u201d and they just jammed in the nod.<\/p>\n It would have been nice to see it have happened more organically. Maybe in future entries, but it is what it is.<\/p>\n