SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS

STAR TREK: BEYOND (2016)

Hey, everyone! Elijah Anderson here, with another new film review!

Y'know, there was a funny line in the otherwise forgettable X-Men: Apocalypse: “The third movie is always the worst!” Well, that may have been the case for a lot of film trilogies (including, unfortunately, Apocalypse)....but it's definitely not the case with Star Trek: Beyond! Not only is this film the best one out of the whole reboot trilogy, but in my opinion, it might be one of the best films of the summer, if not the entire year. In fact, I'll see if I can save a space for this on the Best Of list. Why? Well, I'll tell you after a short plot synopsis.

Story: It's been three years since the USS Enterprise embarked on its five-year voyage into the unknown. They decide to resupply and take a brief shore leave on Starbase Yorktown, a futuristic sphere-shaped habitat enclosed in glass, which is home to both aliens and humans alike. However, a distress call about a stranded spaceship leads the crew of the USS Enterprise – including Captain Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto), Uhura (Zoe Saldana), Sulu (John Cho), Scotty (Simon Pegg), Chekov (Anton Yelchin, in one of his last film roles), Bones (Karl Urban), and a host of others – into an unknown part of the galaxy, where they are ambushed by a race of lizard-like aliens led by Krall (Idris Elba). As a result, the USS Enterprise crash lands on an unknown planet. Kirk, Chekov, Spock, Bones, and Scotty are separated, while Uhura, Sulu, and the rest are capture by Krall. It's up to Kirk and the rest, along with a new ally named Jaylah (Sofia Boutella), to use their wits and the power of music (no, I'm not joking, they actually use music) to stop Krall from accomplishing his evil plan to destroy Starfleet.

So, now for a bit of context. The Star Trek reboot series is something that people either really like or really despise. Those who despise it feel that way because they aren't a huge fan of how J.J. Abrams and the screenwriters have dumbed down the “Thinking Man's Sci-Fi show” into a generic action franchise (those are not my words, by the way). Me, personally, I liked them fine. They weren't awful or anything, but they just never had that big of an impact on me. However, I sympathize with the haters a bit. For a TV show that, by all accounts, was about exploring the vast reaches of space and encountering new planets/species, Star Trek (2009) and Into Darkness focusing mostly Starfleet, Earth, and Kirk's character growth do seem like legitimate criticisms.

But Beyond deals with this by blazing its own trail with a plot mostly centered on an alien planet, a vibrant color palette, and actual chemistry between the main crew of the Enterprise. The last aspect that I mentioned is really the strength of this film; this time, instead of just focusing on Kirk and his inner demons, every member of the main Enterprise crew gets their fair share of development. We get to see Sulu and his family life, the combination of Spock and Bones results in some hilarious and touching moments, and Scotty has his own fair share of funny scenes with Jaylah, an alien who also has a personal score to settle with Krall and his crew.

What I'm basically getting at is the camaraderie between the crew in this film seems like a vast upgrade from the first two. And part of the reason that this works so well – aside from great cast performances and a smart script by Simon Pegg and Doug Jung – is the director, Justin Lin. Now, Lin definitely has some great action chops because of his work on the Fast & Furious franchise, but what he's really great at is directing an ensemble of actors. The reason that the F & F films he directed (especially Fast Five and Fast & Furious 6) work so well is because Dom Toretto's team felt like a real surrogate family, who occasionally got on each other’s' nerves, but would sacrifice themselves for one another at the same time. He brings that talent to Beyond and it works like gangbusters. I really felt a sense that the Enterprise crew felt like a real crew, helping each other out, pissing each other off, but ultimately being there for each other (the last scene of the film really cemented it for me...and no, I won't spoil how).

All the technical elements are great and get the job done. Michael Giacchino is back as the composer and he really does a good job, using the same themes he composed for the first two films, while amping them up with a big choir and more use of percussion. The cinematography by Stephen F. Windon is definitely an upgrade (no more lens-flares this time, thank the Lord) and really gives the size and scope of the environment, especially Yorktown, while also making the action scenes feel tense and exciting. Sometimes the action succumbs a bit to shaky-cam (which I like in small doses), but fortunately it doesn't ruin anything. And the production design is great and aids in the illusion of an optimistic, open-minded future while giving a vast size to the spaceships

Now, let's talk about the absolute best element of this film: the villain, Krall. Mind you, for the first two acts of this film, I was really bored by him. Granted, he had a unique design and Idris Elba was going for broke with his performance. But the whole time, I was thinking “Oh, here we go again. It's gonna be another Apocalypse (see my review for X-Men: Apocalypse if you want more info on that) and he's gonna be the weak link of the film”. Even when Uhura said that “There's something more to [him]”, I was afraid that the film was gonna gloss over that and never bring it up again. But when they finally reveal what the deal with Krall is, it was a really great twist. Not only did it legitimately surprise me, but it immediately added depth and even a bit of sympathy to Krall's character. What's so good about this twist, however, is how late in the game it comes. In any other film, this twist probably would have come in either at the middle or tail end of Act 2. But putting it in Act 3 has the effect of pulling the rug out from under the audience, and it also feels organic to the story instead of feeling like a twist for twist's sake (*cough* Hans from Frozen *cough*).

Honestly, folks, I could go on and on about why Star Trek: Beyond is great. But, let's break it down to bullet points, shall we?

•         It's fun and exciting

•         The characters are great

•         It expands on its universe

•         The villain is interesting

•         It's colorful

Those bullet points alone are why you should definitely see this film. It's everything a summer blockbuster should be. In fact, I'm excited by the prospect of a fourth Star Trek film, which they're apparently already working on. Let's see how much further they go with this new franchise (oh, and seeing Chris Hemsworth come back to the franchise that started his career would be cool as well).

Bottom line: see this movie. If you're a hardcore Trekkie or just an average moviegoer looking to have a good time, see this movie! You won't regret it!

Oh, and one more thing.

RIP, Anton Yelchin. No one could replace you as young Chekov. And thanks to J.J. Abrams, no one WILL replace you.

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for my next Throwback Review!