Star Trek Beyond review

[fardell24]

55 Star Trek Beyond
The thirteenth Star Trek film. The third set in the 'Kelvin Timeline'. An improvement on the previous two outings. Justin Lin gets Trek more than Abrams did. The storyline is greatly reminiscent of the Original Series. The intro sequence, when Kirk gets the item that would be important later, is reminiscent of any number of episodes from that series. The introduction to the Yorktown Base is also done well, showing the scale of the base really well. The visuals and the depiction of the people on the base as they went about their lives were very good.
(The image of the Enterprise appearing beneath the waterways as it arrives is rather good.) This helps to set up the climax of the film (more on that later). Kirk's introductory monologue (Captain's Log) is a good way to set up the place the crew (and Kirk specifically) is as they arrive at Yorktown. Kirk's discussions with Commodore Paris and McCoy are effective at establishing where he is emotionally at that point in their mission. Spock's place is also questioned well (especially when he receives the news about Spock Prime).
However, the movie picks up when they get the distress call and the Enterprise is sent into the nebula. The ineffectiveness of the Enterprise against the Swarm and the despair that the crew face as the ship comes apart around them is depicted very well. Lin is almost as good as Meyer when it comes to capturing these characters. As they struggle against the elements (and Krall) on the planet it is shown that these are the same characters as those in the previous iterations of the franchise. The discovery of the Franklin is similarly well written.
The rescue of the crew from Krall's clutes and the escape from the planet is done well. However, I suppose that that Sabotage wasn't really needed as a song to weaponise against the Swarm. The climactic confrontation between Kirk and Krall (Edison!) at the central point of Yorktown was done well, the set up from earlier pays off when the Franklin emerges from the docking bay onto the courtyard. One of the best Trek films. 8.5/10.