STAR TREK BEYOND C+
USA (120 mi) 2016
‘Scope d: Justin Lin Official
Site
Speaking of 60’s idealism - - let’s see what the Star Trek series is up to these
days. Eschewing the exaggerated expense
of the 3D experience, one of the things that’s so surprising about the series
ever since its earliest conception is the presence of such a variety of life
found in the outer galaxies, where we find green people, blue people, orange
people, and species of all shapes and sizes, where a diversity of life is
expressed through a preponderance of rubber masks, each one shaped uniquely
different to reflect a different planet of origin. While we’re yet two-hundred years or so away
from the period portrayed, there is scant evidence so far that the universe
looks anything like this. Still, part of
the look of the future comes from the rapidly changing social dynamic that was
taking place when the TV series originated in the 1960’s, where the show was
ahead of its time in intentionally reflecting racial diversity, something that
has proved overwhelming popular through the course of its evolution into
movies. Even today, Star Trek sets a certain social standard that remains part of its
original mission, where they’ll kick ass if they have to when provoked into
battle, but otherwise they are a peacekeeping mission, one whose intent is to
spread peace and brotherhood throughout the universe. All noble intentions, where the show is like
a United Nations mission into outer space, yet the focus of most films remains
the action sequences, in particular the spectacular battle sequences, where
computer graphics take center stage, yet this has also been the Achilles heel
of the movie series, each one having to outdo the previous episodes, forcing
the hand of the studios, apparently, as now they’ve chosen none other than
Justin Lin, the director of THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS sequels three through six,
films that simply provide nonstop action sequences. While there is an art to bringing this
relentless earthbound storm and fury into the cosmos, the stylistic mechanism
is the same, where the feature attraction, just like Mad
Max: Fury Road (2015), is an unending barrage of explosions, where the look
of the film has only grown more similar to the ten episode and still counting Star Wars series, both resembling hell
and havoc in outer space. If anything,
this only reveals the limits of space saga sequels, as they all look alike
after a while, even as they go to such extremes to accentuate diversity in
discovered lifeforms. What J.J. Abrams
discovered in his original Star Trek
(2009) was tapping into the personalities of the beloved TV series figures,
where the next generation of actors playing the same roles duplicated their
human characteristics, as that was the most appealing aspect of the original
show. That nearly disappeared in Star
Trek Into Darkness (2013), ditching Abrams this go round (hired to direct
the latest STAR WARS venture), instead concocting a formula for what will
likely be a summer blockbuster movie.
While there remain traces of recognizable personality-suited
dialogue, none more evident than Scotty (Simon Pegg), who continues to call
Jaylah (Sofia Boutella, a surprise breakout star), a newly introduced female
alien creature, “lassie” throughout, which couldn’t be more endearing, although
one might attribute this to the fact that Pegg is a cowriter of the film, so
writing lines for himself, even as others are routinely ignored, comes with the
territory, while there are occasional other touches as well, such as Bones
(Karl Urban as Dr. McCoy) stealing a bottle of prized alcohol from Chekov’s
locker to share with a particularly beleaguered Captain Kirk (Chris Pine),
which was also a nice way of paying tribute to the recently deceased Anton
Yelchin who played Chekov, as he died in an unfortunate car accident just
before the movie was released. But for
the most part, that’s not the draw of this movie, as the familiar characters
are overlooked once again, barely used for anything other than window dressing,
while continually overshadowed by the larger action sequences, where this may
as well be another comic book action figure movie. The plot is minimal, representing the
simplicity of the earlier TV series, whose goal was the cram as much as
possible into a shortened 50-minute running time, where mostly they sat around
chatting on the deck of the USS Enterprise until they approach an unknown space
ship, hailing it for identification before all hell breaks loose if the ship
has malicious intent, where the entire budget is spent establishing alien looks
and uniforms, perhaps a few scenes on a foreign planet, along with some
ship-to-ship battle scenes largely viewed from the hectic panic and anxiety of
the bridge, where the familiar characters are thrown about like ragdolls, while
Spock (Leonard Nimoy) usually offers a last minute suggestion to the Captain
(William Shatner), who initiates last second evasive maneuvers to escape from
harm’s way once again. That’s pretty
much the format, as they all have a good laugh about it afterwards, though
there are meandering excursions along the way, some constituting an entire
episode, but the Enterprise crew from the television show spent much of their
time in close quarters on the bridge, where the banter of their dialogue, in
good times and bad, filled time and space, where it was their personalities
that was the draw. The pattern from the
very beginning was that Kirk hogged most of the action sequences as well as the
scenes on the ship, where many in the original cast came to despise William
Shatner and his gargantuan ego, though as the series waned there wasn’t much
action to speak of, as it was such a low budget operations. Now we’re talking about a budget of nearly
$200 million dollars. Three years into a
five year mission, the Enterprise pulls in for shore leave, where certainly one
of the dazzling set pieces is Yorktown, a Starbase re-envisioned into a
thriving, modernistic METROPOLIS (1927) in outer space, complete with
architectural marvels of intersecting, multi-directional arches, each with its
own unique urban skyline, given full futuristic scope, all built inside a
protective bubble, like living inside of a snow globe without the snow,
retaining its specially designed shape when turned in every which direction,
suggesting it provides its own gravity field.
Little has changed except they’ve all grown a bit older,
where a middle-aged existential crisis seems to dominate Kirk’s thoughts,
finding it harder to tell “where one day ends and the next begins,” reassessing
his career ambitions, thinking he might seek a promotion, where perhaps it’s
time to offer the ship to the command of Spock (Zachary Quinto). Meanwhile, Spock’s undergoing his own inner
transformation, having been informed of the death of Ambassador Spock (Leonard
Nimoy), making him especially sensitive to the survival of the Vulcan species,
thinking he may need to leave the Enterprise to play a leadership role on the
planet of New Vulcan. Of course, when the
two have a momentary pause to discuss their thoughts, neither one utters a
word, too embarrassed apparently to bring it up, saving it for later. Also if you blink you may miss the
insinuation that Sulu (John Cho) is gay, seen wordlessly placing his arm around
his partner, who is carrying their baby daughter. That’s a tell-tale sign that something’s
about to happen, as a distressed vessel of unknown origin suddenly approaches
the Starbase pleading for help, with a single person Kalara (Lydia Wilson) arriving
in an escape pod, suggesting her ship is stranded in a region not yet explored
by Starfleet, resurrecting the Enterprise to the rescue. But the move proves disastrous, as an enemy
is lurking to ambush the unsuspecting crew, overwhelming their ship with a
flock of tiny metallic ships that resemble killer bees, containing huge
destructive capabilities, literally sawing the ship in half, with some of the
crew escaping in rescue pods while the main section crashes to the planet
surface, where now Kirk is in the exact same position as Kalara, a captain
separated from his ship and crew. Krall
(Idris Elba) boards the ship taking the entire crew prisoner, including Sulu
and Uhura (Zoë Saldana), frantically searching for an artifact seen earlier,
though it was viewed with little importance at the time, while this commander
considers it the essence of his mission.
Scratched up from the bumpy landings, Scotty lands on the planet surface
alone, Kirk arrives with Chekov, while Spock and McCoy are stranded as well,
where communication devices are inoperable.
Scotty is impressively rescued by Jaylah, displaying a warrior
mentality, a lone survivor of an alien community destroyed by Krall, where she
has skillfully survived in the interior of a lost Starship, the USS Franklin,
an earlier vessel that went missing over a hundred years ago. While primitive by state-of-the-art modern
standards, it’s a relic from the past, yet has been modified by Jaylah’s
ingenuity, including the protection of an invisible shield around it in order
to remain undetected. Scotty gets to
work and quickly makes the needed repairs, eventually reunited with the other
Enterprise officers, forming a plan to storm the prison and rescue the
hostages. Meanwhile Krall has been
torturing the crew in search of the artifact, handed over to him by Kalara, who
sabotaged Kirk and the Enterprise, as the device is the missing piece of a
deadly weapon that can disintegrate lifeforms in seconds, which is immediately
put to a grisly test with Kalara. With
his mission completed, Krall leaves to attack Yorktown, followed by all his
killer bees, with plans afterwards to go after the entire Federation.
But first, Kirk must re-power the Franklin after a century
spent in mothballs, where the plan is to energize the rescued crew back to the
ship, an extremely handy device that is featured prominently throughout this
film, saving some of the heroes at precarious moments, as the rescue mission
doesn’t exactly run smoothly.
Nonetheless, it’s a harrowing moment followed by an even more daunting
task. By reviewing the ship’s logs, Kirk
and Uhura are able to identify Krall as Balthazar Edison, the former captain of
the Franklin, whose life was prolonged, yet warped and physically deformed by
his planet’s technology. But the logs
show his growing resentment and disillusionment when he and his crew have been
left stranded by Starfleet, where his increasingly paranoid belief is that this
was deliberate, that the words of the Federation are a hoax that hold little
meaning, turning into an angry and maniacal renegade soldier holding a personal
vendetta against the Federation, much like Special Forces Commander Colonel
Kurtz in APOCALYPSE NOW (1979), who must be wiped out in order to stop the
spread of his venomous ideology. Having
fought the early wars that led to the success of the Federation, he has now
gone rogue in his obsession to destroy them, where he was searching the
universe for the ultimate weapon to accomplish the task, believing he now
finally holds it in his hands. It’s a
race back to Yorktown to save that world from the incendiary fury of a
seemingly invincible madman with a doomsday weapon, as they race across the
galaxies to meet him head-on. But first
they have to solve the little problem of the killer bees, surmising there must
be a unifying coordination directing their actions that needs to be altered and
disrupted, creating a disconnect within their electrical circuitry. Something as old-fashioned as radio
transmissions seems to do the trick, causing interference within their unifying
transmissions. Jaylah has a thing for
Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power,” Public
Enemy - Fight the Power - vidéo Dailymotion YouTube (5:16), playing a
significant role in her formative years, which would have made an excellent
choice, linking the STAR TREK series to the streets of urban America in Do the
Right Thing (1989), but the musical selection instead becomes a much safer
choice in the Beastie Boys “Sabotage” Sabotage
- Beastie Boys - Vevo YouTube (3:02), wreaking havoc within their operating
systems, causing them all to self-destruct.
In the high-powered confusion of this neutralized invasion, however,
Edison, returning to his original form and shape, has been unleashed into the
anonymity of an unsuspecting public carrying his deadly device with him, with
plans to flood the ventilation systems.
Like King
Kong (1933) climbing to the top of the Empire State Building, Edison has
similar aspirations, where Kirk has to head him off, going mano a mano in
hand-to-hand combat, becoming a battle of wills, each trying to gain the upper
hand. “You won the war!” Kirk shouts at
him, “You gave us peace!” It was that
very peace that left Edison alone in the universe without a purpose, a victim
of his own delusional obsessions, though it’s clear both men are cut from the
same cloth, Starship captains from different eras, mirror images of one
another, both hell-bent on carrying out their mission, where good and evil have
a common root, but produce decisively different outcomes. In keeping with the times, the story turns
into a paranoid thriller about stopping a suicide bomber, where all of humanity
hinges in the balance. Although it’s an
outer space apocalyptic melodrama, the format is the same as any western, where
in this continuing saga, there’s never any doubt about who’s going to win.
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