Star Trek Beyond

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.   

Star Trek

STAR TREK               B               
USA   (127 mi)  2009  ‘Scope  d:  J.J. Abrams

One aspect of Star Trek that has been missing in the movie versions is an understanding for why the TV show clicked, namely the interrelations between the characters who couldn’t have been more different from one another, where the racial and intergalactic diversity expressed each week literally raised the bar in viewer social awareness.  The show interestingly maintained a healthy dose of personal barbs between the characters that created distinct personalities at work in otherwise cramped, claustrophobic quarters, where from time to time they amusingly got on each others nerves and would take verbal swipes at one another.  Some of the legendary cracks between Medical Officer McCoy raising his suspicions about half Vulcan, half human Spock’s overly rational brain reflecting the side of him that wasn’t human became part of the running dialogue on the ship, and was consistently used not only in the heat of battle but especially in the final few seconds of each show’s epilogue to show that no matter what their differences, all’s well that end’s well, as they survived another adventure together.  That is the one attribute that this Star Trek movie pays particular attention to and it feels like a welcoming home of the characters themselves, as each is once more carefully defined by a certain aspect of their character that is wonderfully appealing.  Add to this an astounding degree of physical resemblance to the original crew that is simply extraordinary.  What’s fun about this version is that it comes before the regular crew of the Starship Enterprise was formed, where each hadn’t yet developed into their now familiar roles.  The back stories, bearing a Smallville Superman, the early years resemblance, offers unique insight, even when it becomes hammy and so deliciously exaggerated to the point of being operatic.  The film does an excellent job pin-pointing and merging the early years for both Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) and Mr. Spock (Zachary Quinto) on their respective planets, one in Iowa, the other on planet Vulcan, also providing an early action sequence that reveals how Kirk’s father was a Starship captain for a mere handful of seconds, yet in a heroic effort saved hundreds of lives in the process, including his wife and newborn. 

One of the criticisms of the Star Trek movies overall is their over-reliance on special effects, where they love to show off where so much of the money goes, and this film is no different.  It gets carried away with the same adrenaline rushes that fellow big budget Hollywood director Michael Bay is known for, also supported by wailing voices and plenty of pounding percussion.  The difference here is that the characters are intriguing from the outset.  When Kirk recklessly races cars as a kid or Spock is subjected to relentless torment from fellow Vulcans about his half human side, their personalities are being formed by the way they overcompensate from what’s missing in their lives, Kirk missing a father while Spock’s mother is not Vulcan.  Kirk’s testy fight in the bar sequence and his relentless approach to seducing any and all women he sees is laughably over the top, but who would have thought Spock could be taunted into fisticuffs on his home planet?  There’s a familiar ring to all of this, as Zoë Saldana’s sexy, but warmhearted Uhura is actually romantically partnered with Spock here, not Kirk, amusingly seen giving last minute kisses in the transportation deck.  Karl Urban is drop dead hilarious as Dr. McCoy injecting Kirk with a virus to gain him access to an otherwise off limits Starship, following with a succession of more injections due to his unforeseen symptoms, all while Kirk is challenging a Captain’s decision and making perhaps the biggest decision in his as yet undeveloped career.  John Cho’s fencing expertise as Sulu early on saves Kirk’s life, and Anton Yelchin’s verbal mugging of the English language as the brilliant 17-year old thickly Russian accented Chekov is exquisite.  Simon Pegg as the drink happy Chief Engineer Scott is deliriously happy at discovering transporting can take place at warp speeds, not to mention that he invented the scientific equation.  And Leonard Nimoy makes not just an appearance, but plays a significant role in what this movie is about, that it’s not all accolades and successes of a rewarding career, but life is all about the journey along the way.  

One major beef, however, is that it follows of the same formula that big Hollywood productions seem destined to follow, which is to accentuate meaningless battle sequences with plenty of explosions, including innumerable space ships, with objects hurled through space, bodies flying, where death and destruction is a major pattern to follow, as if that’s what holds an audience’s attention.  No doubt for some, that’s the bottom line:  was it exciting?  Eric Bana is really very good as the rogue Romulan outlaw Nero, whose brutal interrogation methods are Neanderthal, but his mind is intensely psychological, scarred himself from losing his own planet.  Little by little the main characters move their way into their familiar positions, predictably overcoming all obstacles.  Unfortunately, this is a male heavy cast with few opportunities other than Uhura and Spock’s mother to even have speaking roles, so for a film that features as one of its goals to lead the way in presenting a diversified view of a utopian future society, they certainly failed in this opportunity.  Very few creatures from other galaxies played any significant role as well, so this was largely seen as the typical white man’s battle to save the universe.  Spock’s performance in particular is impressive, especially because he is so full of doubt while also being the smartest guy in the room, while Kirk is a gung ho thrill seeker from the outset, the guy who routinely takes the greatest risks, yet whose self-centered arrogance is more a trait of actor William Shatner, the original Kirk, whose gargantuan ego preceded him wherever he went, as opposed to Pine who spends most of the film engaged in fights, oftentimes on the losing end, whose first response tendency toward reckless behavior does not exactly bode well for ship morale.  But as a blockbuster action thriller costing $150 million, this at least goes for the tone and charming character references of the original TV series.

Star Trek Into Darkness

STAR TREK INTO  DARKNESS            C           
USA  (132 mi)  2013  ‘Scope  d:  J.J. Abrams              Paramount [us]

Lacking the humor and flair of the earlier STAR TREK (2009), this second J.J. Abrams stab at Star Trek (1966 – 1969), the legendary but now 37-year old Gene Roddenberry developed sci-fi TV show, more closely resembles STAR WARS (1977 – present), and its computer generated action adventures in outer space, where it’s no accident that Abrams has been chosen to direct the next STAR WARS movie.  Gone, however, is any trace of personality or clever character development that defined both the TV show and the earlier film, as this is pure stereotype throughout, expressed entirely through worn out cliché’s that have all been done better before.  So in effect, what feels like retread and rehashed TV is played out as purely conventional Hollywood material, a large-scaled exhibition that amounts to little more than a demolition derby, where with a boy-like wonder its creators get to blow stuff up.  How this became mainstream entertainment is Hollywood’s insistence upon repeating well-established formulas that have worked in the past.  The new Hollywood, in an era of financial instability, doesn’t trust new ideas or imagination, as there’s no built-in formula for success.  So everything looks and feels like a TV rerun, only larger, expanded to an immense scale, usually showcased on 3D screens, where the emphasis has shifted from acting and human drama to working almost exclusively with computers, where the human factor is nearly non-existent.  The video game look and sound of STAR WARS in the late 70’s has arrived, through the evolution of technology, to the point where computer generated battle sequences and explosions have become the standard bearer for Hollywood movies.  This is what America exports around the world, filling movie theaters with simulated war games, where the good guys routinely violate their prime directive for a supposedly larger moral objective, suggesting the rules of engagement exist only in theory, as the wily, battle hardened veterans always find ways to make an end run around commonly accepted practices. 

The original 60’s Star Trek TV series was actually conceived during the Vietnam War, where the Prime Directive, never explicitly spelled out, but suggests modern cultures with their more advanced technologies may not interfere in the evolution of another developing society, was actually a reflection of the writer’s sentiments that America had no business in Vietnam.  While the Prime Directive was routinely made light of, “I prefer to think of it as the Prime Suggestion,” by Captain James T. Kirk, the truth of the matter is that while this was the ideal objective in the abstract, it was, in reality, routinely ignored on any number of occasions, whenever Kirk felt the end justified the means.  In the post-Bush era of  Iraq, Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo, and the Afghanistan incursions, there’s something ugly and cynical about the ease by which moral guidelines are routinely ignored in the movies, no doubt a mirror reflection of society’s apathetic compliance, but these transgressions are being made by the military branch’s flagship ambassador starship while supposedly carrying out the highest ideals of civilization, where the nonchalant hero (again Captain Kirk) seems to be saying oops, sorry about that, with little more seriousness than the wink of an eye.  It’s actually built into Kirk’s recalcitrant character from the beginning that he’s a reckless and cocky, hot shot, becoming the only student at Starfleet command to defeat the Kobayashi Maru test, earning a commendation for original thinking when he reprogrammed the computer, making a “no-win scenario” winnable.  It’s this kind of thinking that supposedly expresses Kirk’s stubborn individualism, where it’s a fine line between swaggering heroism and being sent to the brig for insubordination.  The film opens with exactly this kind of impossible situation, where against all odds the Captain must consider the unthinkable, where rescuing a single member from his crew could jeopardize the lives of all the others, and of course a brash and daring rescue mission, even though successful (was there ever any doubt?), gets him in trouble back home with Starfleet command, stripping him of his position as captain of the Enterprise.     

While improperly maligned, seemingly unjust, and downright unthinkable (as who wants to watch an episode with someone else in command?), this quickly becomes the least of our concerns, as in true GODFATHER III (1990) fashion, there is an intruder in the ranks, like Harry Potter’s Voldemort risen from the dead files of the Starfleet archives, someone with near supernatural powers who quickly threatens to destroy the balance of power and peaceful stabilization in the universe.  Escaping to an uninhabitable region of Klingon territory, this outlaw, played with British calm by Benedict Cumberbatch, turns out to be none other than the notorious villain Khan, played originally on TV by Ricardo Montalbán, reprising the role in STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN (1982), though Cumberbatch bears no resemblance whatsoever to the evil ruthlessness of the character.  In fact, in a curious  twist, one of Starfleet’s own megalomaniacal commanders goes even more haywire, Alexander Marcus, played by Peter Weller, though it appears he’s channeling Richard Widmark’s demented film noir persona. It is Marcus that revives the military trained Khan from his cryogenic sleep, fearing war with the Klingons, where he works on developing top secret Starfleet weapons and battleships under a cover identity before he rebels, carrying out a series of attacks for the rest of the picture.  While there are plenty more references to the TV series, most are lame, poorly written, and pitifully undermined by the endless battle sequences that exclusively drive the action, with a single exception.  As the Enterprise, apparently sabotaged, comes under a blistering attack, engines stalled, losing warp power and attack mode, where the ship is in flames and people are dying by the second, Engineer Scotty (Simon Pegg), who’s oblivious to what’s been happening as he’s been elsewhere, is beamed onboard the ship as it suddenly goes into a nosedive from engine failure, where he hilariously utters:  "One day I’ve been off this ship!  One bloody day!” STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS - Character Profile - Scotty - YouTube  (1:06).  It’s a refreshing return to character, where other than that, the best that we’re treated to is a lover’s quarrel between Spock and Uhura (Zachary Quinto and Zoë Saldana) during the middle of another ferocious assault.  Chris Pine plays Kirk with the same kind of bland disrespect for authority, as if it’s been programmed into him, while Leonard Nimoy makes a brief appearance, breathing more life into his few seconds, albeit a reminder of just what we’re missing.