Star Trek Beyond

This is where the Star Trek franchise officially shifts from thoughtful drama into thunderous action. Fast & Furious director Justin Lin brings a kinetic energy to this third chapter in the rebooted space saga, leaping between chases and battles to keep viewers on the edge of their seats. Combined with constant witty interaction, the film is massively entertaining, even if the plot ultimately feels a bit thin.

It's been three years since the crew of the Enterprise started their five-year mission, and they're in need of a break. So they head to the nearest spaceport for some down-time, which is soon interrupted when Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) and his team (Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho and Anton Yelchin) are called to travel through a dangerous nebula to rescue a kidnapped crew from a villainous thug called Krall (Idris Elba). On arrival, the Enterprise is overwhelmed by Krall's bee-like military swarm. Stranded on a strange planet, the crew teams up with Jaylah (Sofia Boutella), a feisty survivor of one of Krall's earlier attacks. And as they realise the extent of Krall's evil plan, they're not sure that they can stop him.

As if. No, there's never any doubt about where this is going or who will survive the mayhem, but Lin is adept at staging action with a proper sense of life-or-death struggle. The film is a continual stream of big set-pieces with very little pause for thought in between, but each confrontation is inventively staged to get the adrenaline pumping. Sometimes the camera work is far too close and shaky, but the fighting is coherent, rooted in the characters' personalities. And the actors make the most of their roles, especially in the hilarious banter that fills even the most intense scenes.

The clever script spends a bit of time with each character, giving the most engaging relationship to the bickering Spock and Bones, played by Quinto and Urban with sharp wit, intelligence and underlying emotion. Pine has a lot of fun as the seat-of-his-pants leader, while Saldana gets a few strong moments all her own. Pegg, Cho and the late Yelchin adeptly fill in the background textures, while Elba provides some big muscle under his heavy make-up, and Boutella steals the show as the spiky rebel. So even if this might be the thinnest Star Trek movie yet, only barely throwing in some big philosophical themes right at the very end, the energy, cool settings, enduring characters and franchise references keep the audience breathlessly entertained.  

Rich Cline

Watch the trailer for 'Star Trek Beyond':