Clever homages and impressive visuals make the new popcorn blockbuster Star Trek: Beyond, the third in the modern franchise, a solid watch.
Captain James Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto) and friends are back on their relentless quest to explore the universe under the direction of Justin Lin (Fast and the Furious).
Don’t be concerned though, Lin has added enough depth and discernable plot to avoid the sinking feeling of hopelessness you get while watching yet another Fast and Furious movie.
The Star Trek characters feel that sinking feeling several times throughout the movie though, as within half an hour the beloved USS Enterprise is already plunging towards a mysterious planet following a rescue mission turned ambush.
Idris Elba plays the prosthetic laden space villain Krall, who needs an artefact the Enterprise crew picks up earlier on in the piece to activate an ancient weapon, which will destroy everyone.
Plenty of death and destruction climax into a wacky gravity-defying (literally) scene between Kirk and Elba at the middle of Federation space outpost Yorktown.
The ancient artefact-destroying-everything plot is a well-worn path for space sci-fi films but where Star Trek: Beyond is so enjoyable is its continual development of rebooted and new characters.
Trekkies are notoriously defensive of the franchises’ past and the actors who brought the characters to life but this new generation have made it in their own right.
There are also some touching tributes to the original Spock Leonard Nimoy, who died last year at 83, and Anton Yelchin, 27, who played enterprise crew member Chekov and died in a freak accident in his driveway earlier this year.
Release: In cinemas now
Stars: 3.5
Rated: M
