Star Trek Beyond – Where the frontier pushes back

First published Sunday 21st July 2016

 

For the third time since JJ Abrams reimagining of the franchise, Gene Roddenberry’s USS Enterprise is taken out for a joyride in Star Trek Beyond. As the rebooted series decides to step away from the time travel intricacies of its alternate history, the third film returns to its Star Trek roots; exploring strange new worlds and discovering new civilisations, before inevitably getting into a massive battle with them.

I loathe reboots. As a comic book fan from a young age the joy was about dropping into a fully-formed, dense and interconnected alternate universe and catching up on what was happening to those heroes (and villains) at that moment in their history. As such I cursed every unnecessary retelling of the Spiderman origin story (he got bitten by a radioactive spider, we get it already!) and was infuriated by each abortive introduction to a new, and equally unimpressive, Fantastic Four. The reason for many of these childhood- hero-destroying decisions is, as we know, merely ‘the cost of business’; the churning out of another mediocre movie, only made necessary because of copyright and contract wrangles.

Admittedly, the Batman reboots were a slight aberration, again born of necessity, but in that case driven by the need to wipe clean the franchise damage perpetrated by the previous caretaker Joel Schumacher. All the better, as they gave Christopher Nolan free reign to begin building his modernised vision of Gotham.

Similarly, the Star Trek reboots gave JJ Abrams the freedom to not just reintroduce but reinvent the dynamism of the original crew and their fledgling galactic adventures. Abrams worked wonders in finding a way, via Eric Bana’s time-travelling Romulan revenge mission, to affect an intergalactic do-over.

In this universe the Vulcans have already been reduced to near-extinction and The Federation’s first contact with the Klingons has been even more volatile than in the previous history. I wonder if, when interviewing for the director’s role Abrams asked ‘have you tried turning it off and on again?’ Because this is what this reworking has given us; the Star Trek universe is not just being retold, it has been rebooted in the most literal sense.

However, in Star Trek Beyond, incoming director Justin Lin moves away from the complexities of revisiting the original Enterprise crew’s previous galactic milestones in favour of pursuing a more typical Trekkie adventure; patrolling the edges of known space and going where no man has gone before, as far as we know anyway… As one character says early on ‘this is where the frontier pushes back.’

The frontier in this case is an uncharted nebula, as Kirk and crew volunteer for a dangerous rescue mission. Cue the appearance of a new and deadly villain, and a swarm-like enemy dedicated to destroying The Federation. Idris Elba assumes the mantle of the major villain in this film, Krall, a lifeforce-sucking lizard-like creature with an army of drone attack craft and a vendetta against The Federation. With only the Enterprise between him and his first target, the giant space station Jonestown, the stage is set for a bruising encounter in space.

It doesn’t disappoint. Even before the photon torpedoes start flying the sheer scale of Jonestown is jaw-dropping. We’re somewhat inured to the size ratio aspect of the Enterprise itself so seeing it taxiing through the space station’s docking tunnels, while above the enormous, omni-directional cityscape of Jonestown rises in every direction, brings a real sense of scale. Lin maintains this affect throughout, reminding us again and again that these are cities, starships and planets of epic proportions.

However, Star Trek’s continuing popularity is based on far more than just awe-inspiring cgi and space battles, it has always been the interaction among its diverse crew that was alluring. The casting of Chris Pine turned out to be an inspired decision, as he captures the charisma and anti-authoritarian aspect of the original James T Kirk, and yet manages to shed the inherent hamminess that William Shatner brought to the role. Leonard Nimoy’s appearance in the first two films was a welcome inclusion, not only adding gravitas, but also lending credence to the time-travelling concept the franchise reboot hinges upon. However, he was peripheral, allowing Zachary Quinto’s emergence as a younger, more naive Commander Spock, still coming to terms with his internal battle between logic and emotion.

With the wiser, quixotic Nimoy’s influence fading, Quinto’s Spock is being explored in full. Whereas in the first two instalments he provided the necessary rational foil to Kirk’s impetuousness, by this film their galactic bromance has passed its high-water mark, after their timeline-reversed reactor death/’Khaaan’ moment in Into Darkness.

This allows for an exploration of the relationship between Spock and Dr ‘Bones’ McCoy in Star Trek Beyond, as the pair are separated and must support each other in order to get back to the rest of the crew. I am glad that the decades-long preference in the series, whereby Bones is constantly expressing his infuriation at Spock’s lack of humanity, has been accelerated in this film series. With Quinto’s Spock having had a more rapid pathway through to his emotive human underbelly than the original, he and Karl Urban’s Bones swiftly move past this point and, satisfyingly, into an easy rhythm of banter and camaraderie.

Much of the crispness and humour in the dialogue has to be attributed to the work of Simon Pegg, who co-wrote the script. With the release of Star Trek Beyond coinciding with the fiftieth anniversary of the series, a lot was made in the run up to the film’s release of the amount of in-jokes and throwbacks, and they are noticeable. Everything from the continuingly retro uniforms and transporter effects to the discovery of an ‘old’, Class 4 starship, is comfortingly nostalgic. Nods are made to jokes about the original series, such as when Kirk returns from an off-planet diplomatic-mission-turned-skirmish, noting ‘I’ve ripped my shirt again.’ The affect is that the dialogue ripples with humour that can delight dedicated fans and first-time viewers alike. The film is replete with one-liners and snap repartee and Pegg’s human comedic touch feels evident in most of the big laughs. I loved it when Pegg even snuck a classic Spaced line into the script at one point.

Much was made in the press of the decision to make Sulu’s character homosexual, with George Takei’s criticism and Simon Pegg’s rebuttal making some headlines. It seems to me an unnecessary point of contention, partly because the scene in question is literally momentary but mainly because Roddenberry’s vision was always one of total acceptance and inclusion, admittedly except for all the show’s baddies and aggressive neighbouring cultures.

I think that one area that the series has not quite nailed yet is the use of the main villain. Idris Elba is almost unrecognisable, subtitled and subsumed in make-up. There is a palpable animosity to Krall but where is the oppressive dominance that Elba brought to Stringer Bell? In the first film Star Trek I was pleased that they had chosen the talented Eric Bana, who I respect greatly, but he barely registered compared with the time and dedication afforded to the Enterprise crew’s character development.  Benedict Cumberbatch did lend a real depth to Khan’s duplicitous psychopath but I think he benefitted from being, essentially, a human to begin with. It just seems that human baddies have more bite, and Elba is at his most menacing in this film when he is at his least alien.

This is a minor gripe though, as Star Trek Beyond is extremely well balanced and slick. Simon Pegg joked recently about how to avoid the Star Trek film plague of ‘all the odd numbered films sucking’, and this will certainly help to dispel that trend. Tightly scripted, incredibly dense action scenes, great humour and some epic, huge-scale set-pieces and space battles, this rebooted franchise still has plenty of life in it. Although Star Trek Beyond has stepped away from its own time travel concept, it has delivered a modern classic of a Star Trek film. It may not be going so boldly as the previous two instalments, but it’s headed there at warp speed, with a wry smile and plenty of banter.