Captain Kirk and the enterprise go Beyond in the third chapter of the re-imagined series. In “Star Trek Beyond”, Director Justin Lin returns to head up the production on the newest film, about the first leg of the USS Enterprise’s five year mission. The trek takes them into uncharted territory, stopping off at Starbase Earhart, a remote outpost on the fringes of Federation space. There the Enterprise is nearly destroyed by a powerful, unstoppable wave of unknown aliens who have a well-earned hatred of the Federation and what it stands for. While stranded on the unknown planet, Kirk (Chris Pine) and his crew are left with no means of communication with surrounding ships and planets alike. Kirk must then work with the elements to reunite his crew and get back to Earth, without suffering the loss of any of his closest friends and partners. “Star Trek Beyond” is rated PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action and violence.

To anyone who doesn’t know, I’m not a Star Trek fan at all besides the latest trilogy of films. My opinions have nothing to do with the original movies, and I will be looking at this film with a casual fan’s opinions. With that said, the transition from JJ Abrams to Justin Lin goes quite smoothly, as “Star Trek Beyond” is the best film in the new trilogy of movies. This film kicks your ass from start to finish, offering a satisfying blend to a majority of Trekies both young and old. This is how a movie pays tribute in a rebooted fashion, paying respects to the original series, while dazzling a new generation of fans with modern filmmaking. Some people do have problems with the new aspect in tone for the films, but you have to understand that the original Star Trek simply wouldn’t appeal to a wider audience today, and that is why the whole attitude is changed here. Not to fear though, because “Beyond” gives us the most important of aspects: Science fiction. The movie introduces fifty new species throughout the movie as a tribute to the fifty years of Star Trek folklore. In addition to this, the very design of the ships both young and old are very detailed with some super cool traits to each’s operation. We get a look at more than one era of ship in this movie, and I thought it was a pleasing history lesson into the differences and command centers of each fleet.

The backgrounds are gorgeous here, with the Starbase Yorktown offering some luxurious illustrations in CGI landscapes that is rich in detail. These kind of scenes require more than one watch for the movie, but if you concentrate on certain buildings and windows, you can see the citizens of Yorktown in the smallest of design, but it’s certainly there. This is impressive considering how much time and effort goes into something of this magnitude. The movie also offers the familiar camera work and wide angle shots of the USS Enterprise, shooting it very tightly to communicate the very immense size of such an enterprise. Completed with some beautiful decisions in neon lighting design, and you have an overall art direction that enhances the very intake of audience’s looking to lose themselves in this world with these characters.

One big problem that I had with the camera work was how the fight and action scenes were shot. Lin decides to shoot everything very close to communicate the ship’s claustrophobia next to the mayhem that is going on around our protagonists. This is a problem because throughout the entirety of the film I had a difficult time registering what was going on with the well-choreographed fight sequences. All you see are results here, not the punching or kicking that went into them. I could see someone suffering greatly from motion sickness during these points in the script, and sadly it’s something that never clears up with time. With some wide angles, I feel that Lin could’ve communicated the blow-for-blow exchange without having to worry about confining the actors into such a tight angle just for the purpose of communicating a feel in mood.

What makes up for a lot of this is a script that always keeps the pacing moving through two hours of well-developed war between the two sides. One big problem that I had with “Into Darkness” was how poorly the movie juggled the time and development for the multiple story arcs going on at one time. Thankfully, “Beyond” improves on this problem during a second act of separation for our team. There is no less than four different arcs going on during this period, and nothing ever feels sacrificed for time or even overused with too much time being spent on something that isn’t as important. Each member of the Enterprise is given an important task with finding their way off of this abandoned planet, and this always feels like quality time, mainly because this ensemble cast’s chemistry is off the charts.

Casting a series, especially such a legendary one, is quite a tough task, but the way this group has worked well off of each other within the confines of quick-witted sarcastic humor is very engaging. The past films have been about the relationship of Kirk and Spock, but “Beyond” instead focuses more on the friendship of Spock and Bones (Played by Karl Urban). This duo made for the most enjoyable of exchanges during the film, that really gave me hearty laughter throughout their screen time together. This feels greatly like the Spock and Bones dialogue of the 70’s, and creates a brotherhood bond between them through some very life-threatening situations. Simon Pegg deserves a lot of credit for writing a majority of this script, even so much as inserting himself a little more into the movie. I didn’t have a problem with this however, as Scott’s (Played by Pegg) expertise is called upon a lot more to get out of this kind of predicament. Idris Elba plays Krall, the villain of the movie, and he was also greatly enjoyable for me. With many antagonists who don loads of makeup and prosthetics, it’s quite easy for their performance to feel wooden under the many layers. That is simply not the case here, as Elba menaces with an army that feels stronger than anything this group has been through up to this point, and without Elba’s depth in the wide array of characters he has played throughout his career, Krall would feel like just another body to go through.

If there was any weakness to the three acts for me, it’s within the final twenty minutes of the movie where everything felt rushed. For a majority of the movie, the film takes its time with developing particular story arcs, but by the end of the movie there is too much to conclude, so everything feels kind of forced with the backstory of Krall, and how they find out about his real identity. No spoilers what so ever, but it feels like one of those longshots in a movie where the cast just happen to get lucky with the right place and right time.

“Star Trek Beyond” soars high, giving fans young and old plenty to celebrate within it’s fast-paced space opera. For Summertime blockbuster action and suspense, there is currently none doing it better in theaters offering a heart-racing narrative with beautiful CGI work in landscapes as far as the eye can see. It’s a refreshing, well-paced rollercoaster that embraces the honor of people working together for one common goal.

8/10