**NO SPOILERS** & in brief:
THE GOOD
Acting - as in the previous two films, good, even if sometimes imbalanced and under utilized in areas (but only when compared to the previous films). Bone's interactions and humour are the highlights,especially with Spock. Sofia Boutella as Jaylah excels in all of her scenes.
Special effects - for the most part, very good, though it's occasionally clear that much of the budget was spent on the Enterprise compared to some other elements/scenes.
2 other points regarding the finale but cannot mention without spoilers.
THE BAD
Directing – Poor framing, shaky cam and lack of coordination diluted every non-FX action sequence. You either feel like a distant observer or a disorientated participant - never the middle ground, never completely immersed as is the skill of a successful director (I literally don't know what happened during one sequence). His Fast & Furious movies should be your warning – we're not watching car chases here.
Predictable - whilst there was a good twist at the end that I didn't expect, it was lost among the rest of the predictable crap, be it physical actions or the script. The final sequence seemed to follow a step-by-step guide on it!
Script - Nothing game changing or memorable like the destruction of Vulcan. Nothing as intense or as dark as the crushing of an Admirals skull. Just a generic villain with a stereotypical cause, no intelligence. Star Treks foundations are not followed in my opinion - no exploration of space, no moral dilemmas or thought provoking issues - just an above par action film designed to appeal to the masses.
Plot holes – described in spoilers below.
Extra Note
The hyped up 'gay scene' that so many lost their mind over was nothing more than about 6 seconds of run time. Without all of the news articles, many wouldn't have even noticed.
Overall
It's not a terrible film and is indeed worth watching in the cinema. But Beyond is a step backwards, and Justin Lin wasn't the right choice. A Star Trek audience deserves an intelligent script, not a headache inducing action film that's full of plot holes and Hollywood stereotypes.
_________________
**SPOILERS** & in-depth:
Acting: As I mentioned, the acting is good for the most part, but slightly out of balance - each character had their individual moments with one another, but this approach eradicated the 'teamwork' feel. Perhaps that was the intention. But the biggest character of the film - the Enterprise - is missing, and so what we spend most of our time watching is a peril absent adventure on a poorly portrayed planet against a generic villain. Star Trek made its name my pushing boundaries, is that beyond the scope now?
Destruction of the Enterprise: The doom of the ship was brilliantly executed here - Kirk's reflection in the escape pod's window as he sees the remainder of his ship go down, the attack of the swarm, the situation of panic, the way the enemy board the ship, the weapons used, etc.
Music: The Beastie Boys song playing during the Franklins attack is superb! One of the few truly standout scenes. The special effects of the swarm approaching the star base is also a beautifully menacing image.
Plot Holes/'questionable';
Defeating the swarm: Bombarding the radio frequency to disrupt communications between each ship is ridiculous. These are spacecraft, designed to operate in space. Planets, comets, stars, giant clouds of gas and dust (such as the nebulae supposedly nearby the planet) give off radio waves - are we to believe that these ships are shielded from all possible frequencies and intensities of radio waves that exist in the universe, other than their own operating frequency used for coordination? Forgetting all of the vague excuses possible for this, what made them all instantly explode?! All they did was collide with each other (which didn't see Bones and Spock instantly blow up after they commandeered one), whilst the beginning of the movie showed some being capable of penetrating the Enterprise hull. A pretty serious and incredibly convenient design flaw if you ask me. Besides, it appeared as though they all had pilots - even if the swarms communication was interrupted, can they not fly individually as when they left the planet, just without synchronicity?
Scottys crash landing: We'll ignore that this cliff scene is a copy and paste from Justin Lin's last Fast & Furious film. But after this, Scotty's escape pod falls down an incredibly large cliff. The time frame presented should not have had him arriving so quickly, that cliff face was thousands of metres high! How did he get down?
PHASE HIM ALREADY!!! Kirk, please. He's holding a deadly bio- weapon. Shoot this fool already! But no, we need more predictable drama. And oh look, FOUR levers you need to pull to save the day. I wonder which number will fail, since we need more predictable drama.
The Franklin: Less than 10% impulse speed should be enough to reach escape velocity. Can it not gather speed within the atmosphere, without a gravity assist? Thrusters are shown to be saving the space craft from the (stereotypical) impact at the bottom of the cliff - if a gravity assist really was needed, why not just go up in the air first, before the 'drop'? Predictable drama? Also, did the bad guy and everyone on the planet not wonder where the Franklin could have disappeared to after it had been 'cloaked' by Jaylah?!
Video: So, Uhura made the connection that the bad guy was the old captain by a split second glimpse of a grainy greenish video screen in passing (and why was it even playing)? The bad guy literally looked nothing like the old captain...
11 out of 26 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Tell Your Friends