Star Trek Beyond is the Kelvin timeline's most honest picture, a film that abandons the franchise mythology references and the self-conscious darkness of Into Darkness in favour of a straightforward ensemble adventure of considerable energy and warmth. Justin Lin's 2016 film trusts its characters to carry the weight, and they do. It is fast, funny, and thoroughly enjoyable, a work that uses its action framework to demonstrate the crew's collective chemistry with a fluency and a conviction that makes it the most satisfying Kelvin timeline entry by a considerable margin.
At a Glance
Director: Justin Lin
Runtime: 122 minutes
Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, Idris Elba, Sofia Boutella
Release: 2016
Critics Rating: ★★★½ (3.5/5 stars, the Kelvin timeline's most enjoyable entry)
Audience Rating: ★★★½ (3.5/5 stars, thoroughly enjoyable)
Review Breakdown
Plot
The Enterprise is destroyed by a swarm of alien vessels commanded by Krall, and the crew is scattered across an uncharted planet. Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and the others must find each other, discover Krall's plan to destroy the Federation's new space station Yorktown, and stop him before he can execute it. The plot is the franchise's most straightforwardly functional since The Search for Spock, a series of steps designed to separate the crew and then reunite them in the service of a climactic confrontation. It is handled with enough energy and character intelligence to make the journey worthwhile, and the willingness to give each crew member a specific function gives the ensemble adventure a structure and a momentum that more character-focused entries in the series do not always achieve. The destruction of the Enterprise, handled early and without ceremony, is a bold structural choice that immediately raises the stakes and strips the crew of their most reliable resource, forcing them to rely on each other rather than on their ship.
Characters
The ensemble is the greatest strength, and the decision to separate the crew and pair them in unexpected combinations gives the picture a freshness and a character energy that the more conventionally structured Kelvin timeline entries do not always achieve. The Spock-McCoy pairing is the most enjoyable combination, a double act of such complete comic and dramatic chemistry that it generates the most consistently entertaining sequences. Chris Pine's Kirk is given the most interesting material in his confrontation with the question of whether he has chosen the right life, and Pine plays it with a conviction and a quietness that makes this his most affecting franchise performance. Sofia Boutella's Jaylah is the picture's finest new character, a survivor of considerable capability and presence whose relationship with Scotty gives the film a secondary thread of interest. She is the franchise's strongest new addition since Woodard's Lily Sloane in First Contact. Idris Elba's Krall is a more coherent villain than Into Darkness's Khan, a character whose motivation is rooted in grievance and whose function is more directly integrated into the thematic concerns, even if the reveal of his true identity arrives too late to give it full dramatic weight.
Tone
Lin pitches the picture at a register of kinetic excitement and ensemble warmth, and the balance holds throughout. Beyond has the energy and the momentum of the franchise's best action entries, with set-pieces staged with visual invention and physical clarity that makes them the most exhilarating since the 2009 reboot. The tonal range, from the comedy of the Spock-McCoy sequences to the more serious material of Kirk's existential uncertainty, is navigated with a fluency and a confidence that makes the transitions feel entirely natural. Michael Giacchino's score builds on the identity established in the 2009 reboot with a warmth that suits the picture's more optimistic register.
Meaning / Themes
The central concern is the question of purpose and belonging, whether Kirk has chosen the right life and whether the crew of the Enterprise represents a community or merely a professional arrangement. This is handled with enough intelligence and emotional precision to give the picture a thematic dimension that its more spectacular elements serve rather than overwhelm. Krall's motivation, rooted in a sense of betrayal by the Federation he once served, adds a dimension that Into Darkness's Khan did not always achieve. The picture's argument, that unity is a strength rather than a vulnerability, is delivered without self-consciousness, and it lands because the film has earned it through the relationships it has built.
Direction
Lin's direction is the Kelvin timeline's most inventive in its action sequences, with a command of physical space and ensemble choreography that makes the planet-based sequences the most visually dynamic in the series. The swarm attack on the Enterprise is the franchise's most visually ambitious set-piece since the Borg assault in First Contact, a sequence of genuine scale and kinetic invention. The Yorktown space station is the franchise's most striking piece of production design since the V'Ger sequences in The Motion Picture, a visual concept that the film uses with enough intelligence to make it feel like more than a backdrop.
Cultural Reception
Beyond received positive reviews on its release but was a commercial disappointment, falling short of expectations against its production costs. Critics praised the ensemble chemistry, Lin's direction, and the picture's return to the franchise's more optimistic register, and it is now regarded as a considerably better picture than its box office suggested, a victim of franchise fatigue and a release schedule that did not serve it well. Its reputation has grown steadily in the years since, and it is increasingly cited as the Kelvin timeline's most complete and satisfying entry.
Final Verdict: The Kelvin timeline's most honest entry and its most enjoyable. Justin Lin's direction is inventive in its action sequences, the ensemble chemistry is the series' strongest across all three Kelvin pictures, and Sofia Boutella's Jaylah is the franchise's most compelling new character in years. Beyond is not a picture of great ambition. It is a picture of great character, and it achieves that with a confidence and a completeness that makes it the most satisfying Kelvin timeline entry by a considerable margin.