Star Trek Beyond

5.6 / 10

Pros:

• Great visual effects. And if you can catch this movie in 3-D, then you'll definitely be in for a treat visually.
• Sound effects were spot on
• Cinematography work was excellent
• Acting wasn't that bad
• Action scenes were great.
• Awesome soundtrack. Loved the "Sabotage" song by the Beastie Boys, and the scene it played in was a perfect fit in terms of tone of the overall movie.
• The brotherly relationship of Spock and Kirk still continues to be the heart and soul of this newly rebooted franchise.

Cons:

• More of the same freaking crap is being recycled again. Kirk still questions whether or not if the enterprise should be ran by him. Enterprise gets destroyed again, and Earth suffers a lot of collateral damage in the process.
• Villain is very generic, and seems like sort of a rip off of Khan; minus the super human abilities.

It's been said that Justin Lin didn't like the first draft of the script for "Star Trek Beyond" because he felt it was too "Star Trekkie" for his liking. Maybe, that was a bad sign of what to expect from this movie.

To be fair, "Star Trek Beyond" isn't a bad movie per se, but it's not a great one either. At this point in the franchise, all of the modern "Star Trek" films have become repetitive. Often regurgitating the same formula over and over again, as they try to appeal to the hardcore audience of "Star Wars" and "Furious 7", while leaving behind the exploration aspects that intrigued die hard Trekkies ages ago.

And I'll admit at first, the rebooted "Star Trek" did offer a fresh new take on the franchise. Opening up new story possibilities, and it gave the franchise the fresh start that it desperately needed. Granted, "Star Trek Into Darkness" was a bit of a step back considering it went a bit overboard with it's references, but overall it was still a fairly decent movie for what it was going for.

As for "Star Trek Beyond", it's basically more of the same shtick by this point. Captain James Tyberius Kirk (Chris Pine) is still unsure of himself AGAIN. He still reflects on his father's death, while wondering if the enterprise would be better suited with Spock assuming command, as he secretly requests for a promotion to become admiral. Wait, didn't the original Captain Kirk have to wait until he was like in his fifties to finally become admiral?

And if that's case, then does that make the original Kirk a f**king moron compared to the new timeline's Captain Kirk? Bah! Who am I kidding? In the reboot, Kirk went from a suspended space cadet that was about to get expelled from Starfleet to being named captain of the enterprise, at the end of his first mission, so I think military/NASA like chain of command type realism in this series has already flown out the window by this point.

However, Kirk is still unsure of himself. As for Spock, he's going through the same deal. Using the recent death of Leonard Nimoy as something of a plot point, Spock Prime is now dead. This makes the new Spock, played by Zachary Quinto, rather sad, as he immediately breaks up with Uhura, as he feels it's his duty to go back to new Vulcan. So like James Kirk, he too is starting to contemplate leaving Starfleet for personal reasons.

Of course, the enterprise receives a distress signal, as they try to rescue someone from what they perceive as a hostile alien race. It turns out to be a trap. The villain turns out to be some a**hole, who has his own agenda with the federation because of how they f**ked over his life somehow. Gee, isn't that sort of like Khan from the last film?

Anyways, if you've seen the previous two movies, then you already know how this plays out in the end. Lots of action. Space explosions. Enterprise blows up again. Earth gets a lot of collateral damage, during the crossfire. All that good jazz, while still maintaining the heart of the previous films, by still focusing on Kirk and Spock's relationship.

And for the most part, it seems to work. Even when both Kirk and Spock couldn't stand each other, they're still two sides of the same coin. One character was a man dedicated to logic and reason, while Kirk relied mostly on gut intuition and instinct. On the surface, you'd think this kind of dynamic would be a recipe for disaster, and it has for the most part, but both sides give each other something to learn from as well. Say what you want about the rebooted series, but it never shies away from exploring their friendship.

Showing how both sides can often conflict each other because of their different ideals and methodology, but both compliment each other as well. Spock helps Kirk grow to become more of a leader, while Kirk helps him to appreciate his fellow man. It's an interesting dynamic to watch, and it's still remains the heart of the new series thus far.

But like I said before, most of the movie is basically more of the same old crap. And if that's truly what you want, then "Star Trek Beyond" offers that in spades. But if you're aching for something that broadens the "Star Trek" universe into new territory like the reboot did, then you're going to be disappointed.

Apart from the amazing visuals, cinematography work, and action scenes, I wouldn't bother seeing this unless you're just a die hard Trekkie. But even if that was the case, I would say don't even bother because if you've seen the previous two movies, then you probably don't even need to see this one because you won't be missing much anyway.