"Star Trek Beyond" Review
In today’s world, where daily demonstrations of violence, hatred, and fear offer us an uncertain vision of our future, we need an escape. We need movies that take us to worlds that are not our own. Movies that depict people of different races, backgrounds, and sexualities working together in harmony. Movies that thrill us, make us laugh, dazzle us.
We need movies like Star Trek Beyond.
Taking over the captain’s chair from previous series director J.J. Abrams, Justin Lin (Fast and Furious) has crafted a vessel that’s just as sleek, fast-paced, and exciting as its predecessors. Make no mistake: this is not cerebral, thought-provoking sci-fi; it’s a full-speed-ahead action flick. However, there is something notable about Star Trek Beyond in how it celebrates the series’ fifty-year history and how it honors its enduring characters. This film was made with so much love, warmth practically radiates from the screen.
While on their five-year mission to explore the far reaches of space, Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine), Commander Spock (Zachary Quinto), and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise fall under attack by a hostile alien threat and find themselves marooned on an uncharted planet. With a damaged spacecraft and no means of rescue, the crew must find a way to get back home while evading the grasp of Krall (Idris Elba), a mysterious enemy who will stop at nothing to destroy them.
This film really is the total package. It has terrific action set pieces orchestrated by Lin, a witty script co-written by Simon Pegg (who also plays Scotty), and an impressive new character in the form of Jaylah (Sofia Boutella, Kingsman: The Secret Service), a badass alien warrior who aides the crew on their journey.
Beyond also has something unexpected: genuine heartstring tugging. In touching ways I will dare not spoil, the film pays tribute to the memories of two legendary Star Trek actors: our Spock Prime, Leonard Nimoy, and our Chekov, Anton Yelchin. Seeing Yelchin, who tragically died just last month, onscreen—so youthful, so energetic—is melancholy indeed.
But Beyond also engages us emotionally in another way: it furthers the development of these characters we love so. There is a very tender and heartwarming scene involving Spock and Bones (Karl Urban) that reveals layers to each character that were not even hinted at in the previous entries. And Captain Kirk, Scotty, and Sulu (John Cho), who were all so lacking in any kind of character growth in the last film, Into Darkness (2013), all have their moments to shine here. These actors embody their characters so thoroughly and work with each other so well that they transcend any shortcomings the film might have.
And Star Trek Beyond does, indeed, have its shortcomings.
While it is an entertaining and well-made film, Beyond doesn’t seem bold enough to break away from the established formula. Spock and Uhura (Zoe Saldana) continue their lover’s quarrel that seems to never end, and we are treated to the now-routine sight of seeing the Enterprise get totally wrecked yet again. Idris Elba’s Krall—at first an imposing screen presence—is drained of all menace or intrigue once his “motivation” is revealed in the third act. It’s here where the film completely deflates, for what begins as a tale of adventure and survival takes a turn for a plot we’ve seen before.
Despite these flaws, Star Trek Beyond is still a rousing—and as I said before, necessary—entertainment, and until that third act twist, it’s true to the spirit of discovery and camaraderie established in the original series. When Gene Roddenberry first created the Star Trek television series in 1966, he envisioned a future of unity and optimism. Fans will be happy to discover that Star Trek Beyond is very much in keeping with that vision. It encourages us to boldly go… and to look beyond to a bright and beautiful tomorrow. Happy fifty years, Star Trek. Here’s to fifty more.
Grade: B
"Green Room" Review
Green Room is one of those films that probably won’t get the respect it deserves until a little while down the road, or when we film critics tell enough people how great it is. Which shouldn’t be a surprise, since it is written and directed by Blue Ruin’s Jeremy Saulnier (if you haven’t seen that film, you should). For a single location thriller about apunk rock band trying to fight for survival, the film tells a brilliantly written and executed, surprisingly universal human story...albeit an extremely violent one.
The Ain’t Rights are a punk band comprised of four friends: Pat (Anton Yelchin), Reece (Joe Cole), Sam (Alia Shawkat), and Tiger (Callum Turner). They’re purists when it comes to their music, and as far as we can tell they survive off it alone. Touring the west coast, the group is in a van big enough to haul them and their equipment. They syphon off gasoline to keep the van going and save what few dollars they have.
After getting hired to play a paying gig in a secluded club in the backwoods of Oregon, the group reluctantly obliges. They’ve been informed by Tad (David W. Thompson), a promoter and music reporter who owes them one for stiffing them, that the club is run by neo Nazis. They just didn’t know they would stumble upon a murder right after the show. Once the scene has been seen, it can’t be undone, and there can’t be witnesses. Which means the group has to play a game of wits and survival with the club owner, Darcy (Patrick Stewart).
The casting in this film is perfect. I couldn’t imagine anyone else in the role of Darcy, and Stewart’s years of experience gives the film a dangerous villain who never raises his voice. Yet, it’s not a film where Stewart’s presence saves the film, it only enhances and fortifies an already solidly casted movie. Each member of the band is a fully realized character that has a moment to shine. The same can be said about the skinheads as well.
Always a master of Pace, Saulnier knows how to build a scene, let it breathe and then shake things up a bit. Once the group is locked into the green room, the film is extremely tense until the end, but Saulnier is kind enough to intercut dark humor and moments to relax between violence. I was extremely pleased with everything prior to the murder discovery. Each scene was tightly edited by Julia Bloch and advanced the story with no room for fluff.
As with any group survival film, not everyone will make it to the end. Getting to the end is a huge adrenaline rush though! In a film where the protagonists are forced to face their mortality, Green Room finds plenty of human moments and jokes that will turn this into a cult classic.
Rating: A-