Star Trek Beyond

Wiz RECOMMENDS Star Trek Beyond Whereas the 2009 Reboot and Star Trek Into Darkness made characters one of it's key focuses, Star Trek Beyond decides on a more comfortable, if not safe, route in storytelling. Star Trek Beyond feels much more like a popcorn action flick where the characters and their developments are simple and thin. They basically feel more like The Next Generation movies: the depth was in previous stories, this is just them on a new adventure. Now, in this instance I was already familiar with the characters, so enjoying these characters wasn't anywhere near as hard. But it feels like a huge step back when you get to know characters like Kirk and Spock in this iteration. But since this is a popcorn movie, that means no other characters get added depth to make them feel more fleshed out. They are as they were in the previous two films. This also is doubly true with the companion Jaylah, played by Sofia Boutella and the villain Krall, played in heavy makeup by Idris Elba. Neither character is interesting in anyway, but they also don't exactly hurt the film...they are just there to move the plot along. But as a popcorn movie, Star Trek Beyond is solid. Action sequences are fun with some good visuals. Set pieces are well done enough to keep the viewer entertained. But the planet the film is based on (a planet I can't even bother to remember the name of) is also not that interesting and just feels like a slab of rocks and non-descript mountains. Finally, the film goes on a little too long for its own good. At about two hours, you'd think that it's the right amount of time for a Star Trek film since many of them hit that mark or even higher. But the lack of character development and growth just means it meanders into more exposition to get into action sequences. If I'm being honest, Star Trek Beyond is a fine enough time to kill two hours. But compared to the reboot and Into Darkness, it's a marked step down when it comes to characters and story.