STAR TREK BEYOND Review: Above and Beyond Expectations
I have but a passing familiarity with all things Trek. The reboot of the Star Trek universe in 2009 sought to indoctrinate an entire new generation of casual viewers like myself into the fold, while paying respects to previous iterations and their long time fans. The endeavor thus far has yielded some pretty solid highs along with some pretty deplorable lows, never quite resulting in a fully formed Trek experience. But now, that goal has been fully realized with Star Trek Beyond, offering up one of the best Star Trek films to date and easily establishing itself as the blockbuster champion in this currently barren summer cinematic wasteland. Even more surprising still is the emotionally resonant conceit underneath all the simple popcorn fun.
In this third installment, director Justin Lin takes the reigns from JJ Abrams, reinvigorating the franchise as he did famously with the Fast & The Furious film series. We are reintroduced to the the crew of the Starship Enterprise several years into a five year voyage, a cohesive unit wiser for the wear though also weary from the doldrums of deep space travel. While docked at the megalopolis space station Yorktown for some much needed R&R, an alien traveler is rescued and asks for help in saving the remainder of her crew trapped in a nearby uncharted nebula. Kirk and the gang cast out once more into the breach, but are soon intercepted by Krall, a ruthless alien warlord with a legion of powerful drone ships at his command. As the mighty enterprise is crippled in battle, the crew becomes separated in the chaos of a crash landing. Stranded on an hostile alien world, the crew begin their journey to reunite and put an end to Krall’s space-faring treachery.
The setup for this adventure is fairly straightforward, but deeper themes begin to steadily reveal themselves as the plot rolls along. In the beginning, we see both Kirk and Spock wrestle with the concept of their identity and legacy. Kirk appears to have lived up to the bravery and honor of his heroic father, but now feels lost and unsure about the next phase of his life. Spock meanwhile feels conflicted between his future in Starfleet and his role in safeguarding the future of the Vulcan race. This conflict has caused a break in his relationship with Uhura, and he receives an even heavier emotional blow with the news that Ambassador Spock (The elder “Spock Prime” as he pertains to this alternate time line) has died, reflecting the real life passing of the beloved actor Leonard Nemoy. Its easy enough to make the connection between these identity crises and the meta-textual commentary on Justin Lin taking over such a huge franchise, as well as the ongoing challenge of “Nu-Trek” living up its predecessors and ensuring the continued success of the Star Trek brand.
**SPOILERS follow from this point onward**
If Star Trek Beyond chose to stop there with its thematic exploration, it would have been perfectly fine as a self-aware fun space romp. However, the reveal of Krall’’s true identity and the psychology behind his violence is what really edges the movie toward the realm of greatness. The crew comes across the remains of the long lost federation ship USS Franklin, which mysteriously disappeared nearly a century prior. After reactivating the ship, Uhura discovers from the old logs that Krall is in fact human Starfleet officer Balthazar Edison, captain of the Franklin, still alive thanks to a vampire-like process salvaged from abandoned alien technology. Edison had been harboring resentment against the federation all this time for their failure to rescue his shipwrecked crew, but his animosity had even deeper roots in his history as a decorated military commander in Earth’s defense forces prior to the creation of the United Federation of Planets. Edison as Krall now sees the Federation as a betrayal of his sacrifices, willing to compromise and make concessions with the alien races he had fought so hard against.
I need to step back a moment in order to underline the significance of this. I mentioned my passing familiarity with Trek, but I did in fact follow the television series Deep Space Nine for several years as a teen and was enthralled by the drama of the Dominion War. The series was famous for departing from Gene Roddenberry’s altruistic optimism and plunging Star Trek into the dirty realities of war and politics. It is fascinating to see how the character of Captain Benjamin Sisko -equal parts soldier, diplomat, and cultural leader- would foreshadow the roles of real world figures in the coming Global War on Terror. High ranking Generals like David Petraeus would come to epitomize the “Warrior Statesman”, leaders who were instrumental in both combat strategy and the political dealings necessary to maintain a standing government. Unfortunately, too many other commanders and policy makers for too many years failed to realize how crucial establishing political/tribal ties was to the security situation, ultimately resulting in the decades long quagmires of death in Iraq and Afghanistan. Edison/Krall represents this primitive militaristic way of thinking and why it is doomed to failure, whereas Kirk and the Federation represent the possibility of a way forward to prosperity through unity and mutual understanding, as Gene Rodenberry had originally envisioned long ago.
In other words, Star Trek Beyond effectively re-contextualizes the message of hope in the original Star Trek through our modern sensibilities. We see the primitive militarism of Krall even now after the decades long suffering, political hawks and opportunists that inculcate fear and stoke the fires of hatred without regard for innocents. “Bomb the hell out of ISIS”, and so forth. In truth, this is somewhat of a rehash of themes brought up in the previous film Star Trek Into Darkness, and Roberto Orci’s producer credit may have something to do with this. Thankfully, the stench of Orci’s repugnant Truther-ism is absent from this film, instead replaced by a more progressive sense of optimism which is the not-so secret ingredient to the Fast franchise’s magic.
Building off that point about progressiveness, it bears speaking on the issue regarding the concealment of actors of color through movie makeup. When seeing the first images of Idris Elba in his alien costume, I didn’t think too much of it. After all, as many others have pointed out, elaborate makeup is a Star trek tradition. However, with the concurrence of other so-called Hollywood white washings like the casting of Scarlett Johansson in the Ghost In the Shell adaptation or Tilda Swinton’s role as The Ancient in Dr. Strange, Elba’s concealment began to grate on me more and more. It was particularly concerning knowing that another key actor of color in the film, Sofia Boutella of Kingsman fame with her wonderful performance as the scrappy scavenger Jaylah, would also have her natural features obscured by pale makeup. While I still believe that these are valid concerns and the issue is one we must continually address, I must now admit that I was wrong to prejudge the makeup so harshly.
Ironically, the film plays into that negative expectation and subverts it, as we do see Idris Elba as his natural black self near the end; he does have slight makeup effects work on him during the final battle, but it is still clear to see that he is a black (hu)man. Seeing Elba in his natural state after so many scenes in his alien makeup truly amplifies the shock value of the plot twist in a meaningful way. The heartthrob Idris Elba as Starfleet captain is a reflection of Chris Pine and the handsome leading man archetype. Captain Edison’s turn into madness and vengeance is a skewed reflection of my childhood fictional hero Captain Sisko, who straddled the line between light and dark and did many morally questionable things in the name of peace and victory. And Edison’s war mongering, a black serviceman earning accolades through bloodshed, is a window into a possible “Kelvin timeline” of my own; a reminder of how I could have turned out…how I still could turn out if pushed or persuaded too far, if my thoughts and actions can no longer be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love.
I was not expecting all this from a pew-pew laser spaceship movie, that’s for damn sure. And yet, it is very much the magic of movies which allows us to explore these deep-seated feelings and complicated thoughts through the a universal language. And like the best kinds of fiction, Star Trek Beyond continues in the tradition of the original series by providing a message of hope and a celebration of humanity in the most trying of times. Beyond will absolutely deliver on solid blockbuster fun if that’s what you’re aiming to see, but there is much more under the surface if you are willing to let it in. On the same token, there might be too much rehashing of certain plot points or a few too many plot holes spackled over in the name of a good time for people to fully jive with it. All in all, it is still essentially more of the same rebooted Star Trek, so if you weren’t down with that before you likely wont be now. That said, this is the new Star Trek at its most refined and concentrated, truly earning its place among the best of what the entire Star Trek Universe has to offer. I am fully on board with lots more New Trek and however many sequels Justin Lin wants to make. Star Trek Beyond truly feels like it has revitalized the series and the property as a whole, and has finally made a believer out of this long time Star Trek agnostic.
