Space: the final frontier. I think pretty much everyone that loves science fiction, must have heard these words at least once. In 1966 Gene Roddenberry created a science fiction television series called Star Trek. Strangely enough when it first aired it got cancelled after 3 seasons. A few years later the series got very popular after reruns on several different television stations. And the rest is history. Star Trek became a world wide phenomenon, spawning several television series, movies and novels. One of the things that made it unique was the fact that it presented a very positive view of the future, in which humanity had finally managed to better itself. In 2009 a new Star Trek movie was made by J.J.Abrams, who most people know as one of the minds behind the tv series Lost, and ofcourse the director of Star Wars: the Force Awakens. It was kind of a reboot for the entire Star Trek universe, and even though the movie became a huge succes, a lot of Star Trek fans did not like it all. Last year the third installment of this new version of Star trek was released, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the franchise.

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Idris Elba’s skin rash had taken a turn for the worse.

In Star Trek Beyond, we meet captain Kirk at a time in his life, where he finds his job to be a bit tedious. He has kind of lost faith in his own capabilities, and is thinking of going for an admiral’s position, just to quit flying a starship. When his ship the Enterprise, visits the Federation’s newest starbase called Yorktown, a distress signal is picked up from an unknown ship. The person who sent the the signal introduces herself as Kalara, and claims her ship and her crew are stranded on a nearby planet. Soon Kirk and crew are sent out on the rescue mission. But all is not as it seems, and the Enterprise gets attacked by a swarm of powerful ships led by the villainous Krall.  Krall is searching for an ancient artifact that will bring death to the existing universe. The crew of the Enterprise are going to face their toughest mission yet, and one they might not all get out alive from….

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Why is she in my chair?

For those of you that have been following my blog for a while now, you pretty much know that I love science fiction in almost every form. As such I am not one of those people that only loves Star Trek, or only loves Star Wars for instance. As long as it is done well, I can pretty much eat science fiction movies for breakfast. That said, ever since J.J. Abrams has reimagined Star Trek, the movies have deviated from Roddenberry’s original vision for it. This third film carries the name Star Trek, but it is simply put not Star Trek anymore. It is a summer blockbuster action movie, that has entertaining moments, and some cool special effects. But sadly it does not feel like Star Trek, and that really is a shame I think.

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I really want to go home now…

 

All the actors from the new movies have returned to reprise their roles. They all do an admirable job, most notably Karl Urban, who plays doctor McCoy. Out of all the new actors that now play the parts of these legendary characters, he has always come the closest to the original role. The villain Krall is played by actor Idris Elba, who is completely unrecognisable in make up. Elba plays the part well, but Krall is just not a very interesting villain, and lacks depth. The relatively unknown actress Sofia Boutella plays the most interesting new character, the warrior woman Jaylah. Her martial arts skills are very impressive, but she also has a natural charisma that really makes you care for her character.

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Just wait until I show you to my parents, they are going to love you. 

This movie is directed by Justin Lin, who has also directed a lot of the Fast and Furious movies. The story in this movie takes a bit of a backseat, and instead we get treated to a action movie with explosions, chases, and pretty much everything that you would expect in movies like that. It certainly manages to entertain at times, but all in all I found this movie just not as good as the two previous ones. As mentioned it just doesn’t feel like a Star Trek movie anymore, and I guess that is my biggest complaint for this one. I understand that they want to make Star Trek appeal to a bigger audience, but it has now kind of lost the spirit that made Star Trek always so much fun to watch. What we are left with is a bit of hollow shell, that really isn’t a bad movie, but is simply not deserving the name Star Trek. I think Gene Roddenberry, might roll over in his grave if he knew what has become of his creation.

I give Star Trek Beyond a 7 out of 10 score.