Star Trek: Sem Fronteiras

After the noisy and irretrievably stupid (though reasonably entertaining) Into Darkness, I wasn't desperate to watch this one, but when I finally did I was relieved to discover that it was even more enjoyable than the first film in the reboot, a rollicking adventure with terrific alien weapons, fun McCoy/Spock repartee, a promising newcomer alien, and a lot of really excellent action scenes.

The movie had almost all the qualities of the original series except one - the thinking part. The smartest thing in the movie is the funny opening scene, which suggests the difficulty of communication between different cultures.

But that's the last thing in the movie that suggests even a moment of thought. The main villain has very little in the way of motivation, and when he explains his purpose it's quite disappointing. Nothing in this movie is there to provoke thought, and I'm not entirely convinced that anything in the movie really makes sense, although there's nothing at the time that hit me as too absurd to live with (unlike the previous movie).

If you expect this movie, like the series, to explore racism and war culture, well, you're not going to be happy. But if you just want some old-fashioned action with some familiar characters, this totally hits the spot.

I was a bit surprised by the number of negative reviews this movie received on IMDb. The main complaint seemed to be that the film had too much action?! Anyone old enough to remember seeing 1979's 'The Motion Picture' on the big screen is a unique person... most of us fell asleep. Fortunately, 'Wrath of Khan' saved the day in 1982, with lots of action and a recycled, but disturbingly menacing villain.

C'mon folks... even the original series didn't get too deep and meaningful. It was the more action-oriented pilot featuring strong characters that knew how to have a laugh every now and then that got it the network green light. This is exactly what the reboot movies have been like up to now. Admittedly, there hasn't been a classic in the bunch yet, but the potential is certainly there.

In my view, the reboot films are one really scary villain away from producing a classic. With TNG it was the Borg. Doctor Who has the Daleks. Both races completely inhuman, really nasty, seemingly indestructible, and hellbent on destroying (be it assimilation or extermination) everything in their way. Boldly going where Trek has gone before, so to speak.

If you want a movie that has a lot of action, fighting and graphics, this is the movie for you. If you want a well developed plot and good acting, it just doesn't deliver. The acting is uneven. The Spock character seems to do the best job and is believable. Some of the others seem like they are at times still reading from the script. The old original Star Trek movies had well defined relationship stories in them but in this, it seems like the characters are secondary to the graphic presentations and fighting scenes. I would even say they don't click together like the original cast. So, to me it was entertaining to a certain extent, but disappointing in that the plot was not as developed as it could have been. The actress who played the "helper" in the end did seem to be very strong and believable.

OK, so I'm a Star Trek fan being old enough to have watched the original series BEFORE it was in re-runs! But Star Trek Beyond just plain disappoints. It's not terrible… but it's not great either.

It's Star Date 2263.2 and Kirk (Chris Pine) is into the third year of their "5 year mission" (which seems to somehow throw away a lot of potential sequel opportunities already doesn't it?). Less buoyant and confident than he used to be, Kirk is feeling a little emotionally 'Lost in Space': after all, as the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy put it "Space is big… REALLY big". Spock (Zachary Quinto) also receives some news of a personal nature that unsettles him. They are both in need of a vacation, and Starbase Yorktown (queue some spectacular special effects and an operatic Michael Giacchino track) appears to be able to offer them that. The crew disperse for a bit of R and R: Sulu (John Cho) goes off to spend time with his family (after the big internet furore, the gay aspect of this is very subtle); Kirk gets career advice from the Admiral; and Spock and Uhuru (Zoe Saldana) go their separate ways since – like Ross and Rachael – they are "on a break".

The reverie is rudely interrupted by the arrival of a frantic alien called Kalara (Lydia Wilson) from the other side of a dense nebula. She needs help to rescue her crew, stranded on a planet there. Kirk's rescue mission however goes far from to-plan, and he and his crew are caught in the clutches of the warlord Krall (Idris Elba).

What's nice about this film is that the core crew of Kirk, Spock, Uhuru, Bones (Karl Urban), Scotty (Simon Pegg), Sulu and Chekov (the tragically departed Anton Yelchin) gel together really nicely as an ensemble cast. The traditional by-play between the characters feels unforced, comedic and provides a warmth at the heart of the film. There is also a touching tribute to Leonard Nimoy, who died while the film was in pre-production, woven into the story of which I'm sure he would have approved.

Supporting the crew as a potential new character is the strikingly attractive and kick-ass Jaylah played by Sofia Boutella (the evil amputee Gazelle from "Kingsman").

There's also some fine and innovative alien technology on display with the 'swarm-like' alien fleet harking back (in an expanded scale) to the invulnerability of the nanites from an original episode.

Unfortunately, all of these positives are severely offset by a largely planet-bound Simon Pegg and Doug Jung story (didn't the woeful "Insurrection" teach writers that this tends not to be a good idea?) and action sequences that are so manically fast-moving that it is almost impossible to keep track of what exactly is happening. (Perversely, this is a film that might actually make more sense on the small screen than the big one, which is just BAD CINEMA!). There was even one point in a final fight scene where I seriously feared Kirk and Krall might have a 'sharing of mother's names' moment (if you know what I mean) but fortunately this script apocalypse is avoided.

At the conclusion the story actually makes no sense to me at all: without spoilers, it is difficult to discern exactly what the motivations of Krall actually were. Throw in a graphic in the final reel that looks like Krall is attacking the Death Star (no, seriously – watch for it!) and the concoction just doesn't hang together very well. I know Simon Pegg and director Justin ("Fast and Furious") Lin are huge Trekkers, but – sorry guys – this was a C- for me.

It's a mildly diverting popcorn movie, but with (for me at least) yet another disappointing film, its getting to the point where the best 'summer blockbuster' is likely to be Deadpool… and that was released in February!

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I admit that this chapter wasn't as good as the first two, but it was still quite enjoyable. The best part about this movie is how utterly beautiful it is. The special effects are wonderful and everything is so nice just to look at. There's always fine details and creative execution. The best parts are still probably when the various crew members get separated. This is what makes a franchise as big as "Star Trek" so much fun. It's just great to see how the characters interact and play off of each other. I couldn't get any synopsis out of this film here other than the characters going somewhere new and fighting a new enemy. Don't most characters do that?

I admit the plot could be better and the villain is a bit confusing. It's still a film in good spirits and I like all the little references to the old show, how subtle or blatant they might be. One important note. I remember hearing that in this movie the character Sulu was going to come out as gay as a way to honor his original actor, George Takei, coming out. Takei himself didn't like this idea. It is never stated that Sulu is gay, but we do see him briefly hold hands with another man implying he is. I guess it was sort of a compromise with George Takei. I like the idea of openly gay characters, but if the actor or people involved don't want it, that's just fine. It's great to see how creative and beautiful this amazing world looks and you really in on the action with the Enterprise. ***