Rating: C+
Dir: Justin Lin
Star: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Idris Elba
Despite – or perhaps, because of – not being a Trekkie, I really enjoyed the first two reboot films. I’d say they were every bit the equal of any from the franchise’s original entries. So it was kinda surprising to realize I had somehow missed the third movie for eight years. How did that happen? Maybe I was put off by it being directed by someone better known for Fast and Furious films? Certainly, the result here is probably about what you’d expect from a Star Trek movie, pushed through a F&F filter. It delivers all the spectacle you could want, albeit at the expense of heart, and almost entirely missing any emotional content.
Following up on the casting of Sherlock Benedict Cumberbatch as the villain in Into Darkness, the call obviously went out for another contemporary British TV icon, for the same role here, in the shape of Luther Idris Elba. Though for 90% of the film it could be any irritated British person beneath the lumpy forehead prosthetics. Here, he plays Krall, an alien whose swarm of ships attacks the Enterprise after it’s sent out on a bogus rescue mission. He’s after the Abronath, an artifact that can be used to create a bioweapon, and attack the Federation. Naturally, it’s up to Captain Kirk (Pine), Spock (Quinto), Bones (Urban), the rest of the crew and a few guest aliens, including Sofia Boutella in a role originally intended for Jennifer Lawrence, to save the day.
It’s all okay, I guess. The characters remain strong, with solid interaction between them, which made me believe this was born of long familiarity [as we begin Kirk is apparently bored by all his years of boldly going]. It falls apart somewhat, when they crash-land on a planet and the crew is separated into several smaller groups, e.g. Bones and Spock, Kirk and Chekhov, etc. which negates that synergy between the characters. They are eventually reunited, with Lin’s F&F pedigree showing up, as remarkably, a 100-year-old motorbike works perfectly and the petrol it needs is still good, allowing Kirk to whizz about like a trails rider. The finale also feels like someone did a global search on a F&F script, changing “cars” into “spaceships.”
Sadly, I have to say that Elba’s performance might actually be the weakest part, making almost no impression. Compared to the high standards reached by the best of Trek villains, e.g. the Borg, both versions of Khan, etc. Krall is weak sauce. It’s only at the end, when we see him without the prosthetics, for reasons that I’m not certain stand up to close scrutiny, that Elba is able to put much into his depiction. Oh, don’t get me wrong. Most of the film is still decent entertainment, and it’s clear that co-writers Simon Pegg and Doug Jung have a deep love for the Trek universe. Yet there’s also good reason why we’re now at eight years and counting since this was released, without a fourth entry.