INTERGALACTIC FIASCO
Fifty years after the launch of the TV show, and four decades after the space saga’s first big-screen outing, Star Trek remains a pop-culture phenomenon.
Not wanting to end on a down note after the plug was pulled on the franchise following the underwhelming 10th instalment (Star Trek: Nemesis) back in 2002, the young upstart JJ Abrams, then 36, was assigned to update the series. His 2009 Star Trek makeover and its follow-up (…Into Darkness, 2013) reinvigorated the blockbuster franchise. But the third chapter of the rebooted sciencefiction spectacle falls far short of the mark.
Blame for the Star Trek Beyond fiasco can be attributed to director Justin Lin. The plot for the poorly paced threequel, co-scripted by Simon Pegg, who also provides some comic relief as the resourceful engineer, thrusts the crew of the spaceship in the middle of yet another crisis. After a devastating alien attack led by a predatory new adversary (Idris Elba, barely recognisable in the prosthetic make-up), our intergalactic heroes are stranded on a hostile planet.
Almost in the vein of an outer-space Western, the latest iteration is replete with listless characterisations, non-stop technobabble and chaotic action sequences, and the 3D post-conversion is unwarranted. All the usual suspects reprise their roles, from the cocky captain (Pine) and his half-human, half-Vulcan first officer (Quinto) to the ace navigators (John Cho-Anton Yelchin) and a lieutenant-in-distress (Zoe Saldana).
Besides Idris Elba, the only other notable addition to the ensemble is Sofia Boutella as a sympathetic alien warrior.
But on the evidence of …Beyond it may be time to consider retiring the intrepid Star Trek voyagers once and for all.