SECOND SCREEN

Unity, says the big baddie in the new Star Trek film as he threatens to do something unspeakable to a member of the Enterprise crew, is both your strength and your weakness. And you could say the same about Star Trek Beyond (12A) which arrives with a new director, Justin Lin, and haunted by two recent deaths: Leonard Nimoy – the original Mr Spock – who died last year aged 83, and Anton Yelchin, who has played Chekov since 2009 and died last month aged 27.

The strength of the new film is its obvious devotion to its Star Trek heritage. Its weakness is that in looking back to that iconic past, it inadvertently repeats some of its faults, too.

At times it just seems like an overlong TV episode, lacking in the sort of scope we expect from a film and marred by the jumps in action, logic and plot that so characterised the original.

Nevertheless, there is still fun to be had here with Chris Pine as Captain Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Spock (above) and an impressive Karl Urban as Dr McCoy. The weak spot continues to be Simon Pegg who, perhaps aware of his limitations in the role of Scotty, is co-writer.

What he and co-writer Doug Jung come up with is certainly familiar, with the Enterprise gallantly dispatched to a dangerous nebula to rescue a stranded alien crew. Goodness, could it be a trap?

Lin claims to be a dedicated Trekkie but he made his name as the director of four Fast & Furious films, and it shows. At times, the editing is so rapid you lose track of what’s going on, while the visual effects can be unimpressive. Still, the neardestruction of the Enterprise is spectacular, and some things, of course, never change, with Kirk and his gang finding themselves marooned, his crew being held hostage by the evil Krall (Idris Elba) and an attractive female alien, Jaylah (Sofia Boutella), trying to rebuild an old starship.

It bounces along but never engages. I found myself indifferent to an ending that is as silly as the villain’s motivation is difficult to follow. But in between? Well, it’s Star Trek, and pretty much exactly as we know it.