Star Trek Beyond

So it seems despite the dodgy looking trailers Star Trek Beyond is a solid entry in the franchise and it seems the newly names "Kelvin timeline" films are inverting the old Star Trek film law of the even numbered entries being the good ones. This time round the first and third so far are clearly the better films and the second entry the misstep.

McCoy, Jaylah and Spock prep for action and banter.

Beyond does what Into Darkness should of done by breaking away from the old entries and being it's own thing (aside from a few nods to the original crew). It tells a stroy of it's own rather than re-hashing a previously told one and takes advantage of it's alternate versions of the classic characters.

For example here we have a Kirk (Chris Pine) who is unsure of the point of his chosen career as the films begins, whilst Spock (Zachery Quinto) struggles with his sense of duty to his now endangered people and subsequently his relationship with Uhura (Zoe Saldana).

This gives our two central characters strong story arcs to go through in the midst of the adventure whilst the rest of the crew all get a good amount to do. Unsurprisingly with Simon Pegg on writing duties Scotty gets much more to do and it's refreshing to see him strike up a friendship with newcomer Jaylah (Sofia Boutella) instead of her becoming a romantic interest for Kirk. Although I think Pegg still plays it a bit too comically broad.

Indeed Jaylah is one of the strongest elements of this entry in the series, a more than capable engineer and a spiky, lively presence for the others to bounce off. Not quite effective however is Idris Elba's villain Krall. He is revealed to have interesting background and motivation but the pieces only really fall into place in the third act and feel a little rushed.  The first of the reboots probably retains the strongest of the new villains with Nero.

Worries that director Justin Lin would mean a move towards out and out action can be put aside. Of course there is action, including some imaginative sequences in space and on the ground, but the heart of the film remains the interactions of the main cast. The middle act of the film sees them paired in different combinations (Kirk & Chekov, Uhura & Sulu, Scotty & Jaylah and most enjoyably McCoy & Spock) letting all have their moments to shine.

Karl Urban once again stands out as the grumpy but steadfast McCoy amongst pretty strong performances all round apart for a minor character in Commodore Paris whose portrayl feels stilted which is shame because she's a couple of key scenes for Kirk's story arc.

No doubt some will criticise the method used by the crew to turn the tide of battle against Krall's swarm ships but I admit it was something that brought a smile to my face.

It's not as heartfelt as the series best (Wrath of Khan) but it's up there with the likes of Generations (which i think is under appreciated), Undiscovered Country, First Contact and the opening film from the re imagined crew.