Monday, August 1, 2016

Star Trek: Beyond Review












Star Trek: Beyond


Release Date: 21st July 2016 - Australia


Production Companies
Paramount Pictures 
Skydance Media
Bad Robot Productions
K/O Paper Products
Alibaba Group
Huahua Media
Sneaky Shark
Perfect Storm Entertainment 

Distribution
Paramount Pictures Australia


Genre: Sci-Fi

Rating: M

Runtime: 122 minutes


Budget: $185,000,000

Box Office Gross: $336,648,340
(Worldwide) 


Plot Summary
Scotty and Bones are
stranded on Starbase
Earhart, a remote
outpost just outside of
the Federation Space,
after the Enterprise is
destroyed by an
unknown force of
ruthless aliens

Five years into their
mission, they must
now face off against
a new and unexpected
villain that they quickly
learn has a storied and
powerful hatred of the
Federation and all that
it stands for. (Source -
Metro Cinemas)


Cast
Chris Pine - Captain James T. Kirk
Zachary Quinto - Commander Spock
Zoe Saldana - Uhura
Karl Urban - Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy
Simon Pegg - Montgomery
"Scotty" Scott
John Cho - Hikaru Sulu
Anton Yelchin - Ensign Pavel Chekov
Idris Elba - Krall
Sofia Boutella - Jaylah
Joe Taslim - Manas
Lydia Wilson - Kalara
Shohreh Aghdashloo - Commodore Paris
Deep Roy - Keenser
Ashley Edner - Natalia
Bryce Soderberg - Satine
Melissa Roxburgh - Ensign Syl
Anita Brown - Tyvanna
Doug Jung - Ben
Danny Pudi - Fi'Ja
Kim Kold - Zavanko
Fraiser Aitcheson - Hider
Jason Matthew Smith - Hendorff
Greg Grunberg - Commander Finnegan
Douglas Chapman - Sir Olden
Dan Payne - Wadjet
Anthony Shim - Jin
Andrea Yu - Jeanine
Shea Whigham - Teenaxi Leader (Voice)
Christian Sloan - Jae
Ashley Edner - Natalia

Crew
Producer/Director - Justin Lin
Based on Television Series
"Star Trek" - Gene Roddenberry
Writers - Simon Pegg, Doug Jung, Patrick McCay and John D. Payne (Uncredited)
Writer (Uncredited)/Producer - Roberto Orci
Associate/Visual Effects Producer - Ron Ames
Executive Producers - Jeffrey Chernov, David Ellison, Tommy Harper and Dana Goldberg
Producers - J.J. Abrams,
Lindsey Weber and Bryan Burk
Consultant - Marc Orkland
Production Designer - Thomas E. Sanders
Production Designer: Additional Photography - Andrew Murdock
Concept Designers: Ships - Ryan Church and Tim Flattery
Senior Concept Designer/Visual Effects Art Director - Sean Hargreaves
Special Makeup Effects - Joel Harlow
Supervising Art Director - Don Macaulay
Costume Designer - Sanja Milkovic Hays
Creature Designer - Neville Page 
Director of Photography - Stephen F. Windon
Second Unit Director/Stunt Coordinator - Mike Gunther
Special Effects Supervisor - Cameron Waldbauer
Visual Effects Supervisors - Peter Chiang,
Viktor Muller, Sean Stranks and Geng Li
Additional Visual Effects Supervisor - Jim Gibbs
Animation Supervisor - Michael Lum
Film Editors - Greg D'Auria,
Dylan Highsmith, Kelly Matsumoto and
Steven Sprung
Music - Michael Giacchino


Review
2016 was such a big year of blockbusters that were released in theatres in a time where movie-goers expect the best quality since 2015. One of these movies was 'STAR TREK: BEYOND' and is celebrating the series origins where it all started with the vision of Gene Roddenberry to create one of the most iconic sci-fi television series in history. Yes, it was around that time where no TV show has aired before in over 79 episodes were shown. 'Doctor Who' may done it three years before as the first known television show in the genre. However, this is a much bigger sci-fi franchise as you can expect from any other series and twelve features and four television series were spun-off afterwards. I still believe that George Lucas's 'Star Wars' is a much better series as it is one of the best examples of science fiction. 

J.J. Abrams has moved on from being the director of the reboot series and has instead focused on his efforts in reinvigorating another well-known sci-fi series in the form of 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens'. It's still revising the timeline, but that doesn't stop Paramount from hiring Justin Lin of 'Fast & Furious' to direct its third and latest paragon. 'STAR TREK: BEYOND' doesn't recycle much of the material that was used in the originals to be on it again like 'Into Darkness'. The lens-flares are reduced and the story-line has much more of an adventurous tone. Probably because of Simon Pegg the actor who portrayed Scotty is one of the writers responsible for the plot. 

Idris Elba has been through roles of good guys and few villains like Shere Khan of 'The Jungle Book' remake. His compelling performance of Krall moves the plot along as he is the real menace with a grudge against the Federation. Sofia Boutella is likely the new star after her debut in 'Kingsman: The Secret Service' as a henchwoman as she portrays the resourceful alien with streak of independence Jaylah.

I liked how the movie is dedicated to not only Leonard Nimoy, but also Anton Yelchin whose role as Chekov would remain in the hearts of Trekkies. Overall, 'STAR TREK: BEYOND' is better than the last film when it's not under the J.J. Abrams' stewardship. It was the most anticipated feature of 2016 and one of the better Trek movies in recent history.

Star rating: (9/10) Excellent Movie 

1 comment:

  1. Nice review! Glad you liked it! I did too. I really like the new (yet old, really) direction it took. :)

    ReplyDelete