Star Trek: Beyond

Spoilers throughout this post, but the spoilers don't at all matter to enjoying this film.

I had not intended to see Star Trek: Beyond in the theater. I'm happy to wait for most things to hit Netflix these days. The original trailer was a big collection of red flags for me: Beastie Boys (again), motorcycle stunts, and the director of Fast & Furious all pointed to this installment magnifying the worst aspects of the preview two movies.

Simon Pegg being the writer was the lone ray of hope. He is a uniquely talented and funny writer who is a genuine fan of Star Trek and was in a position to nudge it back towards its roots and away from the hollow action spectacle Abrams had morphed it into with the awful take on Khan.

But then I saw Pegg's interview at the Star Wars premiere.  The look on his face when he said "Hang in there, be patient" is excruciating. It made me certain that the studio had overpowered him and made "Furious Space".

​However, the Red Letter Media review convinced me to give it a chance. In addition to being film critics whose opinions often align with my own, one of the duo (Mike) is also a Star Trek fan. His analysis of Abrams' reboot helped me understand why I found it fun but never felt a strong need to rewatch it. His partner (Jay) is not a Trekkie at all. So, when they both recommended it, I swallowed my concerns.

So, here are my thoughts on the film:

• It was really clever to split the characters up. The previous films have felt like "The Chris Pine Action Hour" as a captain would normally dominate events around himself. Stranding McCoy and Spock together allowed for wonderful character moments that both echoed the original crew as well as showed the new incarnations finally earning a unique relationship of angst and respect.
  
  Too much of the Abrams reboot assumed the nuances of the original cast without earning them first. The worst of this was Khan in Into Darkness. Wrath of Khan had a great villain because it was one that had a history with Kirk and the audience. There was justification for the anger that Ricardo Montalbán's antagonist felt for Kirk. Cumberbatch's Khan was just a generic villain with a name we had heard before. Simon Pegg has somehow found a way to fix that mistake.
• Speaking of fixing things, Simon Pegg is a miracle worker at post-hoc justifications for the most grating and pointless parts of the Abrams universe. Spock-Uhura relationship bullshit? Beastie Boys music? Kirk's young age? Pegg managed to make it seem like their presence in the previous films was a long-planned setup for this one. He turned them into Chekov's Guns that all paid off in natural ways in this film. It really is clear that the same person who structured the Cornetto Trilogy movies had a heavy hand in crafting this one.
• Also, it's funny in a way that manages to surpass The Voyage Home, which I didn't think possible.​

• A central location in the film is Starbase Yorktown. It has a wonderfully different design from the big gray, curvy obelisks we've seen previously. It's design is both beautiful and integral to the climax of the film. Star Trek technology has become so pedestrian that we've forgotten there was a time when handheld communicators and tablet computing devices were science fiction that inspired wonder at what we might do in the future. The design of the starbase was cool and new in a way Trek technology hasn't felt in decades.
• It also made clear that the Abrams universe doesn't erase the Trek that we loved growing up. There's a moment when new Spock looks at Nimoy Spock's old picture of the original cast (what looks like an in-costume publicity photo for Star Trek VI, the last film of the original crew). It was nice that the photo was of that cast as they are. They didn't photoshop it to look like old versions of the new cast (like when George Lucas retconned the end of Return of the Jedi). It was an acknowledgement that even with Nimoy's passing, this new crew isn't disconnected from the old. This is certainly something only a fan like Pegg would write.

• The reveal of Sulu's husband and daughter was well done. It wasn't a big deal. It wasn't commented on, because why would it be in the 23rd Century? Perhaps a kiss would have been appropriate when they first met, but I'm not going to make the perfect the enemy of the good.
  
  It also wasn't pointlessly shoved in, though I'm sure some internet asshats out there would find fault with it. It helped make the threat at the end of the film personal instead of yet another mass of tens of thousands of unknown extras in peril. Again, everything in the film is there for a reason. Pegg knows what he's doing.

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Finally, it's hard not to be struck by the politics of Star Trek. The villain's goal is to disrupt the Federation because he does not feel humans should be working together with aliens. Uhura claims that we gain strength by uniting with others. The villain (a human who has been disfigured over the years by surviving through killing non-humans) retorts "Unity is not your strength, it’s your weakness."

At first I thought it was a funny coincidence how a Star Trek movie coming out right after the political conventions in the United States had a message that so well aligned with the arguments between the nominees. But then, of course it would, and should. Star Trek was birthed in the idea of people coming together to build something greater than themselves. It was no accident that the original crew had a Russian man, a Japanese man, and an African-American woman. World War II was still firmly in the everyday consciousness, the Soviets were putting missiles in Cuba, and the civil rights movement was in full swing.

Star Trek established a future where we didn't survive through conquering our rivals. It wasn't about winner and losers (ahem), but about partners. This film returns to that ethos. The villain is revealed to be a human who has come to believe that the only way to be strong is by attacking others. He is defeated not just by a lone action hero punching him in the face. The crew works together, coordinates their actions, and sacrifices themselves for each other.

Star Trek: Beyond is about people who pick each other up instead of stepping on the weak. Who lend a hand to outsiders even after they've been betrayed in the past. Who don't see others as nothing but marks to be exploited for personal gain. Who see success not in terms of what happens to oneself, but how everyone comes out together.

Kirk begins the movie wondering why he's out there in space when there's nothing in it for him and wanting a way out. He ends it turning down a personal promotion; committed to being part of a team whose mission is to serve others.

What's surprising isn't the politics of this Star Trek movie. What's surprising is that even after 50 years our country is still having the same fight. With just a new coat of paint on the villain's face.