Science fiction is a marvelous vehicle for exploring political and social concerns, and Star Trek has a tradition of promoting pluralism and tolerance through its stories.
But it’s a blockbuster for nerds who think it’s fun to hear characters straightfacedly hollering coordinates and sectors and (I presume invented) technological orders. You can guess where it goes from there: this is, after all, still a summer blockbuster, and the usual things have to happen involving a number of innocent lives being in danger and Our Hero swooping in to fight the villain and save the day. Sofia Boutella and Simon Pegg in 'Star Trek Beyond' The Federation, they claim-even despite its faults-is a good thing, and it promotes peace, and it is worth preserving. Uhura (Zoe Saldana) tells Krall at one point. Eventually we find out his backstory, though, and it underlines the movie's main idea: that there is “strength in unity,” as Lt. Krall is a headscratcher of a villain for a good deal of the movie, apparently just inexplicably bad to the bone. That's because Krall (Idris Elba) is after them. The crew is separated and must find each other on the planet, while dodging various dangers and meeting Jaylah (Sofia Boutella), who's been living on the planet for a while and is the key to helping them get out alive.
The crew is called in to rescue a stranded ship, but soon realize it's an ambush. Spock (Zachary Quinto) is feeling a similar impulse. He's applied for a job as a vice admiral, which would ground him a bit more. In this installment, Kirk (Chris Pine) is getting a little tired of life out among the stars (in a wink at the audience, he narrates in a log that life feels like it's getting kind of episodic). In a summer top-heavy with ponderous apocalyptic superhero movies and depressing underachievers, Star Trek Beyond is a breath of fresh air-not a clever or innovative movie, but one with at least an idea in its head and the dose of optimism we all need right about now. Zachary Quinto and Karl Urban in 'Star Trek Beyond'īut that might be okay.