Review:   
      
   A touch of humor invades 'Star Trek Beyond'   
   by JAKE COYLE, The Associated Press   
      
      
   In the previous "Star Trek" installment, Spock cried. In the latest, "Star Trek   
   Beyond," he laughs. And not just a little snicker, either, but a belly-full   
   one.  What bold explorations into the farthest reaches of the galaxy hold for   
   Spock no one knows. A sigh? A hiccup?   
      
   "Star Trek Beyond," like most of the rebooted properties flying around our   
   movie theaters, delights in nostalgically resurrecting iconic characters and   
   tweaking them anew. The balance is a delicate one, as seen in the pre-release   
   debate around this film revealing Sulu (John Cho but formerly played by LGBT   
   icon George Takei) as gay.   
      
   The scene in question turns out to be a mere moment, lightly handled, showing   
   Sulu greeting his same-sex partner and their daughter after a long mission.   
   It's all expressed with just a few arms tenderly draped across shoulders.  And   
   it's the kind of welcome touch that director Justin Lin, the "Fast & Furious"   
   veteran who takes over for J.J. Abrams, has brought to this pleasingly episode   
   -like installment.   
      
   The opening scene, fittingly, plays with a smaller scale. Captain Kirk (Chris   
   Pine),on a diplomatic mission, appeals to a snarling beast looming above him   
   in a crowded amphitheater. Enraged at Kirk's offer, the alien beast hurtles   
   down upon him, only to turn out to be no more monstrous than a feisty bulldog.   
      
   The film finds a bored Enterprise finishing up a five-year tour in deep space.   
   The (albeit brief) change of pace is immediately appreciated. The last two   
   beefed-up "Star Trek" movies, as if overcompensating for decades of Trekkie   
   nerd-dome, threatened to make the once brainy "Star Trek" less distinct from   
   other mega-sized sci-fi adventures — just another clothesline of CGI set pieces   
   strung together.   
      
   Like its recent predecessors, "Star Trek Beyond" is mostly an assortment of   
   effects-heavy scenes with bits of talking in between. But unlike the previous   
   film, 2013's bloated "Star Trek Into Darkness," not everything is quite so much   
   of a life-and-death issue (the exhausting de facto pitch of today's summer   
   blockbuster).   
      
   The Starship Enterprise, led by Captain Kirk (Chris Pine, looking more natural   
   in the role), is lured through a nebula where a would-be rescue mission turns   
   into a trap set by the villain Krall, whose spectacular army of mechanical   
   drones ("bees" he calls them) attack in an overwhelming swarm.  In a galactic   
   blitz, the Enterprise is torn to shreds and crashes down on a rocky planet   
   where the ship's scattered crew tries to gather, survive and understand Krall's   
   motives. A local becomes an essential guide for them: Jaylah (a nimble Sofia   
   Boutella), a pale loner with black streaks running down her face who helps the   
   crew discover the Federation's history on the planet.   
      
   The backstory, though, never quite gets filled out, and the plot serves as   
   little more than a mechanism to test the efficient camaraderie of the   
   Enterprise crew.  Among them: Zoe Saldana's Uhura, Simon Pegg's Scotty, Karl   
   Urban's Bones and Chekov, played by the late Anton Yelchin, a fine actor who's   
   disappointing underused here.  They're an entertaining enough bunch meandering   
   around, and screenwriters Doug Jung and Pegg (who, as the writer of "Spaced,"   
   knows plenty about the intersection of comedy and science fiction) have   
   injected some humor to the proceedings.   
      
   The heart of the film, though, like the previous two, is the bromance between   
   Kirk and Zachary Quinto's Spock. They're Felix and Oscar in outer space, and   
   still the highlight of this batch of "Star Trek" films.   
      
   It's only late in the film that the alien mask is pulled away revealing the   
   actor underneath Krall: Idris Elba. For those who didn't place his baritone   
   earlier, the reveal comes as a disappointment. It should be a crime in deep   
   space, as it is on Earth, to shroud such a tremendous force behind mountains of   
   extraterrestrial makeup.  But I suppose had Elba been an unadorned baddie all   
   along, the Enterprise might really have finally met its match.   
      
   "Star Trek Beyond," a Paramount Pictures release, is rated PG-13 by the Motion   
   Picture Association of America for "sequences of sci-fi action and violence."   
   Running time: 122 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.   
      
      
      
    -=>  Al Kaiser  n1api@cox.net  <=-   
      
   Stay Healthy 'n Wealthy!   
      
   Al Kaiser - Meriden, CT, 18-Jul-2016 at 15:53.   
   Fido : 1:142/926 - Internet : n1api@cox.net   
      
   .!. It's Pon Far Night at the Vulcan nightclub.   
   --- Terminate 5.00/Pro    
    * Origin: Terminate has most advertising origin lines ;-) (1:142/926)