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 <=-   
      
   That's all for now!   
      
   Al Kaiser - Meriden, CT, 18-Jul-2016 at 15:32. Fido : 1:142/926 -   
   Internet : n1api@cox.net   
      
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