Star Trek Beyond sends the USS Enterprise into an uncharted nebula and tears the ship apart. The third film in the reboot series, directed by Justin Lin and written by Simon Pegg and Doug Jung, is a 122-minute action adventure that strands its crew on the planet Altamid and asks what the Federation is actually for. It is the 13th Star Trek film, the sequel to Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), and it carries a weight the earlier two did not: it is dedicated to Anton Yelchin and Leonard Nimoy, both of whom died before release.
The film grossed $343.5 million and earned a Best Makeup and Hairstyling nomination at the 89th Academy Awards. A sequel entered development and was canceled. Our score is 6.8 of 10.
Trailer, via Paramount Pictures.
Yorktown, the Five-Year Mission, and a Promotion Kirk Wants
The Enterprise arrives at Starbase Yorktown for resupply and shore leave. Three years into a five-year exploration, the crew is struggling to find meaning. Kirk has applied for a promotion to vice admiral and recommended Spock as his replacement. Sulu reunites with his husband and daughter. Scotty keeps the ship running. Spock and Uhura have decided to take a break.
Then Spock gets word from New Vulcan: Ambassador Spock, his alternate-universe counterpart, has died. The film does not linger, but it does not need to. That single beat reframes Spock’s restlessness. He tells McCoy he ended things with Uhura and is leaving Starfleet.
The rescue mission that follows is a trap. An escape pod drifts out of a nearby uncharted nebula. Its occupant, Kalara, says her ship is stranded on Altamid. The Enterprise goes in. A massive swarm of small unknown ships ambushes the ship and tears it apart.
Krall Boards the Enterprise for the Abronath
The swarm’s leader, Krall, and his followers board the Enterprise. They capture and kill many crew members. They are after the Abronath, a relic recovered on a recent mission. Kirk orders the crew to abandon ship. The disintegrating saucer section crashes on Altamid.
On the planet, Krall captures Sulu, Uhura and other survivors. Kirk and Chekov, with Kalara, find the saucer. Kirk knows Kalara knew about the attack. He tricks her into revealing she is Krall’s spy. She is killed when Kirk and Chekov escape Krall’s soldiers and flip the saucer, crushing her.
McCoy and a wounded Spock search elsewhere. Spock tells McCoy he ended his relationship with Uhura and is leaving Starfleet. The film keeps cutting between these threads, and the cutting is where it loses its footing.
Idris Elba’s Krall and Sofia Boutella’s Jaylah
Idris Elba plays Captain Balthazar M. Edison, better known as Krall, a former commander of the USS Franklin who became a powerful mutated alien creature. Sofia Boutella plays Jaylah, an alien scavenger. Joe Taslim is Manas, Krall’s henchman and a former first officer, also transformed. Lydia Wilson is Kalara, Krall’s henchwoman and a former science officer, also transformed. Sara Maria Forsberg voices Kalara in the translation scenes.
The casting is the film’s best argument for itself. Elba is buried under makeup for most of the runtime, which is a waste of a performer who can hold a frame. Boutella gets more to do and takes it. Jaylah is the only new character who feels like she has a life outside the plot.
The returning cast does what it has done twice now. Chris Pine plays Kirk, Zachary Quinto plays Spock, Karl Urban plays McCoy, Zoe Saldaña plays Uhura, Pegg plays Scotty, John Cho plays Sulu, and Anton Yelchin plays Ensign Pavel Chekov. This was Yelchin’s final performance as Chekov. He died in a car accident on June 19, 2016, after filming his scenes.
A Cast List That Doubles as a Memorial
| Performer | Character | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Anton Yelchin | Ensign Pavel Chekov | Final performance; died June 19, 2016 |
| Leonard Nimoy | Spock Prime | Photo cameo; died before release |
| Chris Pine | Captain James T. Kirk | Reprising role |
| Zachary Quinto | Commander Spock | Reprising role |
| Idris Elba | Krall / Captain Balthazar M. Edison | New antagonist |
| Sofia Boutella | Jaylah | New lead |
| Shohreh Aghdashloo | Commodore Paris | Cast for reshoots |
Nimoy appears in a photo cameo as Spock Prime, alongside George Takei, Walter Koenig, William Shatner, James Doohan, DeForest Kelley and Nichelle Nichols as the Prime versions of Sulu, Chekov, Kirk, Scott, McCoy and Uhura. Jeff Bezos cameos as an alien Starfleet official. Carlo Ancelotti has a brief cameo as a doctor at Starbase Yorktown.
What the Production Went Through
Principal photography began in Vancouver on June 25, 2015. Two weeks after its Sydney premiere, Paramount Pictures released it in the United States on July 22, 2016.
The casting history explains some of the film’s shape. The first film’s major cast members signed on for two sequels as part of their original deals. In 2014, William Shatner said producer Abrams contacted him about a possible role, but as the script changed hands, the role never materialized. Alice Eve was not included despite her character joining the crew at the end of the last installment. Pegg, writing the script, did not have anything meaningful for her to do, though he stressed Eve could appear later. Joseph Gatt’s cyborg Science Officer 0718 was dropped after a rewrite.
In March 2015, Elba was in early talks to play the villain and was confirmed in the following months. Pegg noted the villain would be an original one rather than a known antagonist from past Star Trek stories. In April, Boutella joined in a lead role. In early July, Deep Roy was confirmed to reprise Keenser. That month, Taslim was added opposite Elba’s villain. By August, Wilson joined. In March 2016, Aghdashloo was cast as Commodore Paris for reshoots.
Where the Film Sits Against Its Two Predecessors
| Element | Star Trek (2009) | Into Darkness (2013) | Beyond (2016) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Director | Not given | Not given | Justin Lin |
| Writers | Not given | Not given | Simon Pegg, Doug Jung |
| Villain | Not given | Not given | Krall (original, per Pegg) |
| Runtime | Not given | Not given | 122 minutes |
| Box office | Not given | Not given | $343.5 million |
The comparison the source actually supports is the villain. Pegg said the antagonist would be original rather than drawn from past Star Trek stories, and Krall is that. It is a real choice, and it is also the choice that costs the film. A new villain has to be built from scratch inside 122 minutes, and Krall’s backstory — the Franklin, the mutation, the transformation of his crew — arrives late and lands soft.
What the Reboot Series Learned on Altamid
Lin stages the swarm attack well. The destruction of the Enterprise has real weight because the film lets the ship be a place people live before it takes it away. But the film keeps splitting its crew, and splitting a crew only works if every thread is worth following. Spock and McCoy bicker and it plays. Kirk and Chekov flip a saucer and it plays. Krall’s plan does not, because the film never gives Elba a scene to make it play.
The Abronath is a relic the film treats as a prize, and the film knows it. The real subject is the five-year mission and whether it still means anything. Kirk applied for vice admiral. Spock planned to leave Starfleet. The film answers both with the same move: the crew, together, on a planet, figuring it out. That is the right answer and the film earns it.
What does not hold is the middle. The stretch between the crash and the rescue is a series of captures and escapes that reset the board without raising the stakes. Jaylah’s house, built from salvaged parts, is the best set in the film and the film does not use it enough.
The dedication is not a footnote. Yelchin filmed his scenes and died before release. Nimoy died before release. The film is dedicated to both. That is not a reason to rate it higher. It is a reason the film’s own theme — what a crew owes the people in it — reads differently than it would have in 2016.
A sequel entered development and was ultimately canceled. Given what this one cost and what it returned, that is not a surprise. It is also a loss. The reboot series finally found its footing on the ground, with the crew split up and forced to work, and then it stopped.
Star Trek Beyond: 6.8 of 10.
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