Star Trek Beyond

Captain's Log, Stardate I don't know and I don't care anymore. We now have a new Star Trek movie, Star Trek Beyond, which now makes thirteen in this 50 year old franchise. It's a good present for the anniversary.

Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) is halfway through his famous Five-Year Mission to explore the universe. The Enterprise sets port on the elaborate space station Yorktown. There, Kirk hopes to find some purpose in his life now that he's outlived his father, who died in Star Trek's opening scene. Meanwhile, Mr. Spock (Zachary Qunito) mourns himself from the future (Leonard Nimoy). That's when Kalara (Lydia Wilson) shows up.

Kalara's crew is stranded on planet Altamid, so the Enterprise sets out to help. They're greeted by the evil Krall (Idris Elba), who wrecks the Enterprise and takes a good chunk of the crew prisoner. The main crew is scattered across the planet they now want off. Mr. Scott (newly promoted co-writer Simon Pegg) meets Jaylah (Sofia Boutella), who has a way off the planet, the wrecked USS Franklin. They'll have to get going to stop Krall from using a MacGuffin weapon to wreck Yorktown.

As JJ Abrams left this Sci-Fi galaxy for another, Justin Lin sits in the director's chair. This couldn't be more different from the The Fast and the Furious franchise, but the results are still good. Pegg and co-writer Doug Jung give the Enterprise crew some time in the limelight and a formidable villain to face. Krall turns out to have more depth than he appears; you'll easily understand his motivations and goals. There were some issues with the story (Why does Krall need the MacGuffin when he has nigh-invincible ships?), but they were minor. The rapport between the crew made it worthwhile.

The visual aesthetic makes it another fun trip across the universe. The visual highlight is Yorktown, which is what a space-station by Escher would look like. That's the best I can describe it. It looks like a nice place to live. Meanwhile, Jaylah's hologram generator had several great uses, including camouflage and an army of Kirks. The starships, from the Enterprise to Krall's swarm, were great designs. And space hasn't looked this colorful since the poster to Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

There's a wide variety of exotic Aliens created by Makeup man Joel Harlow. Krall's makeup takes him across three different appearances, each progressively less Alien. One of the best designs was a redshirt (in blue) with crab-legs on the back of her head. The shriveled corpses of Krall's victims were also convincing. This is the kind of work that makes me wish Oscar's makeup category would expand to five nominees.

Star Trek Beyond is another great adventure with the classic crew. It's got a nice balance of action, humor, pathos and logic in one space-adventure. I definitely want to see this crew again, but it'll be weird without Anton Yelchin (Chekov), who died in a freak accident last month. Hopefully, they'll make a smooth transition in the next installment. What'll that be like?