Following the disastrous Star Trek Into Darkness, if Star Trek Beyond is even halfway decent, I’ll consider it a success of sorts. I desperately want to see a good Star Trek movie with a plot that holds together (2009’s Star Trek is a lot of fun, but the script is held together with airplane glue and wishes), and hopefully I’ll get that with Star Trek Beyond. Details on the plot are still scare, but actor and co-writer Simon Pegg did provide a few new tidbits to Empire.
The story finds the Enterprise crew two years into their five-year mission, and they’re starting to become a bit weary from the journey. “They’ve come to rest at a Federation outpost, a sort of diplomatic hub,” says Pegg, who co-wrote the script with Doug Jung.
However, Idris Elba’s villainous Krall unleashes his violence towards the USS-Enterprise and its crew. This leaves the group scrambling and wondering, “What’s the point of it all?” which is the big question that will drive the movie. “We’re gathering a great community within the galaxy, but to what end? What does it all mean?”
That’s a good question, but handling it could go either way. Handled thoughtfully, it could be an interesting exploration of the very essence of exploration and an argument against isolationism. At its worst, it could be a facile reasoning of why it’s good to be good a la The Amazing Spider-Man.
For his part, director Justin Lin says that because this movie marks the 50th anniversary of Star Trek, they’ll be breaking down the beloved property. “This is the 50th anniversary,” he says. “I felt like it was important to really deconstruct the idea of Star Trek, the idea of the Federation and why it’s special. We’ll really be poking at a lot of different things.”
It sounds exciting and I really hope that they can pull it off. Star Trek Beyond opens July 22nd and also stars Chris Pine, Zoe Saldana, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, and Sofia Boutella.
