Written by Logan J. Fowler and Justin Matchick
Release Date: July 22nd, 2016
Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, John Cho, Idris Elba
Director: Justin Lin (Fast and Furious 6, Fast Five, Fast and Furious, The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift)
Pre-Trailer Thoughts: I never got into the Star Trek TV show or the movies, and I never thought I would watch anything Star Trek related, ever. However, when the reboot came about in 2009, that thought process changed. I loved the first flick and I caught the sequel, Into Darkness, on home video (note: I blind bought it). I enjoyed the follow up as well and figured it would only be a matter of time before a third film arrived in the series. However, without Abrams behind it (he’s serving as producer), will the three-quel have the same touch? -LJF
Pre-Trailer Thoughts: I had not seen the original Star Trek series when the first two reboot films came out, but now that I have I am really excited to revisit these classic characters again. Into Darkness was a overstuffed mess of a movie though, but with new director Justin Lin saying he intends on mostly ignoring the events of that film I have renewed confidence that he can put together something worthy of the Star Trek name. – JTM
Rate the Trailer: 3 out of 5. I don’t hate this trailer. In fact, I think people are being a little too hard on it. Yes, it is using the same song from the beginning of the first movie but I’m sorry; if Sabotage by the Beastie Boys doesn’t get you to see a film than I feel sorry for you. In any case, there’s a lot of heavy music and more Simon Pegg (no problem with that, he also co-wrote the film), but it seems to be the same kind of themes/atmosphere that the first two movies put forth. Director Justin Lin may be new to the franchise, but I’m sure Abrams gave him a ton of notes. It seems to be working for the time being. -LJF
Rate the Trailer: 4 out of 5. I know a lot of people gave this trailer flak when it first came out for it’s use of Sabotage by the Beastie Boys, but I found it to be a nice fit for the action in the trailer as well as a cool callback to young Kirk’s music of choice in the first movie. Despite giving away barely any details about the plot, the trailer does a good job of showcasing director Lin’s skills as an action director and how he’s brought some levity back to the series after the incredibly dour Into Darkness. Criticisms that the trailer focuses too much on the action and not the philosophy of Trek are unfounded. They seem to forget that it’s the first teaser trailer and is designed to show mostly just action scenes to entice the general audience and also that, aside from The Motion Picture , all Star Trek movies have been in one way or another action films. This is arguably the first Trek film to have a director with such a fast-paced, action heavy background and I am excited to see how Lin can handle the heavier themes of the series. – JTM
Theater, Rent, No Thanks, Undecided? Theater. It seems to be a pretty empty summer regarding movies for me beside obvious choices like the superhero flicks and Finding Dory. I was upset I missed Into Darkness in theaters but I won’t repeat that mistake for this film. It looks like a good time and I will give it a chance. -LJF
Theater, Rent, Undecided, No Thanks? Theater. Within the past year I’ve gradually become a full fledged Star Trek fanboy so this has gone from “maybe catch it later on Netflix” to “must see opening weekend” for me. Throw in the fact this has Idris Elba as the main villain and is being co-written by Simon Pegg and I’m excited enough to try and find a midnight showing on the day it opens. – JTM
Star Trek Beyond flies into theaters July 22nd, 2016
===========================================================================================================
