This sequel was launched on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of “Star Trek”. “Star Trek Beyond” did not disappoint. The film’s characters are bright, the plot is complete, the action is intense, and the special effects are exquisite.
Of course, these are all due to the newly appointed director Justin Lin.
Although I am not Trekkies (the nickname for fans of the “Star Trek” series), I have been onlookers since the series restarted in 2009, for 7 years.
Related Post: Paramount Officially Announces: The Original Crew Will Shoot “Star Trek 4”.
Because JJ Abrams took over George Lucas’s “Star Wars 7”, he could only retreat to the production of “Star Trek 3”.
So the film crew hired Justin Lin, a Chinese director who became popular for the “Fast and Furious” series.
But because Justin Lin was busy filming “Star Trek 3”, “Fast and Furious 7” could only find James Wan, who started as a small-cost horror film, to be the director.
Is this a bit like a tongue twister?
In fact, what I want to say is that because of Justin Lin’s joining, “Star Trek Beyond” has a more sense of speed. Both lines and fighting scenes are like pressing the fast forward button.
The spacecraft in the film also showed the effect of drag racing, various scenes of chasing the spacecraft and close hand-to-hand combat.
“Star Trek Beyond” brings J·J’s original brain-burning geek style closer to Justin Lin’s commercial action blockbuster style.
In addition, the success of “Star Trek Beyond” is also due to Simon Pegg.
In addition to continuing to play Scotty, the engineer of Enterprise, he is also one of the screenwriters of “Star Trek Beyond”.
There is no need to question his screenwriting ability, his previous “Cornetto Trilogy” were written by himself.
We can see his veteran screenwriting technique through a small detail.
Before “Star Trek Beyond” was released in North America, there was a lot of trouble due to Sulu’s orientation problem.
In order to pay tribute to the actor George Takei of the TV series version of Sulu, Simon Pegg wrote Sulu as homosexual, which was met with serious protest from George Takei.
This also caused another screenwriter Doug Jung and actor John Cho to cut the kissing scene.
But from the finished film, we can see the skill of the director and screenwriter.
The Enterprise members returned to Yorktown after completing their missions, and they stepped off the spaceship one after another.
In the distant scene, a little girl ran towards Sulu, Sulu picked her up and turned around to hold Doug Jung, and the three people walked out of the picture happily.
Just a few seconds of depth-of-field shot, Sulu’s family information was clearly explained.
From several other aspects, we can also see that Simon Pegg and Doug Jung must have repeatedly scrutinized and polished the script to be so mature and complete.
Character curve
The characters must grow and change in the film, and the characters must make a qualitative leap at the beginning and end of the film.
If there is no change in the protagonist of a movie, the whole movie loses its meaning.
And this change must be natural and smooth.
Captain James T. Kirk lost confidence in the interstellar journey at the beginning, and fell into confusion, as did the First Mate Spock, who hesitated about the future of love and family.
But after the hardening of this new journey, both of them have found the future direction and strengthened their belief in continuing to travel together.
This is the big character curve.
Small character curves, such as the new character alien Jaylah, because of the torture of her father and companions, she chose to escape and did not dare to return to the lair of the villain Boss Krall to save others.
But under the persuasion and encouragement of Captain James T. Kirk and others, she finally decided to help them.
During the rescue process, she competed with the killing of her father and the enemy. At first, she was at a disadvantage, but slowly overcame her inner obstacles to complete the rescue mission.
She not only defeated the murder of her father and enemy, but also defeated the fear in her heart. This is the growth of the soul.
Character motivation
The motives of the characters push the characters to make choices and advance the development of the story.
As mentioned earlier, whether Jaylah is unwilling to help rescue at the beginning or agrees later, there is a motivation behind it and his own reasons.
No decision is unprovoked.
Another example is why the villain Krall wants to destroy the Interstellar Federation, and his inner motivation (not spoiled here).
There is no evil for no reason in the world, and the villains are all flesh-and-blood people, not born demon.
The reason why they do bad things is because they have their own set of theories and are convinced that what they do is right.
That’s why those big villains with crazy ideas and fetishes will leave a deep impression on the audience.
Character level
The characters should be three-dimensional rather than flat.
For example, in a movie I recently watched, the heroine is a rich second-generation woman who has money for no reason. She wants to do what she wants, and her parents are busy with work, so she uses money to make up for it.
Are such characters very masked and patterned, do they exist in many works?
In fact, you don’t need to introduce anything by the characters themselves, you can create three-dimensional characters through their actions and words.
For example, Captain James T. Kirk is a typical heroic activist. When encountering difficulties, he takes the lead and puts his life and death aside.
But he is not a reckless man with well-developed limbs and simple mind.
He can figure out the enemy’s situation through a few methods and strategies, and eliminate the spies, which is really courageous and strategic.
And Spock’s complicated rhetoric and slightly verbose language shows his old-fashion style and rational and calm style from the side.
The main humor in the film is Doctor’Bones’ McCoy. He is always unforgiving and caressing. But he will always come forward at the critical moment.
In this way, the level of the characters is enriched, and it will be more three-dimensional and full.
Narrative clues
Movies always need something to run through the film so that the narrative is not too loose.
For example, the ancient weapons that everyone is robbing in this film.
In fact, it is an energy source, whether it is a McGeffen or a movie hook, it doesn’t matter.
The key is that it is an important clue that runs through from the first shot and promotes the plot development of the entire film.
Fantasy
We always want to see some spectacles in the film, a world view that subverts everyone’s cognition, or an unprecedented new field.
We want to see the shocking waves stirred up by the beautiful tail of a mermaid, and how a man gives birth to a little monster.
Simon Pegg has never lacked imagination and is also happy to satisfy the audience’s curiosity.
So we saw in “Star Trek Beyond” new aircraft that change formations like bees, as well as Jaylah’s holographic images like Monkey King’s avatar, and Yorktown’s high-rise buildings built from all directions out of gravity.
Save the cat
With the above is not enough, we need something to make the protagonist cool.
So we saw the blood-stirring team spirit in “Star Trek Beyond”.
This is the core connotation of the Enterprise team attracting so many loyal fans.
The most impressive plot happened to Uhura, the communications officer.
In order to protect Captain James T. Kirk, she put herself and the villain Krall in the rescue capsule and escaped from Enterprise.
Krall asked her if it was worth it, and she said if Captain James T. Kirk would also save her.
This kind of trust, established through long-term cooperation, without the slightest guess and hesitation, makes all members so cool.
Although so much has been said, “Star Trek Beyond” is far from perfect.
“Star Trek Beyond” did not dig further in depth, and would not give the audience a deep perception and emotional resonance.
So “Star Trek Beyond” is still a popcorn movie like “Fast and Furious 7” and “Jurassic World”.
After watching “Star Trek Beyond” I will say it looks good.
But if you ask me again after a month or a year, I may not remember the plot clearly.
But this is nothing to be picky. After all, commercial films are the products of the industrialization of modern society and the rigid needs of mass entertainment life.
“Star Trek Beyond” is not a graduation work that the director spent tens of thousands of dollars to shoot, so the entertainment of the film is the first.
Moreover, the vast majority of films released every year are forgotten about scripts of this level, not to mention the unbelievable level of special effects.
