Star Trek Beyond, the thirteenth film in the Star Trek film franchise, the third installment in the reboot series, and my first ever Star Trek movie, is currently showing in cinema’s throughout Kenya. The movie was directed Justin Lin of Fast And The Furious 3 through 6, and written by Simon Pegg and Doug Jung.  Being a typical Kenyan, I arrived at the cinema thirty minutes late, and found the movie twenty minutes in, with the Enterprise crew spiraling down towards their probable demise and crashing into a distant planet, causing some to get separated and displaced, while others are captured by an evil, life-draining despot named Krall, who attempts to kill the entire crew.

Further research on my part to piece in what I missed revealed Star Trek to be a continuation of the previous movie, Star Trek into Darkness, which ended with the Enterprise and its crew heading out on a much anticipated five year exploration mission.  Beyond, begins with the crew three years into their journey, with their captain Kirk, bored and displeased with the lack of action and excitement accompanying their mission. This tranquil, uneventful setting all ends however when a distressed alien shows up out of nowhere, asking for help, which eventually results in the Enterprise crew spiraling down…well you’ve already heard that part of the story.

Among other things, a member of the crew comes across an angry refugee named Jaylah, who ultimately decides to help. From there, the film becomes one action scene after another, with enough threat and danger to keep adrenaline-junkie Kirk keen to stay in the captain’s chair, and you, the viewer glued to the screen. Krall wants to target and punish the United Federation of Planets for its perceived sins, and for his own particular reasons, of which you would have to watch the movie to find out. The movie revolves around a military-minded outer space concept; Krall shows his distaste for unity, practicing the complete opposite till the very end, disagreeing and overlooking the crew’s dedication and loyalty towards one another. The movie reveals characters shoehorned into a standard mix of martial arts slug fests, close-quarters firefights, and scenes of starships and cities being shredded and burned, and is a definite go to for sci fi/action movie lovers.

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