Star Trek: Beyond is the 13^th film to spin out of Gene Roddenberry’s original series, which began-hard to believe-over 50 years ago.  The film is a change of tone with a new writer in Simon Pegg (who also plays Scotty) and a new director in Fast & the Furious’ Justin Lin taking over for JJ Abrams.  The last installment, 2013’s Star Trek: Into Darkness, was deeply divisive, but Beyond came out in the back half of a deeply disappointing summer to fairly good reviews and did well enough that a fourth installment with Chris Pine & Zachary Quinto’s new crew is already scheduled.  Despite all that, this was the first Star Trek film I didn’t see in the theaters on opening weekend since Star Trek VI.  I didn’t see it in the theaters at all.  I never felt excited by anything I’d seen.  The first trailer, featuring the Beastie Boys “Sabotage” blaring over what looked nothing like Trek really put me off (though if I knew the song was going to be a major plot point I probably would still be putting off seeing the film).  Mild spoilers below. Continue reading Movie Review: Star Trek Beyond (2016) *Just Beyond Mediocre* →