Let me just start by saying that while it is not critical that you have seen either of the first two movies before watching this film the relationships of the characters and their motivations will be much clearer with the knowledge of those two films so I would suggest that you watch them first (they are well worth a watch anyway) before seeing this movie.

The USS Enterprise is three years into it’s five year mission to explore the unknown frontiers of space and Kirk (Chris Pine) is beginning to have self doubts as he is approaching the same age that his father died at so he questions his ability to perform his duties as the ships captain to the levels they require at the same time Spock (Zachary Quinto) has received some news which is making him question his choices to leave his planet and people behind to take the role within StarFleet and this has caused friction within his relationship with Uhura (Zoe Saldana).

When the Enterprise docks at the newly build StarBase of Yorktown, a massive population hub for the United Federation Of Planets, all the crew are looking forward to a bit of well earner R&R however an escape pod arrives with it’s sole occupant Kalara (Lydia Wilson) requesting help after her ship was attacked in an uncharted nebula where her crew members have been imprisoned, the only ship equipped with the technology to investigate is the Enterprise so our heroes are sent to investigate and rescue the crew. Once they arrive they find out that they are not as equipped as they may have thought and after an attack on the Enterprise by an alien known as Krall (Idris Elba) and his troops who are looking to retrieve an artifact which is stored in the discovery archives of the ship, the crew is either captured or stranded on an alien planet so Kirk and they few remaining free crew members must save their friends and thwart the plans of Krall and his followers.

I will start by saying this movie is visually spectacular, I thought the CGI and effects were superb and the heavy action scenes had me completely engrossed. The ships and their battles are, arguably, the best I’ve seen on a screen as yet but given the involvement of J.J.Abhrams and with Justin Lin in the directors chair I would have been disappointed with anything less however where this movie surprises is how it opens up further the inter crew relationships, camaraderie and almost family like bond. Simon Pegg (who also gives his usual, excellent comic relief performance as Scotty) and Doug Jung have put together a script full of emotion without being melodramatic, which gives more cast members a chance to shine in the spotlight than in the previous movies, which is funny at the right moments and introduces a brand new character who more than holds her own on screen in Jaylah (Sofia Boutella) who was previously captured by Krall but managed to escape, has been hiding undetected on the planet and reluctantly agrees to assist in taking him down. We see just how the Kirk-Spock development is constantly growing as they have both now come to realise that their weaknesses are covered by the strengths of the other. Karl Urban once again is superb as McCoy, I thought in the first two movies that he, more than anyone encapsulated the mannerisms of the original character and in this movie he nails it again, for me stealing the show and Elba is, as always, super as the villain who has more to him that is initially believed.

I will mention that the fuss over the sexual orientation of Hikaru Sulu (John Cho) which has been in the news in recent weeks is all a bit much, it doesn’t play any part in how the movie plot progresses and only adds diversity and a sense of realism to the character, so I really have to question if it matters? Okay, the original character wasn’t gay and wasn’t written that way but times have changed drastically since then and are we really still so archaic in our thinking that this is still a big deal as I’m sure you could take any of the characters and find something in their actions which they weren’t originally written to do?

I had reservations when I seen Kirk on a motorbike in the trailers and while it still seemed out of place it did work in the context of the plot and any movie which uses ‘Satotage’ by the Beastie Boys as a key part of the story (you’ll see what I mean) gets bonus points even if it is a bit silly, but overall this movie had the feel of a real summer blockbuster and despite the final third lagging a bit I walked out very entertained so break out the popcorn, sit back and enjoy. Is it the best in the series? For me, no. While in was best in some aspects, Into Darkness was a better overall movie but its close.

On a last note I will say a final goodbye to Anton Yelchin who had a lot of screen time in this movie as Pavel Chekov and it looked like they were building him into becoming a bigger character in the franchise, he was taken far too soon and was a sad loss to both the Star Trek universe and the movie world in general.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6 Out Of 10