The crew of the Starship Enterprise is back in the latest installment of the rebooted movie series, called 'Star Trek Beyond'.

This time out, Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock and the rest of the familiar crew get stranded on a planet by a villain named Krall, who's bent on destroying not only them but pretty much everything else in his path.

Our heroes have to find a way to stop this madman by any means possible and somehow get themselves back into outer space.

This is the third installment of the rebooted series that features Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto. And the entire cast nicely plays homage to their predecessors as well as to the history of the series, with familiar banter that's sometimes humorous, and occasionally heartfelt.

But unlike the first film two rebooted movies, which were directed by J.J. Abrams, this latest chapter was directed by Justin Lin, known for the Fast And Furious films. Consequently, what you wind up with is predominantly a big budget, explosive action movie that does look great, but that's really all there is.

The prime directive of the original series, and most notably The Next Generation, are storylines that challenged you intellectually. Sure there were action scenes in the TV episodes, but there was always a smart, innovative concept at its core, and some scripts I would even describe as brilliant.

In many ways 'Star Trek Beyond' is like so many other formulaic superhero movies that are out there today. It's a by-the-numbers film that just happens to be populated with Star Trek characters, instead of, let's say 'The Avengers'.

If that's what you're looking for — basically a shoot ‘em up set amongst the stars — then it's fun and fits the bill. But true Star Trek fans will not really be satisfied, as the higher, thought provoking ideas are missing.

 

Neil Rosen’s Big Apple Rating:

Two and a Half Apples