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Star Trek Beyond

Time to boldly go where ‘Star Trek’ has definitely gone before.

In the latest installment from the rebooted franchise, the gang is back at it, trekking amongst the stars—though if you thought their bold going where no man has gone before might reach new heights in this movie, you’re out of luck. The Beyond in Star Trek Beyond was probably just something someone came up with because it sounded cool. That’s its only real flaw: that it’s a trenchantly conventional take.

But that might be okay. In a summer top-heavy with ponderous apocalyptic superhero movies and depressing underachievers, Star Trek Beyond is a breath of fresh air—not a clever or innovative movie, but one with at least an idea in its head and the dose of optimism we all need right about now.

In this installment, Kirk (Chris Pine) is getting a little tired of life out among the stars (in a wink at the audience, he narrates in a log that life feels like it’s getting kind of episodic). He’s applied for a job as a vice admiral, which would ground him a bit more. Spock (Zachary Quinto) is feeling a similar impulse. Neither of them are telling each other.

The crew is called in to rescue a stranded ship, but soon realize it’s an ambush. The crew is separated and must find each other on the planet, while dodging various dangers and meeting Jaylah (Sofia Boutella), who’s been living on the planet for a while and is the key to helping them get out alive.

That’s because Krall (Idris Elba) is after them. Krall is a headscratcher of a villain for a good deal of the movie, apparently just inexplicably bad to the bone. Eventually we find out his backstory, though, and it underlines the movie’s main idea: that there is “strength in unity,” as Lt. Uhura (Zoe Saldana) tells Krall at …

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