Star Trek Beyond 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		5.0

Star Trek Beyond 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman November 1, 2016

It was with anticipation and curiosity that Star Trek fans viewed Star Trek Beyond, the first of the new reboot films not to be directed by J.J. Abrams. It was also met with heavy hearts; the film's premiere was darkened by the passing of both Leonard Nimoy and Anton Yelchin, the former a bonafide legend in the Star Trek community and the latter an up-and-coming superstar whose comic-bend portrayal of Chekov earned him high praise in all three reboot Trek films. For Star Trek Beyond, J.J. Abrams, busy with Star Wars and ready to inject fresh blood into the Star Trek universe, blessed the arrival of Justin Lin of Fast & Furious fame to take the reigns for Beyond. Even as this film lacks the brilliance of the Abrams films, it's very much in that same style (albeit with fewer lens flares), packed with exhilarating action, and as with the other two reboot films, it features plenty of innovation alongside a number of recognizable plot drivers and character themes that keep the movie grounded in lore but adventurous in its own right. It's a total blast, a bit empty on the dramatic side the scale but certainly a film that epitomizes the popcorn-munching good time sort of Star Trek that might not be entirely true to the Roddenberry roots but that fits nicely enough within the rebooted universe and Trek canon.

Captain Kirk (Chris Pine), three years into his five-year mission, has begun reflecting on his life and purpose in space. He's keen on earning a promotion to Admiral, which will take him out of the Captain's chair and place him in charge of an advanced star base. When the Enterprise is ordered to investigate a mysterious nebula -- she's the only ship capable of maneuvering through it -- she comes under attack from a relentless and deadly alien race bent on taking the crew and recovering an alien artifact in the Enterprise's possession. With the crew separated and the villains' true intentions only slowly coming to light, their mission becomes a fight for survival that could result in countless dead as a chapter of Federation history slowly rewrites itself.

Beyond is a stylistic success that promotes action -- and endless streams thereof -- over substance, of which there is more than a little, but less than a lot. The film is very big and thrives on a sense of great sphere-of-action scope. It also borrows heavily from other films in the Star Trek universe while still doing enough to mold an identity for itself. Star Trek Beyond takes a lot of ideas from The Wrath of Khan that didn't make it into Star Trek Into Darkness -- a dense, unnavigable nebula that renders the Enterprise out of contract with the outside universe; themes of age centered around Kirk's birthday (which lacks the dramatic impact here it had on Star Trek II because this Kirk is still a young pup in comparison to his parallel); and whether Kirk can handle promotion to Admiral, which would take him out of the Captain's chair -- and works them all into this film, in smaller ways, really, that usually feel more forced than organic but that do try hard to reinforce various plot points and thematic angles that run through the film. That's not all. A major turning point is reminiscent of a similar sequence in Generations, while the film's villain seems a hodgepodge of Nero, the reboot's Khan, The Borg, and the villains from Insurrection. The star base, on the other hand, is entirely reimagined for the film and plays more of central role in Beyond than it has in any other iteration of Star Trek but, while it looks great and flows with the movie very well, it feels almost indistinguishable to the future San Francisco seen in Into Darkness, which makes this movie's climax feel more familiar than unique.

Beyond is nothing if it's not derivative, then, creatively derivative yet very fun. And while it works, one cannot help but feel that the emphasis on spit and polish over story and themes -- even as the film boldly efforts to the contrary -- leaves Star Trek just looking more like a popcorn film than serious Sci-Fi. Fortunately, the kinetic energy and relentless action are enough to keep the movie going. Visual effects are stellar, though much of them are so dependent on density and speed of movement that there doesn't need to be much detail for them to shine. It's in the bigger moments, however, that the film's special effects dominate. Lin's Trek thrives on a big scope and sense of scale (which the movie plays with from its opening sequence forward) and always allows its forward momentum to carry it through any lapse of dramatic import, empty character moments, or a villain who takes too long to develop but gradually builds into an enticingly layered character. If much of that sounds negative, it is. But Beyond manages to mask its shortcomings remarkably well. It's tailored to its strengths, does a commendable job of putting its weaknesses on the back burner, and the audience will never feel betrayed by the end product, warts and inability to walk that fine line between "fan service" and "homage" and "thievery" included.

Star Trek Beyond 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Star Trek Beyond beams onto UHD with a 2160p/HDR-enhanced transfer. Once again, "subtle" is the word of a UHD review. The film was reportedly primarily photographed at 3.4K and finished at 2K, making this an upscale-to-4K release. It's still a good little improvement over the 1080p Blu-ray. Textures are noticeably firmer, even before making a direct A-to-B comparison. Facial details are upped to the point that smaller complexities even at medium distance are finer and sharper. By comparison, the matching faces on the Blu-ray can look almost smeary. Textural details on uniforms are terrific, too, whether the jackets some of the crew wear on the planet surface or even the relatively boring starship tops they wear on the Enterprise. The difference is evident whether on the clean and bright-white Enterprise, in brightly lit locales on the planet surface, in darker recesses and low light interiors, or the slick Yorktown star base. Colors are gorgeous, with the blue crew shirts the true standout. Scenes featuring Spock and McCoy on the planet are amongst the finest in the movie; they're often bathed in natural light and the shirts look fantastic with the punchy blue making a big impact. The color is a bit more refined and nuanced on the UHD, but again not by any serious leaps and bounds. The image on the whole presents with a little darker contrast, too, but never to the point of devouring a scene. Black levels are fairly good, perhaps a bit too bright and gray where they should be deep and detailed. Flesh tones appear flusher and more natural. Here, the HDR color palette definitely falls into the "refinement" category rather than the "alteration" category. This isn't a knockout UHD, and those who only watch the Blu-ray aren't missing out on a major boost, but UHD owners will appreciate the finer point upgrades it has on offer.

Star Trek Beyond 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Star Trek Beyond warps onto Blu-ray with a proficient and generally exciting Dolby Atmos soundtrack. The presentation begins with a quality example of how the added overhead channels can enhance a scene. Kirk is playing the role of mediator between two alien factions that don't like one another very much, and similar to the trial that sent the elder Kirk to Rura Penthe, he's standing in a very large, vertically stretched chamber that allows for some rich reverberation that essentially puts the listener in his shoes. The track further expands moments later with a barrage of nifty sound effects and accompanying bass that set the tone for the track (and set the story in motion) while offering a good sampling of what the track can accomplish. Action scenes are wonderfully complex yet smooth and detailed. Explosions, phaser blasts, falling debris, and other all-inclusive action details are perfectly meshed together with seamless 360-degree immersion and a complimentary top layer that, beyond a few moments, never dominates the proceedings but rather enhances them a great deal. One of the best moments in the film, and a strong Atmos reference moment, comes when the top layer of the stage seems to roll with the sound of heavy wreckage as the shot pans around at the 48:20 mark. Likewise, dripping water seems to plop from the ceiling in a cavernous enemy compound at one point. Immersive din is enjoyable on the bustling streets of Yorktown. Music, whether score or popular, is smooth and detailed throughout the range, and plays with an enveloping flow around the stage. Dialogue is clear and detailed, well prioritized and comfortably focused in the center channel, save for when the track naturally expands its placement for effect.

Star Trek Beyond 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Star Trek Beyond contains deleted scenes and a number of featurettes, all of which can be viewed on the included 1080p 2D-only Blu-ray. No additional bonus content is included on the UHD disc. Note that one of the supplemental titles, and coverage of it, contains a spoiler for the movie. Those who have yet to see the film should skip this section of the review. A DVD copy of the film and a voucher for a UV/iTunes digital copy are included with purchase.

• Deleted Scenes (1080p, 1:02 total runtime): Includes Kirk and Scotty in the Terminal and Scotty Gets a Bib and Tucker.
• Beyond the Darkness (1080p, 10:08): A look at Justin Lin's love for the franchise and contributions to the film, crafting the script, the role of Yorktown in the film, plot details and new characters, themes, Sulu's sexuality, the NX class-inspired Franklin, and more. The piece does a great job of getting at the themes the movie worked to build, but didn't always succeed in revealing.
• (SPOILER) Enterprise Takedown (1080p, 4:31): A look at the Kalara character, the assault on the Enterprise, and the ship's destruction.
• Divided and Conquered (1080p, 8:17): This piece examines how the film separates main characters during the action and how their actions define them individually and collectively.
• A Warped Sense of Revenge (1080p, 5:15): A closer look at the film's villain.
• Trekking in the Desert (1080p, 3:06): Shooting in Dubai for the Yorktown scenes.
• Exploring Strange New Worlds (1080p, 6:02): Production Designer Tom Sanders' creativity and work on the film are the focus of this piece.
• New Life, New Civilizations (1080p, 8:04): Designing and introducing new aliens for the movie.
• To Live Long and Prosper (1080p, 7:51): A montage of scenes from throughout Star Trek movie history followed by a discussion of what Star Trek says and symbolizes today and promises for the future.
• For Leonard and Anton (1080p, 5:04): Remembering the Trek actors who were lost before this film's release.
• Gag Reel (1080p, 5:13).

Star Trek Beyond 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Star Trek Beyond doesn't have a lot of meat on its bones, but that doesn't make it a bad movie. While it's not exactly hearkening back to the heyday of the Roddenberry era and the series' roots, it finds enough high energy action made of high concept imagination and regurgitated yet nicely blended and balanced ideas to carry the film through its flaws. This is modern Star Trek at its most slick and shiny. It lacks the wow and soul of the Abrams films, even as it's very similar from a stylistic perspective, but performances are solid and the visual effects are seamless. For two hours of Star Trek fun, it doesn't get much better than this. Paramount's UHD release of Star Trek Beyond delivers good 2160p video to go along with excellent audio and a nice allotment of extra content. Recommended.