AVATAR : FIRE AND ASH : Tuesday 23rd December 2025

I saw the M Rated 'AVATAR : FIRE AND ASH' earlier this week, and this American epic Sci-Fi film is Co-Written, Co-Produced, Directed and Co-Edited by James Cameron, and is the sequel to 2022's 'Avatar: The Way of Water'. This is the third instalment in the Avatar film series, which began with 'Avatar' in 2009, with those first two films grossing a total US$5.267B off the back of a combined production budget of US$587M. James Cameron made his feature film debut with 'Piranha II : The Spawning' in in 1982 which he would follow up with 'Terminator' in 1984, 'Aliens' in 1986, 'The Abyss' in 1989, 'Terminator 2 : Judgement Day' in 1992, 'True Lies' in 1994, and 'Titanic' 1997 before embarking on this monolithic film franchise. The film was released worldwide last week, with two additional sequels, 'Avatar 4' and 'Avatar 5', in various stages of production and scheduled to be released in 2029 and 2031, respectively. With a production budget of US$400M+ the film has so far recouped US$545M at the global Box Office, has garnered generally favourable critical reviews and has so far won thirteen awards and been nominated a further thirty-three times from around the awards and festival circuit.

A year after settling in with the Metkayina clan, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri's (Zoe Saldana) family grapples with grief after their first son and oldest child Neteyam's (Jamie Flatters) death in battle in the previous film. Neytiri has developed a strong disliking and a mistrust toward humans. When a fleet of flying merchant ships arrive, the Wind Traders led by Peylak (David Thewlis), Jake and Neytiri decide Spider (Jack Champion) the teenage human son of Colonel Miles Quaritch who was formerly rescued from Quaritch by Jake and Neytiri, and who have been raising him like one of their own, must leave the Metkayina, but that the family will accompany him on the trip to return him to the humans. 

After departing the Metkayina clan, the Wind Traders convoy is ambushed by the Mangkwan, an aggressive Na'vi tribe who reject Eywa (the divine, globally connected consciousness of Pandora, a vast biological network linking all life, worshipped by the Na'vi as the Great Mother). Led by their spiritual leader Varang (Oona Chaplin), the Mangkwan set fire to the ships, looting them and killing survivors. The family becomes separated and are chased down by the Mangkwan. 

Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) and Corporal Lyle Wainfleet (Matt Gerald) find Jake, and they reluctantly work together to find the children. Spider's oxygen mask runs out of power, and he collapses from asphyxiation. Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) connects her queue to the ground and goes into a trance. After his body is infused with mycelia, Spider later wakens with the ability to breathe Pandora's atmosphere unaided.

Eventually, the children are trapped by the Mangkwan. Quaritch and Jake arrive, and Quaritch ventures to the Mangkwan encampment and teaches Varang how to use guns and flamethrowers. Kiri commands the flora to kill their guards, enabling her family's escape. Kiri learns that she was born of Eywa, but is blocked from connecting with her. Quaritch travels to the Mangkwan's village, bringing them plentiful supplies of firearms and flamethrowers. He convinces them to form an alliance, and begins a relationship with Varang.

Kiri helps Spider bond with the wildlife, but the two are ambushed and Spider is taken by Quaritch. Quaritch invades the Metkayina village with the Mangkwan, demanding Jake. Jake surrenders himself to avoid war, and he and Spider are taken to the RDA (Resources Development Administration) base, Bridgehead City, where the Mangkwan now reside. In captivity, Spider is subjected to many tests, and after examining Spider, Dr. Norm Spellman (Joel David Moore) and Dr. Max Patel (Dileep Rao) discover the mycelia organism inside his body, which they realise could be reverse engineered to allow every human to breathe on Pandora. Spider is also growing a neural queue on his head, allowing him to connect to Pandoran fauna just like the Na'vi do. Meanwhile, Jake is chained, locked up and called out as a traitor by the people of Bridgehead City. 

Looking for Payakan (a young bull Tulkun [large highly intelligent marine whale-like species native to the oceans of Pandora] that has been labeled as an outcast by not only the Metkayina clan, but the larger Tulkun community also). Lo'ak (Britain Dalton) the second son of Jake and Neytiri, is attacked by a group of giant squid, but he is rescued by Tulkun whales. Hundreds of Tulkun begin to congregate for an annual mating event, which could bring substantial profit when hunted for their amrita (a naturally occurring substance in the creature's brains which has the medical power to stop human ageing). RDA biologist Dr. Ian Garvin (Jemaine Clement) opposes the plans, but his advice is ignored.

With Jake scheduled to be executed at 6:00am the next morning by firing squad, Neytiri infiltrates the base, and Ian steals a giant bulldozer to free Jake. Spider escapes the RDA laboratories, and knowing they cannot afford to kill him, acts as a human shield to protect the pair as they make their escape. After fleeing to safety, Jake and Neytiri argue over Spider's liability to the potential human conquest of Pandora. Jake takes Spider into the forest and readies to kill Spider by slitting his throat, but stops at the last second. Neytiri who initially wanted to abandon Spider is now remorseful, and she finally accepts Spider into her family.

Back at the Metkayina village, the Tulkun council hear Jake's warning of an incoming massacre, but decide not to change their pacifist ways. Lo'ak brings Payakan and Tan'ok, the disfigured sole survivor of a human attack on Payakan's pod, and the Tulkun elders reconsider their stance. Jake re-bonds with the apex aerial predator Toruk and rallies the Na'vi clans to battle. 

The next day, as the RDA fleet arrives for the hunt, the Tulkun and Na'vi ambush them. The Mangkwan and Quaritch suddenly attack, inflicting heavy casualties, including Rotxo (Duane Evans Jnr.). Metkayina spiritual leader Ronal (Kate Winslet) is mortally wounded and dies in childbirth, with Neytiri taking her baby, Pril and vowing to take care of the newborn infant, but she is captured and taken to the RDA flagship. 

Kiri unlocks her ability to communicate with Eywa and asks for help. The Pandoran wildlife attacks the rest of the RDA forces. Varang tries to kill Neytiri, but she is rescued by Kiri, leading her to flee. Jake's Toruk destroys the RDA flagship as it is sucked up into a magnetic flux. Jake and Quaritch are thrown into the flux and fight each other, with Spider following. Spider shoots Quaritch with an arrow into his arm, but he falls off a floating rock, only for Quaritch to catch him. Jake reluctantly pulls them both up, and Neytiri and her children arrive. Outnumbered, clearly at a disadvantage and knackered from his intense fight with Jake, Quaritch leaps off the rock, presumably to his death.

After the battle, Spider and the Metkayina clan members connect to the underwater spirit trees, where he meets all the deceased Na'vi. Kiri introduces Spider to her mother, Grace (Sigourney Weaver), and they initiate him into the Na'vi people. 

James Cameron with 'Avatar : Fire and Ash' has once again solidified his place as a master storyteller with his Pandoran world building, the character arcs, and the sheer spectacle of Pandora's flora and fauna. This is a film that has to be seen on the biggest screen possible, and in glorious 3D to really appreciate the quality of the technical workmanship that went into rendering the amazing imagery presented on screen, and for that Cameron can't be faulted. That said, the plot is really more of the same as seen in the first two instalments, and the dialogue is at times clunky and repetitive (I lost count of the number of times 'you got this' and 'we can do this' popped out of a characters mouth!). As for the performances, Oona Chaplin's Varang adds a new dimension to Pandora's darker side, ably aided and abetted by Stephen Lang's Quaritch, with many of the returning Actor's anchored more convincingly by the advances in motion capture technology in the sixteen years since the first film hit our movie theatres. At the longest runtime of the series so far at three hours and seventeen minutes, the immersion in the films spectacle did not leave me wanting, and the battle sequences and fight scenes are expertly staged and rendered to maintain interest and propel the story along. Also starring Cliff Curtis, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Giovanni Ribisi, Edie Falco and Brendan Cowell. As an extra bonus see if you can spot the nods to Brian De Palma's 1987 film 'The Untouchables' and Mel Gibson's 1995 film 'Braveheart'. 

'Avatar : Fire and Ash' warrants four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOLUME 3 : Tuesday 9th May 2023.

I saw the M Rated 'GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOLUME 3' at my local Odeon earlier this week. This hotly anticipated American superhero film is based on the Marvel Comics superhero team Guardians of the Galaxy, and is the sequel to 2014's 'Guardians of the Galaxy' and 2017's 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2' and serves as the 32nd film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the second film in Marvel's Phase Five and more than likely the final instalment in this particular series. Written and Directed once again by James Gunn who recently jumped ship and now heads up, with Peter Safran, DC Studios as Co-Chairpersons and joint CEO's. Gunn's next Directorial outing is slated to be 'Superman : Legacy' due in July 2025. The film saw its World Premier screening at Disneyland, Paris on 22nd April and was released in the US, China, here in Australia and other territories last week. It has garnered generally positive critical reviews and has so far grossed US$366M off the back of a production budget of US$250M. 

At their new home base on Knowhere, the Guardians of the Galaxy (Chris Pratt, Pom Klementieff, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel) are attacked by Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), a Sovereign warrior created by their High Priestess Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki) who seems to answer to the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji). After Adam overpowers them and seriously wounds Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), he is stabbed by Nebula (Karen Gillan) and forced to flee the scene. The Guardians are unable to tend to Rocket's wounds due to a kill switch attached to his heart, made by the company Orgocorp. They travel to Orgocorp's headquarters to find the override code, having at best 48 hours before Rocket dies. 

As Rocket lies unconscious, memories of his past life come flooding back. As a baby raccoon, he was experimented on by the High Evolutionary, an alien geneticist who sought to take what he viewed as lower life forms and enhance them into a perfect anthropomorphic species in order to create a Counter-Earth. 

After being modified Rocket befriended the High Evolutionary's other test animals: the otter Lylla, the rabbit Floor and the walrus Teefs. The High Evolutionary perfected the anthropomorphisation process with Rocket's advice but ordered Rocket's brain to be extracted for further research, and his friends incinerated. Rocket was able to free Lylla with an improvised electronic key card, only for the High Evolutionary to kill her, upon walking in and discovering Rocket's ruse. Rocket, enraged, mauled the High Evolutionary face and head and shot his guards, but Teefs and Floor were killed in the exchange of gunfire. Alone, angry and despondent Rocket steals a spaceship and flees. 

Meanwhile, the alternate version of Gamora (Zoe Saldana) who has joined the Ravagers led by the high ranking Stakar Ogord (Sylvester Stallone), helps the Guardians infiltrate Orgocorp, which is owned by the High Evolutionary. 

They retrieve Rocket's file, but discover that the code has been removed. The group speculates that Theel (Nico Santos), one of the High Evolutionary's advisors, has it, so they depart for Counter-Earth. They are followed by Ayesha and Adam, who are ordered by their creator, the High Evolutionary, to capture at all costs Rocket for his brain.

Arriving on Counter-Earth the Guardians are helped by a family of local residents in tracing Theel to the High Evolutionary's ship. Drax (Dave Bautista) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff) remain with Gamora and Rocket as Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), and Nebula (Karen Gillan) travel to the High Evolutionary's ship. Nebula is forced to wait outside by guards as Quill and Groot board. Drax and Mantis chase after Quill's group. 

The High Evolutionary sets off the destruction and planned recreation of Counter-Earth, which ultimately kills all life on the planet, including Ayesha. As his ship enters orbit, Quill and Groot leap off with Theel, landing back on Counter-Earth and retrieving the code from the computer implanted into the side of his head, just as Gamora arrives with their ship. In the meantime, Nebula, Mantis, and Drax board the High Evolutionary's ship in order to rescue Quill and Groot, not knowing that had recently and literally jumped ship. As Quill's group attempts to access the code, Rocket flatlines and has a near-death experience, where he is reunited with Lylla, Teefs, and Floor. Lylla tells him that his time has not yet come and that he still has work to do, as Quill uses the code to disable the kill switch and save Rocket's life. 

On the High Evolutionary's ship, Nebula, Mantis, and Drax come across hundreds of imprisoned humanoid children, before being captured. Quill's group sets out to rescue the three, who are placed in a chamber with monstrous Abilisks. Mantis connects with the Abilisks saying they only eat batteries, and so allowing the group to escape and reunite with Quill's group, together overcoming the High Evolutionary's army. Kraglin (Sean Gunn) and Cosmo the Spacedog (voiced by Maria Bakalova) arrive back on Knowhere, and Cosmo creates a telekinetic bridge connecting Knowhere to the High Evolutionary's ship to free the captured children. Rocket discovers imprisoned animals on the ship before being attacked by the High Evolutionary, but the rest of the Guardians help subdue him, remove his mask revealing the seriously disfigured face of the man and leaving him to die on his ship. The Guardians rescue the animals and lead them aboard Knowhere. Quill nearly dies by freezing in deep space trying to cross over but is saved by Adam, who had a change of heart after being saved by Groot. 

Once the dust has settled, Quill announces that he intends to leave the Guardians, bestowing the captaincy to Rocket before leaving for Earth to reunite with his grandfather Jason. Mantis embarks on a journey of self-discovery with the Abilisks, Gamora reunites with the Ravagers and is welcomed back by Stakar Ogord, and Nebula and Drax remain on Knowhere to raise the saved children. 

There is no doubt that Director James Gunn has wrapped up his final instalment of the 'Guardians' trilogy with a lot of heart, a good dose of emotion, action set pieces aplenty, some witty dialogue, a thumping soundtrack, all the colour and grandeur of the galaxy that you could ever imagine, plus a whole zoo load of animals that would make any self respecting PETA advocate squirm in horror. And for the rag tag bunch of space heroes Gunn sees them all go off in their own directions to seek out new challenges and adventures, and as for some of them if you remain in your seat for a mid-credits sequence and right until the end credits have rolled you'll catch a glimpse of what the future (possibly) holds. My only criticism of this film, and it seems that thirty-two films in now, of the MCU at large, is that the CGI action spectacles are often so beautifully rendered that their screen busyness leaves the viewer wondering where to focus the attention for fear of missing out on something happening on another part of the screen. 

'Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3' warrants three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

AVATAR : THE WAY OF WATER - Tuesday 20th December 2022.

I saw the M Rated 'AVATAR : THE WAY OF WATER' earlier this week, and in case you've been hiding under a rock for the last decade or so, this American epic Sci-Fi film is the eagerly anticipated, long awaited, much hyped sequel to that groundbreaking record busting highest grossing film of all time, 'Avatar' from 2009. This film, as with the first instalment, is Directed, Co-Written, Co-Produced and Co-Edited by James Cameron. That first film in what is slated to be a five film series, grossed US$2,923B at the global Box Office off a production budget of US$237M and collected eighty-nine award wins and another 131 nominations from around the awards and festival circuit including three Academy Award wins, two BAFTA wins, ten Saturn Award wins, two Golden Globe wins and six Visual Effects Society Awards, amongst its total haul. 'The Way of Water' was originally muted for a 2014 release, however, the addition of three more sequels (to this one) and the necessity to develop new technology in order to film performance capture scenes underwater, a feat never before achieved, led to significant delays to allow the crew more time to work on the writing, preproduction, and visual effects. The film was released worldwide last week, with the following three sequels to be released, respectively, in the Decembers of 2024, 2026 and 2028, though the latter two would depend on the commercial reception of 'The Way of Water' as 'Avatar 3' has already wrapped filming and was shot simultaneously in Wellington, New Zealand. With a production budget somewhere in the vicinity of US$350-400M it is one of the most expensive films of all time, and needs to recoup in the region of US$2B just to break even, having grossed at the time of writing this US$610M. Cameron's back catalogue of feature films include 'The Terminator', 'Aliens', 'The Abyss', 'Terminator 2 : Judgement Day', 'True Lies' and 'Titanic' so if major box office success is anything to go by, then this film should be a shoe-in. Time will tell.

Here then, set ten years after the events of the first film and in the mid-22nd Century, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) lives with his newfound Na'vi family on the planet of Pandora, a lush habitable moon of a gas giant in the Alpha Centauri star system. Sully is now the chief of the Omaticaya clan of forest dwellers and he raises a family with Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), which includes his sons, Neteyam (James Flatters) and Lo'ak (Britain Dalton), his biological daughter, Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), his adopted daughter, Kiri (born from Grace Augustine's inert Na'vi avatar, both played here by Sigourney Weaver), and a human boy named Spider (Jake Champion), the son of Colonel Miles Quaritch who was born on Pandora and was unable to be transported back to Earth in cryostasis due to him being an infant at the time of Quaritch death in the first film. The opening scenes see Sully and his family living a near prefect existence in the lush rainforests of Pandora. We then fast forward a year and Sully and Neytiri are enjoying a peaceful moment gazing up at the stars one night, when Sully sees a number of bright lights in the sky approaching Pandora, which he surmises can only mean one thing - the return of humans to rape and pillage their planet. And sure enough, the humans return and set about building a new operating base named Bridgehead City to prepare Pandora for human colonisation, as Earth is slowly dying. Among the new arrivals are recombinants, Na'vi avatars with the minds and memories of deceased RDA (Resource Development Administration) marines, with Quaritch's (Stephen Lang) recombinant as their commander.

Their arrival spurs Sully into instigating various guerilla attacks against the RDA supply routes. Quaritch and his recombinants conduct a counterinsurgency mission against Sully, capturing his children. Sully and Neytiri arrive and are able to free most of them, but Spider is taken by Quaritch, who recognises him as his son. After an unsuccessful interrogation attempt by General Frances Ardmore (Edie Falco) Quartich decides to spend time with him in order to gain Spider's trust and confidence and in turn, Spider teaches Quaritch about Na'vi culture and language. 

Aware of the danger Spider's knowledge of his whereabouts poses to their safety, Sully and his family seek exile for themselves from the Omaticaya and retreat to the Metkayina reef people clan located on hundreds of small islands on Pandora's eastern seaboard, where they are given safe haven, even though some tribesmen consider them to have 'demon blood' from their genetic human heritage, and ill equipped physically for a life in the ocean. The family learns the ways of the reef people and 'the way of water'. Kiri develops a spiritual bond with the sea and its creatures, and Lo'ak befriends Tsireya (Bailey Bass), the daughter of clan chief Tonowari (Cliff Curtis) and his wife Ronal (Kate Winslet).

Despite telling his children not to cause any upset amongst the Metkayina people, Lo'ak gets into a fight with Tsireya's brother Aonung (Filip Geljo). When Lo'ak returns to apologise at Sully's insistence, Aonung and his friends entice him to a trip beyond the reef and out into the open ocean to a place called the three brothers - a territory of a dangerous sea predator, and then promptly leave him stranded there with no idea on how to get back to the village. Lo'ak is saved by and befriends Payakan, a tulkun, a highly intelligent whale like species whom the Metkayina consider their spiritual family. Payakan takes Lo'ak back to his village and upon his return, Lo'ak takes the blame on himself, winning Aonung's friendship, but is told that Payakan is an outcast among his species, which Lo'ak vehemently denies. 

On a trip to the Metkayina's Spirit Tree, Kiri links with it to meet her mother Grace Augustine, but then suffers a violent seizure. She is healed by Ronal, but when Sully calls on Norm Spellman (Joel David Moore) and Max Patel (Dileep Rao) for help, Quaritch is able to track them to the cluster of islands where the reef people live. Bringing Spider with him, he commandeers a whaling vessel which is hunting tulkuns to harvest their brain enzymes for creating an age halting remedy named amrita, that is worth US$80M for a flask sized vile back on Earth. 

Quaritch begins to brutally question the indigenous tribes about Sully's location, and when his line of questioning fails he torches the villages and orders the whaling crew to wantonly kill the tulkuns in order to draw Sully out from hiding. Lo'ak mentally links with Payakan and learns that he was cast out because he went against the ways of his species and attacked the whalers who killed his mother. 

The Metkayina are alerted of the tulkun killings, and Lo'ak takes off to warn Payakan, followed by his siblings, Tsireya, Aonung, and Rotxo (Duane Evans Jnr.). They find Payakan being chased by the whalers, and Lo'ak, Tsireya, and Tuk are captured by Quaritch and cuffed to a railing of the whaling ship. With their children in danger, Sully, Neytiri, and the Metkayina set out to confront the humans. Quaritch forces Sully to surrender, but seeing his soul brother in danger, Payakan attacks the whalers and their ship, triggering a fight that kills most of the crew and critically damages the vessel, ultimately resulting in it listing and then sinking. Neteyam rescues Lo'ak, Tsireya and Spider, but is fatally shot when diving overboard to make his retreat. Sully confronts Quaritch, who uses Kiri as a hostage holding her with a knife to the neck. When Neytiri does the same with Spider, Quaritch at first denies his relationship with him but relents when Neytiri cuts Spider across the chest. 

Sully, Quaritch, Neytiri, and Tuk end up trapped inside the capsizing vessel with the water levels raising all around them. Sully strangles Quaritch into unconsciousness in an underwater fight and is rescued by Lo'ak and Payakan, and Kiri summons sea creatures to help her save Neytiri and Tuk. Spider finds and rescues Quaritch, but quickly turns against him for his cruelty, and rejoins Sully's family, unaware that Quartich is still alive. After Neteyam's funeral, sully informs Tonowari and Ronal of his decision to leave the Metkayina. Tonowari, however, respectfully identifies him as part of their clan and invites his family to stay. Sully and his family accept and forge a new life at sea, with Sully vowing to continue his fight against the human invaders.

'Avatar : The Way of Water' is truly a visual feast - from the magnificent 3D spectacle that Cameron has created both above and below the waterline, the flora and fauna of the forest and the ocean, the action set pieces, the emotion on both a family and a friendship bonding level and the expansion of Pandora from land to sea. This is a film that must be seen on the biggest screen possible and in 3D to really appreciate what Cameron has achieved and his painstaking attention to the minutest of details that make this an enthralling cinematic experience that is among the years best. My only gripe is not at the three hours and twelve minute run time, which seemed to pass by in half the time, but by some of the drawn out sequences and in particular the scenes with the Sully's upon first arriving at the Metkayina people learn the ways of water and experience their new underwater world for the first time. But then again, I guess this is the Director showcasing all his technical wizardry and based on the budgeted cost of this movie, who can blame him for wanting to get the most bang for his buck! The cast are all on point, although I was a little disappointed to not see more of Giovanni Ribisi (who appears only fleetingly as Parker Selfridge from the first film) and Edie Falco in particular. 

'Avatar : The Way of Water' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

STAR TREK : BEYOND - Tuesday 26th July 2016.

I saw 'STAR TREK : BEYOND' in 3D this week because it was the only option at a time that suited me, but, it does add value! 'Star Trek' as we know it had its humble beginnings as an NBC television series back in 1966, which ran for just three seasons - having been cancelled in 1969 because of declining ratings. Series creator Gene Roddenberry always wanted to continue the series in film first pitching the idea in 1969, but it would be another ten years before the small screen series made it to the big screen - largely off the back of syndicated series re-runs during the 70's which proved to be a whole lot more popular second time around. Released in time for Christmas 1979, the first film 'Star Trek : The Motion Picture' reunited the television cast for US$35M, returning a worldwide gross of US$139M. Throughout the 80's there were a further five films up until 1991with 'The Next Generation' taking over in 1994 and running though until 2002, culminating with 'Nemesis' - the worst performing film of the franchise to date making just US$67M from its US$60M outlay. Then in 2009 Director J.J.Abrams got hold of the franchise for an overdue and much needed reboot with 'Star Trek' and followed this up in 2013 with 'Star Trek : Into Darkness' - the latter proving the most successful of the franchise so far yielding a return of US$467M from its US$185M budget. The first twelve films were made for a combined US$540M and returned a collective US$1,931B, with this film, the thirteenth, made for US$185M and released in the 50th anniversary year of that original television series going to air. So far the film has grossed US$161M.

And so to this next instalment. Co-Written by Simon Pegg - a self confessed Trekkie and Chief Engineer of the USS Enterprise, Scottie, and Directed by Justin Lin who Directed the 'Fast & Furious films 3, 4, 5 and 6' to huge Box Office success, with J.J.Abrams taking a Producer credit on this one. Here the rebooted crew are reunited once again as we find them mid-way through their five year journey to go boldly where no man has gone before, en route to dock with the only recently completed, shining, bright and new deep-space starbase 'Yorktown'. As the film opens after an engaging scene where Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) is on some distant planet with a goodwill gift offering to some 'Gremlin' like inhabitants that doesn't go quite according to plan, he is transported back to the USS Enterprise where through an introductory narrative we learn that life out in deep deep space for so long has become very hum drum, routine and mundane with Kirk beginning to question the purpose of their five year long mission to probe the outer reaches of the universe. 

Docking with the star base 'Yorktown' laid out in all its deep space steel, glass and technological glory is a visual spectacle especially in 3D, and here we learn that Kirk has applied for a Vice Admiral promotion based on the Yorktown which would essentially mean life on the ground and no more flying for Captain Kirk. He recommends Spock (Zachary Quinto) as the new Captain of the Enterprise, who has just learned that Ambassador Spock has recently passed away (Leonard Nimoy died during pre-production of the film). 

In a Yorktown command centre, an advancing escape pod is intercepted drifting from a nearby nebula containing a survivor named Kalara who claims that her ship and her people are stranded on Altamid, a planet in the nebula. The Enterprise is the most technically advanced ship in the fleet and so Kirk agrees to a rescue mission, and musters his crew. However, once inside the nebula and navigating through a sea of giant rocks their rescue mission turns into an ambush as the Enterprise is overcome by a huge swarm of small attack ships that quickly dismantle the ship leaving it venerable to the as yet unknown enemy. 

The enemy quickly manifests itself in the form of alien being Krall (Idris Elba), who boards the ship and begins to overthrow all those in their path as they search for an alien artifact called the 'Abronath' - that Kirk and Spock have in their possession, and which Kirk has attempted to give to the 'Gremlins' at the introduction. Kirk is able to stow the Abronath away as the Enterprise is systematically torn apart by the swarm, and for as long as possible Krall and his army search the ship unsuccessfully. With all hope for salvaging the now heavily disabled Enterprise, Kirk gives the order to abandon ship, as the saucer section is all that remains and begins its decent into the planet below. The crew do so in a multitude of escape pods, which are quickly picked up by the returning attack ships.

As those escape pods not captured by the returning swarm come to land on the planet they are spread far and wide over mountainous terrain. Sulu (John Choo) and Uhura (Zoe Saldana) are rounded up by Krall's foot soldiers. Kirk and Pavell (Anton Yelchin) round up with Kalara to find the wreckage of the Enterprise saucer in the hope that they can establish communication with other survivors. Spock and Bones (Karl Urban) come down close to each other and meet up although Spock is wounded to his stomach by a large piece of shrapnel. Scottie (Simon Pegg) is alone in the forest wondering what to do next when he is set up on by some alien no good types and is promptly rescued by Jaylah (Sofia Boutella) an alien scavenger with a particular set of skills who has previously escaped from Krall's prison camp, and we learn that Krall's second-in-command was responsible for the death of her father. So she has a axe to grind with Krall and his types.

At this point in the film we focus on the three separated groups as they attempt to regroup, while Krall plots an attack on the Yorktown initially and then the wider Federation. Jaylah takes Scottie under her wing and leads him to her 'house' which it turns out is the USS Franklin - the wrecked Starfleet ship that disappeared mysteriously over one hundred years ago. Jaylah has used her cunning engineering skills to reboot the fallen vessel, and with Scottie's help is able to get the ship almost operational again - it could just be their ticket outta Dodge! 

Whilst working on they ship which has been invisibly cloaked from view, an alarm is triggered by a trap laid by Jaylah that has ensnared both Kirk and Pavell, reuniting these characters. They make the Franklin their base of operations and together plot their move on Krall to free the survivors of the Enterprise. With the Franklin's old but still serviceable technology Kirk, Pavell, Scottie and Jaylah are able to locate Spock and Bones and beam them up, so reuniting the team to devise their plan to free their colleagues in Krall's captivity.

Meanwhile, Krall eventually gets his hands on the Abronath, that has been secretly concealed by one of the captive Enterprise crew. It transpires that this is one half of a sophisticated age old bioweapon created by the original inhabitants of Altamid, that can destroy humanoid lifeforms in a matter of seconds. Now armed with this missing half, Krall can complete the weapon and set his mission in train, beginning with his wholesale attack on Yorktown. With the rescue mission of those crew members held captive successful and them all beamed up to the Franklin, Kirk gives the order for the now fired up ship to hot foot it to Yorktown to intercept the swarm and Krall.

The question is now how to foil the swarm that so rapidly and so efficiently all but destroyed the Enterprise, in a ship that is one hundred years her senior and with less sophisticated technology. Spock hits upon an idea to treat the bioweapon like a swarm of bees and so you confuse one you confuse them all that leads to their collective downfall. Send a VHF jamming signal to halt their communication with each other, confuse the hell out of them and the swarm will self destruct . . . and it does - leaving just Krall and a few remaining officers heading full bore into Yorktown pursued by Kirk and the Franklin.

By now Krall's true identity has been revealed and as it turns out he has a lot in common with the Federation, has a reason to be pissed and wanting to take out bitter revenge on those that he believes did him wrong in the past. Krall escapes on foot having survived the wreckage of being pursued and downed by the Franklin. He heads up a ventilation shaft with the aim of activating the bioweapon on the one million or so citizens of Yorktown, and is chased by Kirk. This all leads to some pretty fancy footwork and close quarter fist fighting in zero gravity that is rendered well in 3D high above the city below. Needless to say it doesn't end well for Krall who is ejected into the vacuum of deep space where he is engulfed and quickly consumed by his own unleashed bioweapon.

Alls well that ends well, as the crew are reunited on a safe and secured Yorktown, except for some minor collateral damage. They gather to celebrate Kirk's birthday, as Kirk turns down the offer for promotion in favour of remaining in command of a newly constructed USS Enterprise-A rather than being a desk bound grounded Vice Admiral. Spock opens a box from Ambassador Spock and within its contents is a photograph of the Enterprise crew - their future selves (as depicted by Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley, Takei et al).

I enjoyed 'Star Trek : Beyond' and in having Simon Pegg co-script has added a tone of originality and a throw back to the Star Trek of old that combines adventure, escapism, spectacle, fun and humour to the storyline. The 3D is worth the added cost especially for the scenes of the Yorktown and the early demise of the Enterprise under attack from an all powerful, ruthless and relentless enemy. The cast have by now settled into their roles with a familiarity and comfort factor that makes them watchable and relatable, and Director Justin Lin knows how to deliver on the action set pieces on an epic scale and with confidence. Worth seeing on the big screen and worth the price of your ticket for sure.  'Star Trek 4' has just been announced, with expectations the crew will return together with Chris Hemsworth as Captain Kirk's father, George Kirk. This film is dedicated to the memories of Leonard Nimoy and Anton Yelchin.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-