MOVIE REVIEW – Smart, fan-focused writing and special-effects eye candy are the main characteristics of this new “Star Trek Beyond” helmed by “Fast and Furious” veteran Justin Lin. You can beam us down safely, captain — there’s intelligent life in here.

During the entire screening of this latest Star Trek flick – 3D or not 3D – I never felt so much that it feels like a classic TV episode. The crew of the Enterprise head to a mysterious planet, they get into a spot of bother, and Captain Kirk punches aliens.

Tributes and grievances

Of course, there’s a tad more to it than that, as the Enterprise’s investigation into a mysterious shipwreck leads to a spectacular confrontation with a swarm of drones, and leaves the crew stranded and scattered on a rocky, treacherous planet.

This time around it’s Kirk (Chris Pine), and Scott (Simon Pegg) who do most of the heroic heavy lifting – co-writer Pegg has noticeably beefed up his role – while Spock (Zachary Quinto) keeps it suitably cerebral, wrapped up in fears for the future of his race and grief at the death of his older self. A tribute to the late Leonard Nimoy is genuinely moving – though there’s only a post-film dedication to Anton Yelchin, aka Chekov, whose tragic death was too recent.

Both those tributes are echoed in the movie itself, in a brief but eloquent farewell salute to Nimoy’s Ambassador Spock (and later, to the entire original crew of the Starship Enterprise), and in the boyish enthusiasm and optimistic spirit of Russian shipmate Pavel Chekov, played by Anton Yelchin in one of his final screen appearances before his untimely death last month at age 27. Scenes that show the young Chekov looking up to Chris Pine’s Captain Kirk when they are stranded together on a hostile planet acquire added poignancy.

Fantastic ambiance, irrational villain

Still, the dominant mood is lightheaded and jubilant: not since the original crew quit have we felt such a vivid sense of adventure and comradeship. And it helps that ‘Fast & Furious’ veteran Justin Lin is a better straight-up action director than JJ Abrams ever was: the battle scenes roar like thunder and a late sequence in a gravity-defying starbase is astonishing.

We have to admit, that he muddles the hand-to-hand combat a bit — sometimes you can’t tell who’s hitting who. But as you’d expect from a “Fast and Furious” veteran, he handles the action scenes — including a terrific set-piece of the Enterprise under attack by hundreds of tiny ships — with energy and style. And he understands that the bigger the film is, the most human the characters have to be.

Still, the movie’s real Achilles heel – once again – is the villain and his motives: while Idris Elba gives it his all as lizard-faced psycho Krall, but unfortunately, he’s just another of those muscled warriors with an illogical grudge. Still, that – and a handful of dicey plot holes – aside, this is all fun all the time, a dizzying carnival of wisecracks, fisticuffs, explosions, chases and truly eye-popping effects. Who could ask for more?

-BadSector-