The trailers for Star Trek Beyond have suggested July 22 will see the release of the most action-oriented Star Trek movie ever, full of motorcycle chases, space battles, martial arts and brawlin’. Despite the apparent action focus, writer Simon Pegg, director Justin Lin and various cast members have repeatedly insisted that Beyond would hit on the thematic, moral and political complexity many hardcore trekkers have come to expect from the series. Curiously, they rarely offer any details.
This new featurette, all about the Beyond villain Krall, just became the textbook example, simultaneously insisting on Krall’s complexity and nuance while only offering violence.
Krall is variously described as a “complex,” “nihilist,” “there to deconstruct the Federation’s ideals,” with “complex reasons behind his bad-guy-ness.” But what we actually see, the evidence provided us, is very different. We witness Krall pouncing, leering and charging. In this featurette we must see Krall throw Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) up against five or six different walls.
Maybe when Star Trek Beyond comes out we’ll finally see the “very valid philosophy” director Justin Lin says undergirds Krall’s tactics, but so far all we know is action.
