Star Trek Beyond: Justin Lin’s entry to the franchise is, at times, surprisingly and pleasurably low-key; however, those moments are short and get drowned in a loose plot of greater proportions. Additionally, the characters motivations and arcs are dull; the villain (however well-defended by Idris Elba) is weak and wearisome. The film gets points for some of its visual aspects (even if the action scenes are typically hard to follow and over-blown): the characters design (helped in great part by the make-up department) is very interesting, as is Thomas E. Sanders’ production design (in particular the setting of the climatic action sequence).