The first trailer for Star Trek Beyond is worlds away from the ominous tone of Star Trek Into Darkness.
Harking back to the action-comedy feel of J.J. Abrams‘s 2009 Star Trek reboot, the Beyond trailer opens with “Sabotage” by the Beastie Boys, a brilliantly unexpected music choice from the flashback scene in which a young James Kirk drives his stepfather’s car off a cliff. Along with the fact that Simon Pegg co-wrote the script, it’s pretty clear that Beyond is aiming for the funny side of Star Trek.
Following two movies helmed by Abrams and written by his longtime collaborators Alex Kurtzman and Bob Orci, Star Trek Beyond is in the hands of Fast and Furious franchise director Justin Lin—and it shows.
This trailer is fast and fun, and the blue/orange color balance is cranked up to eleven, making Chris Pine‘s eyes look positively luminous. (Meanwhile those alien rocks look very Galaxy Quest, but maybe that’s an intentional callback to the lurid set design of the 1960s Star Trek series.)
Beyond introduces new characters played by Idris Elba and Sofia Boutella, best known for playing the blade-legged Gazelle in Kingsman: The Secret Service. You can see Boutella in action as a grey-faced alien throughout the trailer, although Elba’s villain character—unrecognizable in facial prosthetic makeup—only appears for a second.
With its summer blockbuster tone and numerous explosions, this trailer is unlikely to appease the fans who felt that Star Trek Into Darkness strayed too far from the original ethos of the franchise. However, there’s no denying that Justin Lin knows his way around an action movie, and the upcoming TV series will hopefully cater to fans of Trek‘s more classic themes.
Screengrab via Paramount Pictures/YouTube