Ready for Liftoff: Early Buzz on Star Trek Beyond is Very Good

Some of the early Star Trek Beyond buzz is in,  and it's almost all positive. And as we predicted, Sofia Boutella, who plays the alien Jaylah, is getting serious props. Director Justin Lin's film is currently sitting at a 90% fresh rating on RottenTomatoes, with USAY Today, indieWire, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter, and Variety, among others, giving the film high marks. Let's take a brief glimpse at what people are saying.

-The Village Voice's Bilge Ebiri says that Lin's action chops (he directed a slew of Fast & Furious films)  serve the film well, writing that it "might be the Star Trekkiest film of th enew, J.J. Abrams-ified Trek era. That is to say, it's the one that feels the most like a turbo-loaded episode of the original series."

–Newsday's Rafer Guzman writes that it's "Short on back story, long on action, and loads of fun." 

-The USA Today's Brian Truit helpfully credits our suggestion last Friday that Sofia Boutella's Jaylah might steal the film—he writes: "Boutella is amazing as this new heroine with quasi-tribal facial features and a pragmatic demeanor: She holds her own with Kirk but also comes with a tragic backstory. Of note, too, is Urban as Bones; his grumpy, scene-stealing nature has been seen in spurts in the two Abrams movies, but the doctor comes into his own here." 

-The Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney also gives a shout out to Simon Pegg, doing double duty in his role of Scotty and as the film's co-writer: "The script by Simon Pegg (expanding his duties beyond his onscreen role as engineer Montgomery Scott) and Doug Jung also provides a stirring reaffirmation of the original 1960s vision of a utopian fantasy, ruled by traditional Federation ideals of peace and intergalactic unity."

If you weren't excited yet, are you now? Star Trek Beyond hits the screens this Friday, July 22.