Star Trek Beyond is a standout in the Kelvin timeline, delivering an exciting blend of blockbuster action and Gene Roddenberry's optimism. Director Justin Lin and writers Simon Pegg and Doug Jung successfully brought the Enterprise crew to life with a thrilling storyline balanced with dynamic action sequences. Despite underwhelming box office results, Star Trek Beyond set the bar high for standalone adventures in the Star Trek universe.

It's been eight years since Star Trek Beyond, the best of J.J. Abrams' three Star Trek movies, was released. When the movie was released in 2016, I wasn't particularly excited, given the disaster that was Star Trek Into Darkness. Still, I trooped along to my local multiplex on opening night, hoping that, finally, this would be the Chris Pine Star Trek movie that managed to capture the spirit of Gene Roddenberry while also being an accessible summer blockbuster. Although I was still skeptical about this,...