Now that it’s normal for franchises to crank out a new entry every one or two years, there’s something refreshing about the fact that Star Trek is willing to take longer breaks between new entries. Don’t get me wrong, I love going to several Marvel movies every year, but the wait between Trek films helps make each one we get more of an event, regardless of how I end up feeling about the final product. It also means that I’m just happy to see this cast of characters again, and that return of several familiar faces is one of several strong positives in this latest film, Star Trek Beyond.

If that opening paragraph makes it seem like you’re in for an article full of faint praise, let me go ahead and say this up front: Star Trek Beyond is a damn fine time, a big rollicking action film that provides a much needed injection of blockbuster energy to an otherwise slow summer season.

In terms of set-up, Beyond does a lot to capture the feel of classic Trek. The film finds the crew of the Enterprise three years into their five-year mission, and things aren’t moving as smoothly as we might expect. Kirk (Chris Pine) is finding it harder and harder to see the appeal of life as a starship captain, while the death of his alternate universe self has Spock (Zachary Quinto) wondering if he shouldn’t leave Starfleet altogether and refocus his efforts on serving New Vulcan.

As the two consider their futures, they’re pulled into a seemingly simple rescue mission. As these things have a way of going, the rescue turns out to be an ambush over an isolated planet that leads to the destruction of the Enterprise. The majority of the crew is taken hostage on the planet’s surface, leaving it to Kirk and the others to reunite and save the survivors.

The story of Beyond is honestly pretty hit-and-miss, and it really comes down to what it is you look for in Trek. There’s not much of the intellectual, thought-provoking sci-fi the original shows are known for, with the overall narrative serving as a fairly straightforward revenge plot. There’s an attempt at deeper character work with Kirk and Spock’s arcs, but they never feel particularly insightful or transformative.

The highlight, then, is just getting to see the main crew of the Enterprise interacting with one another, and Beyond explores new dynamics by splitting the characters up into unique pairs: Kirk and Chekov (Anton Yelchin), Uhura (Zoe Saldana) and Sulu (John Cho), and Spock and McCoy (Karl Urban) make for interesting duos, with a lot of great character moments occurring as the different teams discover the planet’s secrets and work their way back together.

As great as the classic characters are, the best arc of the movie surprisingly ends up going to new character Jaylah (Sofia Boutella), a scavenger who saves Scotty (Simon Pegg) and proves to be every bit as resourceful and interesting as a member of the main crew. Really, it’s kind of fitting for a new character to steal the show, a development that’s in keeping with some of the best Star Trek episodes.

Sadly, the same can’t be said of the film’s villain Krall (Idris Elba), who stands out as the biggest failing of the movie. It’s hard to say too much without delving into spoiler territory, but Krall is a weak villain, a generic-looking alien threat whose motivations aren’t properly explained until far too late in the story. It doesn’t help that Elba’s performance is hampered by several layers of make-up, and a particularly goofy design choice near the end ensures that if this character is remembered at all it’ll be as a dud.

Fortunately, though Krall himself fails to excite, the film’s action scenes are thrilling throughout. Star Trek Beyond is hugely successful at delivering moments of spectacle, from larger set-pieces like the destruction of the Enterprise to smaller conflicts like Kirk’s motorcycle assault on Krall’s base. Director Justin Lin’s experience with the Fast & Furious franchise serves him well in crafting engaging, enxciting sequences.

At the end of the day, yes, Star Trek Beyond is every bit the film it appears to be in the trailers: a solid, if not surprising, summer blockbuster. How much you’ll enjoy this film, then, comes down to how much you enjoy this type of movie, or this version of Star Trek. As is, I’m still excited to check in with this cast of characters every few years. That it manages to stand apart as such a solid, entertaining entry in the series is a welcome bonus. Star Trek Beyond may go where plenty of films have gone before, but that doesn’t make it any less of a fun place to be.

Final Score: 7.5 out of 10