Spoilers STAR TREK BEYOND - Grading & Discussion

Just rewatched this last night. Still my third favourite of the Kelvinverse films but it rose in my estimation. It also made me want more from this particular cast (and sad Anton Yelchin is gone).

 

Watched this a week ago in 4k. It not only holds up I think it's a very good "Star Trek" movie and good "scifi" movie.

You have to give Simon Pegg credit for knowing the material (The opening as reference to Corbomite Maneuver, ec). The nods to previous Trek are more seamless than Picard season 3.

It's strange to hear people say we didn't have a proper 50th anniversary when this movie is a celebration of Star Trek. Hell, we even have a mini-Federation in a snow globe to make the point!

 

Weird, I gave this movie an A+ in the poll on release but never posted a review. Or at least, I didn't see it after scanning 89 pages and doing a search.

This remains my favorite of the Bad Robot Treks. Mostly because it's primarily serious, has a really well crafted story (especially when you consider how quickly this one came together), and finally gives us the Jim Kirk I'd been waiting for since the end of 2009. The whole "frat boys in space" feel it gone. Kirk isn't a oversexed horndog saying "helloooooo ladies" and there aren't any gratuitous underwear shots. It's not a reinvention or a rewrite, it's a proper Trek movie which while it isn't novel, still feels more original than the prior two.

This is a film that almost requires multiple viewings. They peppered all of the clues and hints to what was going on and why throughout and going back and re-watching reveals all the little bits that seemed unimportant but weren't.

I've read more than once in this thread that it was "Fast and Furious in Space." Well, firstly, the FF movies were never this well written and performed and secondly, if Justin Lin never did any of the FF franchise, nobody would say that.

I - do - feel Lin's direction is overbaked and his camera is far too active. All that spinning, bobbing and weaving gets a little old. The saucer escape which kill Kalara is just a bit too much. How Kik and Chekov jumped far enough away is a mystery. Other than that, Lin does action well. However, I get it, you're the director and can do what you want, but your kid's cameo on Yorktown is too obvious and pulls me out of the movie every time. Having said that, some shots are truly inspired. The new warp effect is great, and the "mounted camera" fisheye lens shot as the Enterprise leaves Yorktown is beautiful.

While I don't feel this is Michael Giacchino's strongest score of the series (Into Darkness gets that nod from me), he still provides some gorgeous music, with "A Night on the Yorktown" being the standout.

The film starts off shakily, much like STID with a far too over the top comedy sequence (much like the Kik and Bones comically running scene in the prior film). Scotty is particularly dense when Kirk is literally screaming to be beamed up. However, the reveal of tiny aliens was funny as hell. As was "I ripped my shirt again." After that, though, the movie dials back the comedy more than any of the prior two films. And yes, we've seen the Enterprise destroyed before, but I got a sick feeling in my gut when I saw the nacelles floating free. It was like watching a friend's arms getting amputated.

I love the focus on the original Big Three rather than the prior Kirk/Spock/Uhura. More McCoy and Spock for the win.

Yeah the Beastie Boys thing was off kilter but it ties into the first film, so we know the music exists in that period. And it is an exciting sequence. Honestly, it's the first film of the three that I didn't have a major problem with. 2009 pissed me off with making Kirk a captain while still on academic probation. I Was fine with Into Darkness until they did the fake Kirk Death and the mirrored dialog. This one? All good. I wish it was a bigger hit, but if this is the last we see of this group, they went out on top.

Now I'm gonna listen to the music again.

 

Why?

 

I just didn't feel it made sense to give a cadet on academic probation with no command experience a promotion to Captain of a starship over potentially other more experienced officers based on his actions in the film. A promotion? Sure. Fast tracked to command? Absolutely. Skipping from cadet to literal Captain? I didn't buy it. It felt more like they wanted everyone in place by the end of the movie. It was the same reason Chekov was suddenly old enough to be there.

I heard all of the arguments defending it in 2009. I had all those discussions then and I'm not gonna derail the thread with them now, especially since that was just the tiniest part of my post. But you asked so there you go.

 

Sad but fair.

I think it sets up Kirk's arc in Beyond beautifully.

And he was a lieutenant in 09.

 

And also why a seemingly disgraced Scotty sneaks on board, disobeys a direct order under penalty of court-martial, and then just suddenly becomes an accepted member of the crew.

 

What? What court martial?

 

This is probably my most rewatched Trek movie and I honestly never knew the director's kid even had a cameo on Yorktown.

Was that Sulu's kid? Or someone else?

 

The little green boy who watches a train go past. It's almost kind of a director trademark at this point, Justin Lin did very similar shots in at least two of the Fast and Furious movies.

 

I honestly don't even remember it off the top of my head.

Maybe not quite that obvious to people who aren't familiar with Lin's other work.

 

It's only one or two seconds of screen time. The train whizzes past, the boy looks at it go, we cut to something else.

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Oqwe_Lin

 

Since I just discovered this thing in the forums:

 

I hate seeing TFF at the bottom, but 09 and ID belong at the top.

 

It's just a screenshot of a ranking program he used to rank the movies.

 

I think Kirk's arc in Into Darkness (not Beyond) was in response to the criticism of the meteoric rise from cadet/lieutenant (was that clear in the film?) to captain of the Enterprise. And that arc is the only thing that made me feel better about it - 4 years after the fact. I give hem credit for acknowledging the decision and making it the main thrust of Kirk's arc.

Anyway, I enjoyed Kirk in Beyond a lot more because he felt like a Starship Captain, the Kirk I always liked watching. Brave, cocky, but plagued with his own inner doubts. The hair was also just right. Pine nailed the character in Beyond. He's the perfect meld of "new" Kirk and OG Kirk.

Also, I appreciated the redesigned uniforms. I was never a fan of the silkscreened delta shield all over every shirt, like Superman's costume having all the S's in Superman Returns.

All in all, this is my favorite of the three for all those reasons and those in my previous post. Really a fun Trek adventure that went past the origin story and the re-imaging of old characters.

 

It was not, as his rank was shown on a display during the air drop.

But, given Uhura is dressed as a cadet, and called "lieutenant" its clear in context. Cadet is the bullet, not the rank. And, Kirk can move up the chain once placed in it by a senior officer, like Pike.

He did but I needed the see the set up as growth towards that maturing.

 

I would have loved if V had been great! It would have built on IV's success and made TNG even more popular.

In an alternate universe, Paramount let Nimoy direct again, and it was a great movie.

As it is, it's a bad movie.