Star Trek Beyond (2016)

[Blankments]

The 50th anniversary celebration film, Star Trek Beyond takes a more subtle approach of honoring Star Trek's illustrious past. Namely, it avoids the traps of its predecessor and gives something new. New aliens, a new villain, and even a completely original heroic character in Sofia Boutella's Jayla. It also returns to the old style in ways the reboot universe never had before. Finally, Karl Urban's Bones is one of the main three characters, and it is absolutely delightful. He steals the movie from the rest of the cast.

 

Lin brings his ensemble-juggling skills from the Fast and Furious franchise and gives everyone a chance to shine. It's just slightly disappointing that a large chunk of the movie has the crew split up, and even though everyone has a good amount of screentime, the dynamics are obviously missing. Idris Elba is criminally wasted in his role of Krall, and the film often moves too fast to keep with the technobabble Scotty and Chekov throw at us. Lin also abandons a lot of the visual identity Abrams gave this reboot series and the film suffers from a bland look. It's at its best when it slows down and just allows us to partake in conversations between the iconic characters.

 

The film might start slow, but its bombastic finale is probably the best of this trilogy. Star Trek Beyond celebrates the franchise with something new and enthralling, while also not forgetting why Star Trek is so popular in the first place. Bring on Star Trek 4. B-

 

On a side note, Anton Yelchin's Chekov has always been a truly wonderful part of this series. He has imparted emotion and childlike emotion in subtle expressions, and the accent he took on has always got me to smile. Lin and Pegg, with their more team-focused approach, gave Chekov a much bigger role this go-around, allowing him to partake in an action scene and other big roles. The final scene of the movie works as a subtle good-bye to his portrayal that got this viewer a bit misty-eyed. Yelchin will be missed, not only in Star Trek, but in all of cinema. What a talent.

[AniNate]

It was fine, but nothing really felt as exciting as it should've, imo. Action sequences seemed padded and unimaginative, even the one that was supposed be the big "F-ck yeah" moment ultimately felt like it was missing something. But character beats and humor were solid and I loved the design of Yorktown.

 

As an aside, it occurred to me after watching this that it's practically impossible to "speculate" on what popular music will be like in the future. No matter what you think of it's going to seem hopelessly dated by the time the actual date arrives.

[filmlover]

On par with Into Darkness, although neither of the sequels have been able to hold a candle to the enormous delights of the '09 reboot. This is still an immensely entertaining adventure even if it just feels more like an extended episode devoid of actual stakes, and Justin Lin assumes the mantle from J.J. Abrams in a seamless fashion to the point where even the most discerning moviegoer wouldn't sense a change behind the scenes.

 

The best thing about these movies is definitely the impeccably-assembled cast. Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and Karl Urban have made undeniable long-lasting impressions in these iconic roles, although Zoe Saldana is unfortunately shortchanged in this one compared to the previous movies. Sofia Boutella's Jaylah is a terrifically badass heroine who will hopefully become part of the team in the next movie. Too bad the script makes the crucial mistake of saddling the ever-charismatic Idris Elba with a weak villain role that requires him to be rendered unrecognizable by a goofy mask (I also wasn't a fan of the twist involving his character either).

 

Unfortunately, the movie also comes with unintended poignancy due to Anton Yelchin, one of the most promising actors of his generation whose death in a horrific freak accident last month is still difficult to process. What a remarkable young talent. Such a devastating loss.

 

B

[Water Bottle]

I had a lot of fun. As a fan of the series, I was happy to see Bones take a larger role in this movie.

 

A-

[jb007]

Liked it. It is a fun movie. Loved Karl urban and Sofia Boutella. 

 

The 3D showing I watched it in was too dark. I just despise 3D but could not avoid it since 2D was not available.

 

Rating: B+

[FilmBuff]

Honestly, I really enjoyed it for the first two acts. Definitely a an A/A+ type of film in the first two, but the third act was a big let down. Seems to be the theme with these series of the films at least for me anyways. Although, The third act for the first film was still leaps and bounds better than Into Darkness and Beyond. Idris Elba is always great in his performances, but I felt like his character was completely underutilized and didn't have a lot to do until the 3rd act. Even then, his character motivation and revenge against the Federation fell flat for me. Elba was good when he was on screen with what he had to work with, but he is still WAY behind Benedict Cumberbatch as Khan for me in the last film.

 

I liked how Bones and Spock were given more screen-time together. We got to see how these two characters meshed. We had gotten plenty of Kirk/Spock. So, it was good to see characters get mixed up with others. Nyota/Sulu, Kirk and Chekov, Scotty and the new character played by Sophia Boutella, Bones and Spock. Very smart writing by Simon Pegg. Very good chemistry between Quinto and Urban. I also liked how the characters had to depend on their smarts and ideas to beat the enemy. Obvoiusly a throwback to the old series when the crew had to come up with plans to win. Even more so, we got to see this when they lost their ship. Those little enemy 'drill' ships were cool. Good idea by Lin to include them. Big Space Station was a pretty neat concept too.

 

Overall, I liked it saved for a bad third act. Ending was kind of melodramatic. Wish there had been a bigger action set piece. Movie cut through the last battle quickly to the chase in the city. Cast like always is great. I enjoyed the new character played by Sophia Boutella. She kicks ass. Elba was good, but didn't have a lot to do.

 

Overall I'd give it a B/B+. Behind Into Darkness and ST09.

Edited July 24, 2016 by FilmBuff

[FilmBuff]

Btw, was that a cameo by George takei at the end at Kirk's birthday?

[lilmac]

 

Pros: The franchise has finally left the Starfleet and is exploring the Great Beyond. Great visuals and FX. Main characters have grown in likability. Decent villain - I like this look. The grand action scenes were among the very best since the franchise rebooted. 

 

Cons: The smaller scale action/fight scenes were hard to follow. I wasn't sure where characters were in the fight and who was punching whom. I left the theater thinking I just saw a good movie but not one that was memorable or stood out among the pantheon of Trek films. 

 

 

B

[Omario]

Good movie. Not as good as the previous 2 but definitely a a nice third movie. 

 

Spock and Bones worked well. Gave Karl Urban a bigger role thankfully. Also as Filmbuff noted, people got mixed up well with different people to expand on their characters. Well done Lin and Pegg.

 

Wasn't too fond of the villain and his motivations. His swarm drones were good but his ancient weapon was not really scary. His swarm of ships would have been terrifying enough to be honest. They were pretty devastating. Once the end battle moved away from them the movie went a bit downhill. 

 

Other than that enjoyed it throughout. Would like to see Jaylah return in the next one.

 

B+

 

Still waiting for a movie about Klingons.... 

[WrathOfHan]

A very fun movie. Doesn't break any new ground but it doesn't need to, seeing the cast play off of each other is always good. The Enterprise's destruction goes on a bit too long but after that it's a blast. Sofia Boutella's character was a nice surprise, hope we see her in the next one. And yes, that Sabotage scene was glorious. Leonard Nimoy would be proud; I was smiling hard at the original picture  8/10 | B

[newbie BO buff]

some questions:

- how many of the Franklin's crews were transformed like Edison?

- was Manas human as well?

- why did Edison change his name to Krall? (I keep adding "Diana" in my head but that's just me)

- what does the ultimate weapon actually do?

 

Anyway, the stellar cast is always the highlight of NuTrek ..... delightful interactions between them

[John Marston]

the movie was nothing but fun. Though the weak villain and rushed climax prevent it from being as good as the first two

 

 

 

hope they keep making these.  The new Trek's are some of the most enjoyable blockbusters around

[darkelf]

I gotta say that this was very refreshing in contrast to Abrams' oh-look-it's-action-beat-after-action-beat fests. It's amazing that the director of Fast & Furious movies had to come in to bring this series a bit of much needed breathing space. The movie works like a charm and it's mostly because of great writing and wonderful characters and their relationships. Every member of the crew got their share in the spotlight and I feel that was something the first two movies (especially STID) could have improved on. The action was solid (Enterprise destruction was great) and the movie went by like a breeze. All in all, I can't remember when was the last time I left the theater this happy and this is definitely my #1 movie of the year so far.

 

9/10

[Jake Gittes]

Inessential but fun space adventure flick with the cast as its main asset. Though if/when they do another movie with this crew I hope they try to reach for something more than "pretty good". 

[MrPink]

42 minutes ago, Jake Gittes said:

Inessential but fun space adventure flick with the cast as its main asset. Though if/when they do another movie with this crew I hope they try to reach for something more than "pretty good". 

 

Lin Da God is just laying the trap for all of us. This is his Tokyo Drift. Star Trek 4 will be his Fast and Furious, and then Star Trek 5 will be when he unleashes the full glory, complete with Dwayne Johnson

[RobinHood26]

6 hours ago, MrPink said:

 

Lin Da God is just laying the trap for all of us. This is his Tokyo Drift. Star Trek 4 will be his Fast and Furious, and then Star Trek 5 will be when he unleashes the full glory, complete with Dwayne Johnson

 

I hope not Tokyo drift is mils better than 4. 4 is easily the worst Fast film. THERE IS LIKE NO JOKES. its a fucking colorless bore of a downer. 

 

Lets skip to Fast Five this time. Thor = Rock

[Goffe]

49 minutes ago, Jay Hollywood said:

 

I hope not Tokyo drift is mils better than 4. 4 is easily the worst Fast film. THERE IS LIKE NO JOKES. its a fucking colorless bore of a downer. 

can we agree they are both very very horrible

Edited August 1, 2016 by Goffe

[MrPink]

2 hours ago, Jay Hollywood said:

 

I hope not Tokyo drift is mils better than 4. 4 is easily the worst Fast film. THERE IS LIKE NO JOKES. its a fucking colorless bore of a downer. 

 

Lets skip to Fast Five this time. Thor = Rock

 

It's true, 4th is the worst.

 

But the 5th. The payoff will be oh so sweet.

[ladyevenstar22]

loved it , had to wait forever for it to come out in france so stayed away from here just in case someone spoiled me which i kinda did on tumblr about spock and uhura but luckily thats resolved somewhat by end of the movie !

Destruction of ship was cool gotta say as a trek fan this has to be one of the best enterprise destruction scenes ! 

i like the new character , but unlike some here , 1 i didnt know elba was in this movie 2 the video of the franklin crew was in passing so i didn't pay attention so the reveal was a surprise to me and i love how it showed off uhura unparelleled hearing skills .

 

also spock and bones is comedy gold , and the necklace slash tracking device spock you sly devil hmmm i wonder if uhura will ever find out ha ha ha ....

 

A+ for me .... i love the reboot cast so much that i can't imagine disliking any of the movies its like slipping into my comfy shoes for a well worth 2hrs of TLC ( ps: i read a lot of star trek 09 fanfic)

oh my i nearly forgot about sulu and his husband and daughter , love they didnt make a big deal out of it

[Napoleon]

I had a lot of fun with the first two movies, but this one was just tiring. The main characters are great, they're funny in a natural way and we care about them. But Star Trek Beyond shows nothing new about them. The premise was very interesting and opened the possibility for something fresh and unique, but instead everything felt repetitive and unoriginal. It didn't help that the villain was bad and the action unimpressive. There were a few good moments, and I love the way they embraced Jaylah into the crew. But overall, it's a very forgettable and unnecessary sequel. I really hope this isn't the last movie.