I saw this for the first time yesterday, and was disappointed.
Admittedly the environment of the cinema was partly to blame. The image was dim and a bit soft, and there were, y'know, people, making noises and emitting odours.
So that might explain why it took me a while to start enjoying the movie. In fact, I didn't really start getting into it until Enterprise was attacked. After that, it was like someone fiddling with a radio dial, switching between great, mediocre, and occasionally crap.
What did I like?
The swarm attacking the Enterprise was impressive, and Kirk's final fight with Krall had a fresh look we haven't seen before. Jaylah was a likeable and interesting character. The regulars were solid as always.
I liked all the stuff on the Franklin. That environment brought out the best of the character interactions and story. In fact, it made me realise that one reason I like ENT is the small ship size makes the character dynamics seem more intimate (whereas other ships are more like impersonal workplaces).
The shot of Doug Jung and the kid running for their lives at Yorktown had the desired effect. Jung actually seems like a pretty good actor.
I teared up at two places: when Jaylah thinks Kirk might be abandoning her, and when Kirk turns down his promotion.
What didn't I like?
It's not necessarily a question of disliking specific things. The overall problem of Beyond is that it feels too lightweight and inconsequential. In a word, Fluff. If we analyse, we can find various contributing causes.
The attack on the Enterprise was viscerally impressive, but I never really got a sense of the crew's fear. Apart from Uhura, the main characters never looked more than somewhat worried.
There is vagueness about the situation of the crew. How many of them died in the attack and how many survived? Kirk feels it's his duty to find them, but doesn't seem to have much emotional stake in it. He also doesn't seem to feel any responsibility for the loss of his ship and crew.
Spock, despite his injury, never seems to be in any real peril.
It's been said by some that Urban is basically doing an impersonation of Bones. In a similar way, there were some character moments, particularly on the Franklin, that felt like heavy-handed fan service - "Feel the Trek!" - which would have seemed pointlessly indulgent, if not actually annoying, to non-fans.
When the crew are rescued (we see a couple of dozen; it's unclear how many there are) we don't see them on the Franklin. The lack of explanation does seem odd. (As a side note, who was that dead redshirt we saw when they got back to Yorktown? I actually thought it might be Scotty, until he turned up in the next scene. Was this body the only unnamed crewman to stay aboard?)
The scenes of Krall and his prisoners at Krall's base was a bit of a mess, plot-wise, just meandering to-ing and fro-ing to get some exposition out. Krall sucking the life energy out of the prisoners didn't really fit. Was he trying to frighten Uhura? Was he suddenly really hungry? Or did he have a sudden attack of the Evils?
When they got back to the Yorktown, I didn't really follow what was going on. It was a lot of running and flying about that I didn't really care about.
At the end, I liked the symmetry of the Kirk/Spock scene with their earlier scene in the elevator, but as has been pointed out, Kirk's early talk with Bones never really had a payoff. In the same way, I think Spock's dilemma arc should have been spelled out and given more weight; as it is, it seems like something happening in the background that never comes into focus.
(There are lots of other points I could mention, but I just want to deal with the main ones.)
ACTORS:
I thought Idris Elba made a crap villain. He played it all on one super-evil note, and I could barely understand much of what he was saying. The character's motivation was slim to non-existent.
The Yorktown commander was a boring presence and had no personality.
The deceptive female alien looked too similar to the face-hugger alien.
Conclusion:
As I have said, the overall impression was of lightweight fluff. The previous films, even the worst of them, felt like they were about something, like something important was happening. I didn't get that feeling here.
I think ultimately this film will be classified with INS and the lighter parts of TSFS as a moderately successful "romp". I would not class it with TVH, as that film is an outright comedy, and more successfully so .
I gave it a B-, though on reflection I'd change that to a C+ (the poll won't let me change my vote).
By comparison, I think I'd give STID a B, and ST09 a B+ or an A-.
I mentioned the issues I had with the cinema where I watched this. I do expect to enjoy this movie much more when I watch it at home, and can ensure that the image is as bright and colourful as it needs to be.
He wore a Star Trek shirt to it though..
