Zoe Saldana as Uhura. She really brought life to the character. I'm also liking Pine. He does his own thing but still comes off as being very much Kirk.
Urban and Cho. I really like what Urban has brought to McCoy even though in the first movie some of his lines made me think he was reading poetry. Cho has been a really good Sulu too.
Deja vu I rank the actors performing their roles best like this: 1. Chris Pine: The single most amazing thing about ST09 is Pine's performance, after 40+ years of comedians mimicking Shatner and his delivery. With Shatner devolving into a caricature of himself on screen and off I expected the worst...a Shatner impression. Nothing was further from the truth. he brought himself to the role and his subtle mannerisms and inflections were perfect for Kirk. 2. Karl Urban. Sure he is less subtle than Kelley but the timing and delivery is spot on and he's just as adept at stealing scenes. 3. Zachary Quinto: I have to still give the nod to Nimoy here of course, but too often actors sound like drones when performing Vulcans. Quinto rarely does. 4. Zoe Saldana: She's a better Uhura, and not only is especially talented in her job (ST09) but she actually managed to be the focus for an important scene where she tried to save Kirk and co from the Klingons using her language skills, and even though she failed, she gained them some time to prepare. 5. Anton Yelchin: A better actor than Koenig. Pike calling him a "Russian wiz kid" was one of my favorite lines from ST09. 6. Simon Pegg: He seems less like the original character than any of these roles. He's definitely funny, sometimes useful and was the conscientious objector of STID, but still a hair away from being iconic. 7. John Cho: Nothing against him but he has been possibly underused. He looks to get more to do in Beyond.
Saw Trek: Beyond yesterday. Hat goes off to Quinto and Urban. They are now Spock and McCoy as much as Nimoy and Kelley ever were. Hopefully people will see what I mean when they watch it.
Star Trek Beyond really helped me re-evaluate Urban. He was just doing a boring McCoy impersonation in ST09 and Into Darkness but he's much more watchable now. I also like Pine more now, his character growth is believable. I really like Uhura. Saldana has a great presence and intensity. She's probably my favourite in the new cast. I might actually like Pine as much as Quinto after Beyond.
Definitely Urban. Beyond was the first time that I felt Pine and Quinto had really grown into their roles.
Probably an unpopular opinion, but I think Benedict Cumberbatch as Khan is my favorite bit of casting. His Khan is more menacing and more interesting to watch for me. Also, I really like Zachary Quinto as Spock and Karl Urban as Bones.
Zachary Quinto as Spock and Zoe Saldana as Uhura are my favorites. I think they are the ones who embody the sense of this being a different version of the trek I know where the characters have different layers. Unlike Karl Urban, Quinto also manages to have similarities with Nimoy without making an impersonation of tos Spock, or pretend his character is the same as the one from another reality. I had never been a Kirk fan (sue me. but he was the cliché of a certain kind of male protagonist from old tv-shows. And I don't like Shatner ) but I have to say that Chris Pine's version makes me like him and find him more interesting. I prefer new Chekov and Sulu over the old too while I'm completely indifferent to Scotty in both versions, though at least Pegg's one is more funny because he's basically playing himself ^
I love these actors because it works. The actors both physical appearance and re-creating the character close to the original cast: Chris Pine as Kirk Karl Urban as McCoy Zachary Quinto as Spock Zoe Saldana as Uhura Simon Pegg as Scotty
Urban as McCoy was severely underused in ST09 and STID, he's definitely my favourite actor/character in reboots. It looks like he has an increased role in Beyond, so that's quite reassuring. I also really like John Cho as Sulu, possibly more than I like Takei. I really wouldn't mind a Captain Sulu film/show with Cho in the chair.
Karl Urban is an underrated actor in general, based on both his performance as Dr. McCoy and as Judge Dredd in the 2012 film Dredd. He's awesome in both.