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Spoilers STAR TREK BEYOND - Grading & Discussion

Grade the movie...

  • Total voters
    611
Far better than the second one, I'll say that first.

Felt familiar... mostly to Insurrection I guess. While it didn't 'boldy go' which was my main criticism of #2, I did at least feel like it expanded the universe a bit which is what I'm after.

Feel akin to A Brieifing with Neelix it was all a bit dessert, and not sure the characters have grown at all. Kirk was clearly in a rut, but that was never really dealt with. Uhura was woefully underused. The new character (white lady, I'll call her) felt like she was meant to be a key point but felt flat.

That said, all enjoyable... very enjoyable. I just don't feel it got me in the gut, emotionally, apart from the odd bit that delighted me (reference to Xindi war, TOS cast picture etc.)
 
(Re-posting review from another part of the forum)

I just saw the film. It was wonderful. That's the only way to describe it. Any weaknesses (like Krall, who was fine but could have been better) weren't a big deal. The whole movie was very good. I spent the first 20 or so minutes with my jaw just hanging open from all the awesome (especially when they introduced the Yorktown base). The story was entertaining, and had some things I didn't expect. All the characters were pretty great (outside of the villain, who was good but, like I said, could have been stronger). Urban was great as McCoy, I liked him a lot and I knew he'd be awesome when he actually got stuff to do. His scenes with Spock were fun and worked very well. Pegg as Scotty was good as always. Spock and Kirk actually sold their characters better to me in this then they did the last two movies, I actually really want to see more of both of them. Uhura didn't have a lot, but she came off better then the other movies, too (not that she was bad in the other movies). Chekov and Sulu were fine, although they had the least to do. Jaylah was great. I really hope she comes back. I expected her to just be an ok alien character, with maybe the same level of importance/interest/impact as Carol Marcus in STID. But she was really good, she kicked butt, and was really likeable.

I liked all parts of the movie pretty equally, but man that ending

The scene with Spock seeing the picture of the old crew was a great scene (and emotional for a Trekkie like me). The reveal of the Enterprise-A with the time lapse then transitioning into "Space...the final frontier" and then ending with the TOS theme blew my mind. A perfect way to end a great movie.

Was I the only one nerdy enough to see that the Franklin's Dedication plague called it "Starship Class"? It was a nice nod to TOS, and there was a lot of cool stuff like that scattered around but not distracting.

This is instantly a Top 5 Trek movie. Actually, I think its a Top 3. Its battling The Undiscovered Country for the #2 spot. I'd put it at #3 for now, although repeat viewings will see if it can take the #2 spot. Like others have said, this movie felt like it was made by people who love Star Trek, but still made as a movie for everyone. It just has something to it (heart, maybe?) that the other two movies didn't really have, at least in my opinion.

Trailers: Suicide Squad, Bad Moms (ugh), Jason Bourne and Ben Hur

Rating: A
 
B+

Definitely the best of the 3 nu-Trek films so far. This one hit a lot of positive notes, but many of the things that grate on me about nu-Trek still grate on me with this one. I did like all the little 'love letters' they sent out to the franchise as a whole, presumably as a part of the 50th anniversary and so forth.

One thing that also majorly detracts from the 'A' rating: I've seen the USS Enterprise destroyed on screen enough times now that it simply has no dramatic effect anymore, and every time they do it they diminish the crew and especially the captain. The whole point is for them to win through and keep their ship intact and on-mission. Losing your ship shouldn't mean you get rewarded with the next shiny new vessel to come out of spacedock.

Definitely not a bomb and I'll probably see it at least one more time in the theater.
 
I loved the movie. A+, but with one nagging question:

If Balthazar was on Enterprise (he mentioned the Xindi), and the E went warp 5, but the Franklin went warp 4, isn't that a continuity problem? Also, the Franklin was NX-326(?) implying post-Enterprise. The warp 4 comment maybe should have been warp 6?
 
I give Star Trek Beyond an A- on a grading scale.

To put this post into context: I liked the 2009 film but I didn't like Into Darkness.

I went ahead and just saw Star Trek Beyond. The reviews made me not want to wait. There's no question about it. This is the best of the three rebooted films. By a long shot. I don't mind seeing it in the theater again.

If you're looking for '60s, '80s, or '90s Trek, you're not going to find it BUT this movie knows what it is and it does it a LOT better than the other two. And it's nice to have an original story.

The camera work is the best I've seen in any of the films. Reboot or not. The action isn't mind-numbing, I actually care about what happens during it, and they put a lot into the characters.

They could've done more with Krall, but the villains are never going to be the reboot's strong suit. He's *okay*.

There's also a nod to the fact it's the 50th Anniversary. I'm not going to say what it is but you'll know it when you see it and it also worked as a good character beat.

The movie isn't dramatic but it's fun and it does what it wants to do very effectively.
 
It was fun and breezy. I disliked the Krall twist and his motivations. In the media landscape of Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad, I think it's fair to ask for a villain whose motivations are clearly understood and relate-able. I found myself not really invested in some of the action sequences, but my wife grabbed my arm and looked away when the mining ships went into the neck of the Enterprise, so I'd say it was effective.

The cast was fantastic as usual, particularly Spock and Bones. This is the best performance by Spock of the three movies I'd say.

I gave it a B-. My real gripe is that when you give us a Star Trek movie every 3 years, it'd be nice to have some universe-building. If these movies came out every 18 months it'd be a different story. I'd enjoy Into Darkness and Beyond a lot more. I know that's not really a fair judgment of this particular film... but this didn't really advance the "Star Trek" story or lore. It was a summer action film, and it did its job in that regard.
 
Overall: A+

I guess I'm an outlier among older Star Trek fans in that so far my favorite JJ verse film was "Star Trek Into Darkness" and still is. That said - after seeing this one, it's #2 of the JJ verse for me - although honestly they are all really close.

Still, I enjoyed it a lot; don't understand the reasoning of the: "They're good, entertaining films; but not Star Trek films..." crowd as to me - all three have done a marvelous job capturing the essence of the original Star Trek for me. And as I've said many times - old original series fan here that started watching Star Trek first run since 1969 (third season - at age 6.)

For myself, only two of the original cast Star Trek films - STII:TWoK and STIV:TVH work as well at recapturing what I enjoyed from the TOS days; and the JJ films TOWER above the TNG feature films easily. YMMV od course. ;)

Star Trek Beyond really had marvelous character moments some really laugh out loud, not forced humor, some good old fashioned adventure, some mystery, and was just plain fun/enjoyable to watch. Karl Urban 's McCoy is fantastic, and Simon Peg's take on Montgomery Scott really worked for me in this outing. No, he isn't James Doohan, but he's not trying to be - and IMO that's okay. I've enjoyed Chris Pine's take of James T. Kirk since day one; and have warmed to Zachary Quinto's Mr. Spock <--- But Spock and Kirk in the JJ Verse have had VERY different experiences then their 'Prime' counterparts, so of course they're going to be different from those in a lot of ways and that's okay too.

What happened to Anton Yelchin was an utterly horrible tragedy, and I'm also saddened we won't see more of his take on Pavel Chekov, because the character was also WONDERFULLY done for this film.

I hope they follow through and do produce the 4th JJ verse film, as it is something I do want to see.
 
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starmike said:
I loved the movie. A+, but with one nagging question:

If Balthazar was on Enterprise (he mentioned the Xindi), and the E went warp 5, but the Franklin went warp 4, isn't that a continuity problem? Also, the Franklin was NX-326(?) implying post-Enterprise. The warp 4 comment maybe should have been warp 6?
Click to expand...
Possibly the warp 4 thing was either (a) history being incorrect - Scotty etc. aren't historians so maybe they get it wrong or (b ) in ENT, the NX-01 doesn't go warp 5 too often and there could be an as-yet unexplained issue with it doing that. I dunno.
 
jespah said:
starmike said:
I loved the movie. A+, but with one nagging question:
If Balthazar was on Enterprise (he mentioned the Xindi), and the E went warp 5, but the Franklin went warp 4, isn't that a continuity problem? Also, the Franklin was NX-326(?) implying post-Enterprise. The warp 4 comment maybe should have been warp 6?
Click to expand...
Possibly the warp 4 thing was either (a) history being incorrect - Scotty etc. aren't historians so maybe they get it wrong or (b ) in ENT, the NX-01 doesn't go warp 5 too often and there could be an as-yet unexplained issue with it doing that. I dunno.
Click to expand...
My take:
If anything, this indicates conclusively that the 'JJ Verse' is a completely separate/alternate universe that diverged in ways from what we call the 'Prime Universe' long before 'Prime' Spock and the Narada appeared; as even the ENT era uniforms were very different from what we saw in that horrible Holodeck recreation that was "All Good Things". ;) Different reality, different continuity altogether.
 
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AntonyF said:
Far better than the second one, I'll say that first.

Felt familiar... mostly to Insurrection I guess. While it didn't 'boldy go' which was my main criticism of #2, I did at least feel like it expanded the universe a bit which is what I'm after.

Feel akin to A Brieifing with Neelix it was all a bit dessert, and not sure the characters have grown at all. Kirk was clearly in a rut, but that was never really dealt with. Uhura was woefully underused. The new character (white lady, I'll call her) felt like she was meant to be a key point but felt flat.

That said, all enjoyable... very enjoyable. I just don't feel it got me in the gut, emotionally, apart from the odd bit that delighted me (reference to Xindi war, TOS cast picture etc.)
Click to expand...

That was it for me. Everyone did something, but no one really had a juicy enough story arc to become heavily invested in. It was a good movie, but mostly a passive emotional experience for the viewer. We have no idea what Kirk had been up to in the prior three years, but it must've been mundane if the action in STB was enough to recharge him. It was fine, but not particularly special or different.

Kirk fell in love with the Enterprise while it was being built. That scene of him on the motorcycle looking at the ship in ST09 is priceless. About three years later, he became captain of it. A year later, he learns what being the captain of it really means. Then only about four years after that, he and the Enterprise seem to have become like an old married couple. The spark is gone. It's really hard to believe that would happen James "Second Star to the Right" Kirk. Maybe we really needed to know more about how it got that way. Maybe he tried to have a relationship with Carol Marcus but the ship got in the way, she left him, and he began wondering about the life he was giving up to trek among the stars (that would fit in with Jim "No Beach to Walk On" Kirk.) I really had a tough time believing Kirk became bored and at 35, the age he was early in TOS, he's ready to ground himself with a desk job. If there were still doubts about himself in his head because of the loss of his dad, we left those demons with the bottle of Scotch early in the movie and didn't revisit them. Yet they seem gone at the end. Why? What happened?

When Kirk almost matter-of-factly toasts the Enterprise at the end, I really could've seen Shatner coaxing every inch of emotion and sense of loss out of that moment. Voice cracking, tears welling up. The kind of moment he was made for.
 
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Thanks for the replies about the possible Franklin continuity problem. It does make sense that the JJ-verse (pre and post-Kelvin) has been different all along.
 
Lakenheath 72 said:
I discovered a new tie to Star Trek; Enterprise. The Franklin disappeared in the Gagarin Radiation Belt, a location mentioned in the first season of the series.
Click to expand...

But the Franklin disappeared in 2164 and the first season of Enterprise took place in 2151...and the Franklin had a USS designation, which Enterprise didn't...
 
I don't see how the Franklin eould be out of place in the prime universe.
It looks the part, is likely a direct precursor to the NX class on their way to build a warp 5 engine design.
It was just a stepping stone toward alkarger goal and experimental, but still noteworthy.

Edison was not it's first captain.
I think the ship had at least 3 different careers.
Being a testing frame for a starship sized Archer type warp 5 engine.
Pulled from mothball destroyer or frigate during the war efforts against the Romulans.
Low level exploration or support ship to "honor" veterans. A place where they would be out of the way of the young hotshot peace officers.
 
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