I...don't think you're from out universe.
Hello visitor from the great multiversal beyond where there have been no action movies before 1996.
Spoilers STAR TREK BEYOND - Grading & Discussion
- Thread starter Commander Richard
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I...don't think you're from out universe.
Hello visitor from the great multiversal beyond where there have been no action movies before 1996.
You ignored most of my post. I didn't say there wasn't action in those movies.
I...don't think you're from out universe.
Hello visitor from the great multiversal beyond where there have been no action movies before 1996.
I never said anything of the like, and apparently now you're making this personal for some reason. I don't consider, and have never considered any of the TOS movies "action" movies, because back in the 80s an action movie was, for me, Commando and Rambo and Robocop. You know, movies where the focus was the action, hence the name.
There's nothing cerebral about most of Star Trek. The Cage? Maybe. TMP? Perhaps. There's smart stuff peppered in there but Trek, and TOS in particular, was mostly about the fun. That doesn't mean I want my Trek movies to feel like they're directed by Justin Lin--- ah, damn!
I voted B+. When I think of TWOK up there at the top as an A it's probably fair.
I just got back from seeing it and I was pretty happy. I think Krall was easily the weakest part, and held the film back from being better. Idra Elba was game, and when we found out he was the Captain of the Franklin, and saw what he went through trying to survive, I finally felt for him. It's a shame it was at the end of the film though, as I just had a hard time sympathising with him on any level. Case in point: I didn't actually feel anything as the Enterprise was crashing early on, mostly because I had no idea why this was going on. Even Generations did better generating tension during the Ent-D crash. It was downhill from there though.
So whilst the dodgy villain distracted me, I'll try and remember everything I did like:
I just got back from seeing it and I was pretty happy. I think Krall was easily the weakest part, and held the film back from being better. Idra Elba was game, and when we found out he was the Captain of the Franklin, and saw what he went through trying to survive, I finally felt for him. It's a shame it was at the end of the film though, as I just had a hard time sympathising with him on any level. Case in point: I didn't actually feel anything as the Enterprise was crashing early on, mostly because I had no idea why this was going on. Even Generations did better generating tension during the Ent-D crash. It was downhill from there though.
So whilst the dodgy villain distracted me, I'll try and remember everything I did like:
- Yorktown was amazing; a spectacle even. I loved the design of it all. I did smile.
- I loved how the film was structured more like an episode of TOS. The character moments, exploring the unknown, and especially the inundation of Spock/McCoy scenes.
- The music was great again. The Beastie Boys callback to the first reboot film was a nice touch, though I was worried I was going to cringe during the radio fight with the enemy. I bloody loved it though.
- I forget her name but I really enjoyed the lady in black and white makeup on the Franklin. She was really entertaining, and I feel I'd be happy seeing her again in another film.
- The mention of Prime Spock dying got me. I wasn't expecting them to mention it in the film, and just thought we'd have a memorial at the end. But no, they nicely brought Nimoy's passing into the story, and the little photo of the Prime crew was a lovely touch.
- Also a nice touch was the new Enterprise A at the end of the film, which was a good nod to the film series.
- Whilst ENT was never my favourite series, I liked all the shoutouts they had. I can remember a mention of the Xindi and MACOs, and the Franklin looked somewhat like the NX 01.
- Shohreh Aghdashloo has the most soothing voice in the world. She only had a small role but I've loved her in 24 and Mass Effect, and was happy to see her hear.
- Plenty of CGI wonders as well. Whilst I felt nothing, the scene itself where the Enterprise crashes was very well done. The enemy (I like how I can't remember their name) looked interesting too.
- For Anton.
I also noticed this, and I was really aching for either McCoy or Spock to refer to the Vulcan healing abilities and/or for McCoy to actually raise his hand to slap Spock awake from a healing trance. Those are little things that an old/long watching Trekkie would expect... and be gladdened to see.
Nope.
If they put in every little thing "that an old/long watching Trekkie would expect" the movie would be 14 hours long, and fans would still bitch that it wasn't enough.
Saw it last night and gave it a B-
The story and villain were perfectly serviceable albeit not that charismatic or unique in a way.. he was no Khan or Borg but it still came full circle nicely once it was revealed who he truly was.
Seeing the movie i was once again reminded how much Pine resembles a young Shatner and how he makes a great reboot Kirk since the first movie and he didn't disappoint there either. It was also understandable that he got antsy after 3 years being locked up in the ship and i think all of us would feel the same way. His anxiety and weariness really came through well.
First highlight was the Yorktown spacestation.. i didn't expect the movieverse giant mushroom design but was totally unprepared for what they really did. I was blown away by the design and the ideas and the sheer scale of it. Somehow i got the impression that Starfleet and the Federation in these movies were still starting up somehow and that ships like the Enterprise were the exception so it came as a big surprise that the Federation could build something this massive but it was gorgeus to look at.
The destruction of the Enterprise was technically well done, in fact it was a brilliant sequence visual wise but the loss felt kinda low impact because while on Yorktown they already alluded to a new ship being built currently and we all knew what that meant. It's of course far more spectacular than the original Enterprise blowing up in Star Trek 3 but people grew up with that ship and they went an entire movie without it before giving the audience the big moneyshot of the NCC 1701-A leading to a far more emotional reaction (even today i can't fight the smile when i see ST4 at the end when they pass the Excelsior, the music swells and we see the new Enterprise). However it was still a very entertaining sequence.
Once on the ground i really liked the idea of splitting the crew up and forming new teams.. as as been said before the McCoy/Spock teamup was the best due in no small part to Urban who just owns his version of McCoy and has great chemistry with Quinto's Spock (whose own character arc felt somewhat taking a back seat to all the crazy action that was going on).
I loved that Yelchin got more to do than to just read off screens and provide status updates but the entire time he was on screen i was really sad knowing that we will never again see his Chekov so the "For Anton" dedication hit hard again at the end.
The plan to defeat the Swarm was utterly ridiculous, part of the problem when you stack the odds so high against the heroes that only a Deus Ex Machina can save them and i think the writers fell into that trap here however they owned up to the ridiculousness and amped it up to 11 which gave us one of the most hilarious, visually stunning and cool scenes of the entire movie. Kirk's smile when he heard the Bestie Boys was just the beginning but i nearly launched out of my seat when the Yorktown turned up their volume and annihilated the Swarm by way of Beastie Boys
That was singlehandedly the most insane bullshit action i ever saw in a Trek movie and i will love it forever!
Krall gets defeated in yet another spectacular action sequence and we get to the epilogue which lifted the movie again by seamlessly coming full circle to Nimoy's Spock and the original crew and i couldn't hold down an "Awww!" when he (and us) saw the picture
All considered it was a very solid and entertaining summer blockbuster and am looking forward to seeing it again but i have one problem in general now with new Trek (which is why i gave it a B- instead of an A).. it lacks the humanist storytelling that was the hallmark of TOS, TNG and all the other shows of the Prime universe.
Don't think i don't like the new movies.. i think the death of George Kirk intro in the first movie might be the best Trek movie intro ever and they are all very entertaining movies but i think it's getting too much into action adventure with huge action/SFX pieces that could use more of that old Trek story vibe.. stories like the allegory of Star Trek 6 and the Kilngons standing in for the downfall of the Soviet Union or the battle of wits between Khan and Kirk (would that intense but lowkey ship battle in the Mutara Nebula even fly with today's audience? Compared to that the battles in Beyond seem to happen at lightspeed).
However i miss the way of storytelling in Star Trek that was kind of relevant to our current geopolitical and social climate and lord knows there is enough going that can be distilled into a SF story. I'd like to see more of that in the movies and maybe have one or two big action sequences less but then again these Star Trek movies are very succesfull as they are at the box office so that formula will probably stay the same.
At least they went their own way with the story this time and didn't reuse existing characters from the Prime universe and it wasn't a dud so there's that (but they still managed to throw in the occasional Easter Egg for the hardcore fans which i liked very much).
The 4th movie is already confirmed and will definitely go see it.. i love the cast and occasionally i like the big boom of summer blockbuster movies so see ya in 2019 (probably).
The story and villain were perfectly serviceable albeit not that charismatic or unique in a way.. he was no Khan or Borg but it still came full circle nicely once it was revealed who he truly was.
Seeing the movie i was once again reminded how much Pine resembles a young Shatner and how he makes a great reboot Kirk since the first movie and he didn't disappoint there either. It was also understandable that he got antsy after 3 years being locked up in the ship and i think all of us would feel the same way. His anxiety and weariness really came through well.
First highlight was the Yorktown spacestation.. i didn't expect the movieverse giant mushroom design but was totally unprepared for what they really did. I was blown away by the design and the ideas and the sheer scale of it. Somehow i got the impression that Starfleet and the Federation in these movies were still starting up somehow and that ships like the Enterprise were the exception so it came as a big surprise that the Federation could build something this massive but it was gorgeus to look at.
The destruction of the Enterprise was technically well done, in fact it was a brilliant sequence visual wise but the loss felt kinda low impact because while on Yorktown they already alluded to a new ship being built currently and we all knew what that meant. It's of course far more spectacular than the original Enterprise blowing up in Star Trek 3 but people grew up with that ship and they went an entire movie without it before giving the audience the big moneyshot of the NCC 1701-A leading to a far more emotional reaction (even today i can't fight the smile when i see ST4 at the end when they pass the Excelsior, the music swells and we see the new Enterprise). However it was still a very entertaining sequence.
Once on the ground i really liked the idea of splitting the crew up and forming new teams.. as as been said before the McCoy/Spock teamup was the best due in no small part to Urban who just owns his version of McCoy and has great chemistry with Quinto's Spock (whose own character arc felt somewhat taking a back seat to all the crazy action that was going on).
I loved that Yelchin got more to do than to just read off screens and provide status updates but the entire time he was on screen i was really sad knowing that we will never again see his Chekov so the "For Anton" dedication hit hard again at the end.
The plan to defeat the Swarm was utterly ridiculous, part of the problem when you stack the odds so high against the heroes that only a Deus Ex Machina can save them and i think the writers fell into that trap here however they owned up to the ridiculousness and amped it up to 11 which gave us one of the most hilarious, visually stunning and cool scenes of the entire movie. Kirk's smile when he heard the Bestie Boys was just the beginning but i nearly launched out of my seat when the Yorktown turned up their volume and annihilated the Swarm by way of Beastie Boys
That was singlehandedly the most insane bullshit action i ever saw in a Trek movie and i will love it forever!
Krall gets defeated in yet another spectacular action sequence and we get to the epilogue which lifted the movie again by seamlessly coming full circle to Nimoy's Spock and the original crew and i couldn't hold down an "Awww!" when he (and us) saw the picture
All considered it was a very solid and entertaining summer blockbuster and am looking forward to seeing it again but i have one problem in general now with new Trek (which is why i gave it a B- instead of an A).. it lacks the humanist storytelling that was the hallmark of TOS, TNG and all the other shows of the Prime universe.
Don't think i don't like the new movies.. i think the death of George Kirk intro in the first movie might be the best Trek movie intro ever and they are all very entertaining movies but i think it's getting too much into action adventure with huge action/SFX pieces that could use more of that old Trek story vibe.. stories like the allegory of Star Trek 6 and the Kilngons standing in for the downfall of the Soviet Union or the battle of wits between Khan and Kirk (would that intense but lowkey ship battle in the Mutara Nebula even fly with today's audience? Compared to that the battles in Beyond seem to happen at lightspeed).
However i miss the way of storytelling in Star Trek that was kind of relevant to our current geopolitical and social climate and lord knows there is enough going that can be distilled into a SF story. I'd like to see more of that in the movies and maybe have one or two big action sequences less but then again these Star Trek movies are very succesfull as they are at the box office so that formula will probably stay the same.
At least they went their own way with the story this time and didn't reuse existing characters from the Prime universe and it wasn't a dud so there's that (but they still managed to throw in the occasional Easter Egg for the hardcore fans which i liked very much).
The 4th movie is already confirmed and will definitely go see it.. i love the cast and occasionally i like the big boom of summer blockbuster movies so see ya in 2019 (probably).
Star Trek isn't about the bad guy. Never has been.
It's about how the crew of the Enterprise work together to find a solution to the threat at hand. It's especially about how Kirk and Spock kick ass and take names.
It's not about actual science, or how many big made-up words they can cram in, but the good guys winning. Screw all that social commentary crap. Gene Roddenberry was a money-grubbing horndog that could write for TV, not some damned intellectual visionary.
Star Trek is supposed to be fun, a great ride through the wonders of a galaxy that only slightly resembles our own.
Anything else you can get out of it is just a bonus.
It's about how the crew of the Enterprise work together to find a solution to the threat at hand. It's especially about how Kirk and Spock kick ass and take names.
It's not about actual science, or how many big made-up words they can cram in, but the good guys winning. Screw all that social commentary crap. Gene Roddenberry was a money-grubbing horndog that could write for TV, not some damned intellectual visionary.
Star Trek is supposed to be fun, a great ride through the wonders of a galaxy that only slightly resembles our own.
Anything else you can get out of it is just a bonus.
Saw it yesterday and absolutely loved it. It felt like an actual TOS episode made for the big screen. A vast improvement over the last two films and devoid of all the stupidity and bad writing that ruined those earlier movies for me. The character interactions were the highlight of the movie. I find myself really warming to this cast after this one. They really did nail those roles. And I loved all the nods to Enterprise.
All in all, a fine new addition to the movie series. I haven't enjoyed a ST movie this much since First Contact.
All in all, a fine new addition to the movie series. I haven't enjoyed a ST movie this much since First Contact.
Now that would've been a great scene.
Of course McCoy has always been more than comic relief, but soft Bones (birthday party scene, quiet drink scene, Spock scene) helps balance that. Actually, as a whole, they did pretty good just one or two less "Good God Man"s. De Kelly knew how to pitch those just right, not always the same way.
But I'm really nitpicking. The other thing I realized about the enduring appeal of Star Trek, for me, is that I get to hang out with my friends. The crew, and the Enterprise. I grew up coming home from school and watching the reruns on our black and white Zenith.
Yesterday, watching STB, I saw my friends again.
Gonna give it an A- being a die-hard fan of Trek generally. Great character moments especially between Bones and Spock, best I remember on the transporter pad with the phobic good doctor. Some choppy edits here and there, but that's to be expected in any film. Yorktown was conceptually fantastic and very well executed if confusing at times in the action sequences. Liked Jaylah way more than I thought, and she will make a welcome addition to the crew now that Anton (sadly) is gone. The only drawback and reason for the minus is the rather vaguely sketched out antagonist. Idris was wasted and surely deserved a bit more backstory to drive home the Khan-like bitterness and give a better understanding, if not "sympathy", for his plight. No, Trek isn't about villains, but an effective foil or antagonist can surely elevate the story. No Kill I, for example.
Anyway, since it'll likely be in theaters next week despite underperforming, I'll catch a second viewing then. 23 year old son said he'll join me.
Anyway, since it'll likely be in theaters next week despite underperforming, I'll catch a second viewing then. 23 year old son said he'll join me.
Saw it a second time today. Theater was packed at 1PM. At least except for the front 2 rows. Still think it's an A. And apparently I didn't miss much the first time around. Still think ending would have been better had Krall had a change of heart and became a hero in the end.
A+ from me, guys! I will be seeing it again with my co-teacher. She wants to see it with me. It's worth it to me to see it at least once more, though I might make it three times!
After he had executed three Starfleet officers?
Sure why not? He was beginning to regain his humanity. Of course at the cost of those officers. But his redemption by sacrificing his life to stop what he started would have been a more fitting end to the decorated hero he once was.
I'm glad they didn't try to redeem him. He not only execute three Enterprise officers that we know of, there were also likely hundreds of casualties from his nonsense. Allow him and his hate to die disgraced. No, "just kidding".
I think Kirk's line about getting lost would be more appropriate it played out that way. We could use some opptimism about now. That people who commit unspeakable acts can in the end can see the light and redeem themselves.
But it wasn't about getting lost. The way it felt to me, was that the alien technology brought his feelings to the surface with force. Edison was already xenophobic.
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