Spoilers STAR TREK BEYOND

Shalashaska · Jul 7, 2016

Another spoiler-free review of Beyond.

https://www.reddit.com/r/startrek/comments/4rnwaz/spoilerfree_thoughts_on_star_trek_beyond/

Note: This post assumes familiarity with the trailers and the fan and creator discussion of the trailers. While there are no spoilers, do not proceed any further if you haven't kept an eye on the publicity and/or don't even want oblique information about the movie.

I believe the creators of Star Trek Beyond had two mission statements. On the one hand they wanted to make a movie that further expanded the reach and appeal of the franchise into the mainstream. As Simon Pegg noted, the Kelvin timeline movies have performed well, but not Avengers level well. Beyond was intended to change that.

On the other hand, especially given (a) it's the 50th anniversary of the franchise and (b) its ardent fan base (of which I'm a proud member), the makers of the movie (some of whom are ardent fans themselves) wanted to remain true to the ideals of Roddenberry's vision, the fundamental optimism expressed in the premise of phrases like "boldly go" and "infinite diversity". (Or even, ahem, Hillary Clinton's current campaign slogan "Stronger together".) They've indicated publicly that the way they wanted to uphold these ideals is by having the antagonist, Krall, question what the United Federation of Planets stands for, a perfectly valid dramaturgical approach. (Deep Space Nine did something similar over the course of its run.)

It's a tricky juggling act. Does the movie succeed? Obviously everyone will have their own opinion. Most people at the premiere seemed to like it, many saying it was "better than the first [previous] two". My view is that Star Trek Beyonddoes a fine job of being a mainstream action film. There are a number of set pieces that are inventively conceived and executed with flair. Justin Lin and his team, while not necessarily having the distinctive visual aesthetic of, say, the Wachowskis, know how to stage the big scenes in a way that's visually interesting, while almost always maintaining the storytelling clarity within these action sequences. Do some of these set pieces always make sense dramatically? Maybe, maybe not. I had moments of doubt in a couple of them, and I'll form a stronger opinion after I see the movie again. But I don't actually mind big action scenes for the sake of big action scenes as long as there's sufficient other meat on the bones of a movie. And, if they're executed well, they can be their own reward. And the action in Beyondis executed well.

Does the story hang together? I think the answer is: well enough. There's a McGuffin which I don't think is seriously intended to be more than a McGuffin. It's there to move the plot to each of the aforementioned set pieces. The pacing is fast and furious (pun intended), although there are also a number of quieter character moments (alluded to below). However I got the sense that first half of the movie was trimmed more than it could have - should have - been. For example, there were two characters who played minor, but pivotal, roles in the plot that seemed to just pop up as required. Even an additional minute or two spent with each of them would have fleshed them out so that they were characters in their own right rather than just plot devices. Similarly, Kirk and Spock have character arcs that could have benefited from an additional beat or two so their respective emotional journeys are navigated a bit better. I'd like to believe that such moments were actually written and filmed, and could be reinstated for the Bluray release. I guess we'll find out if this is a possibility over the coming months.

Will Beyond make Avengers level money? I don't know (probably not), but I don't really care, beyond (no pun intended) wanting the movie to do well enough to spawn more movies.

Because I don't watch Star Trek movies as if they're general entertainment. I watch them as a fan. Have Lin & Co succeeded in satisfying me as a fan? The answer is: partly. I think the deeper question about what the Federation (and by implication Star Trek in the real world) stands for gets lost at the altar of pace and mainstream appeal. The questions are posed… but could have been interrogated in more depth. Partly it’s because the antagonist, like in almost every tentpole release these days, is thinly characterised. Krall does get developed, but (I think) too late in the movie. If this development had occurred earlier on I think not only would the dramatic, ie inter-character, conflict of the movie have been better defined, I think the deeper thematic conflict would have been laid out in starker, and stronger, relief. In that sense, just as Into Darkness failed to fully explore the thematic and political implications of its terrorism metaphor, so does Beyond fail to give a meaty answer to its underlying philosophical question in favour of pace, conventional plotting and and formulaic resolution.

That said, there’s still much, much in the movie to satisfy me as a fan. One of the things I criticised Into Darkness for is repeating the Wrath of Khan beats too slavishly and too poorly. Beyond doesn’t depend on a familiar antagonist from the TV show, or have any moment anywhere as cringe-worthy as Spock's "Khaaaaaaan!!", but it does contain many references to the canon that excited, and even moved, me, as I hope they will most fans. I’ll resist the temptation to go into details, but there are callbacks to Enterprise (a number of them), The Original Series (one so unexpectedly off-handed it made me do a double-take), The Motion Picture, The Wrath of Khan, The Search for Spock,The Voyage Home, Generations, and others. The structure of the movie means that, unlike its two predecessors, the central relationship isn't Kirk/Spock, so we get to see both Kirk and Spock interact more with other characters. In particular, fans of the Spock/McCoy dynamic from TOS will have a field day. (Again, this has been flagged by the cast and crew prior to the movie's release.)

Along with the action there's some pathos (Quinto gets a moment that I'd love to talk about more in the future) and generous dollops of humour. It's not the funniest joke in the movie, but my favourite gag is surely a meta reference to how, in Star Trek, the characters only ever listen to classical music.

One last point. The movie acknowledges the deaths of Anton Yelchin and Leonard Nimoy, as we’ve been told it would. Nimoy’s in a way that was much more impactful than I anticipated. And there’s a scene early in the movie that’s ostensibly about an off-screen character but which I think resonates unexpectedly and obliquely in light of Yelchin’s tragic death. The line between fact and fiction becomes blurry; I suspect once intentionally, and once not.
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Devon · Jul 7, 2016

Shalashaska said: ↑

Another spoiler-free review of Beyond.

https://www.reddit.com/r/startrek/comments/4rnwaz/spoilerfree_thoughts_on_star_trek_beyond/
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This is actually the same one I just posted

ralph · Jul 7, 2016

AndyPandy said: ↑

Movie started close to 8:30pm our time. Will discuss thoroughly from home.
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Non-spoiler.

Visitor1982 · Jul 7, 2016

Sulu is gay!

John Cho confirmed this in an Australian interview at the premiere!

Whoohoo! The first gay character in Star Trek! A nod to Takei

http://www.towleroad.com/2016/07/mr...gn=Feed:+towleroad/feed+(Towleroad+Gay+News+)

Shalashaska · Jul 7, 2016

Devon said: ↑

This is actually the same one I just posted
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Whoops. I didn't know two different sites would have the same review.

AndyPandy · Jul 7, 2016

I've started another thread where you can pose specific questions about the film and I'll do my best to answer spoiler free. The full synopsis is probably on iMDB by now anyway.

Shalashaska · Jul 7, 2016

More from the link I posted:

Yes. The TWOK callbacks in Into Darkness were erroneously conceived and woefully executed. On the other hand, the callbacks in Beyond are generally either much more subtle, or organic to the plot, or both. They're more in the vein of the references to Section 31 or Harry Mudd's ship in Into Darkness, or how Admiral Pike's uniform at the end of the 2009 Star Trek echoed the look of Kirk's admiral uniform in The Motion Picture. More "blink and you'll miss it" type stuff.

And when they're not subtle, they still work, sometimes very well.
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Missed your second question for some reason.

I thought ST09 was very solid, though the third act was relatively weak... mainly in that a lot of the fan service, which I loved, (Kirk's birth and his father's sacrifice, how the crew comes together, how Kirk grows into his own etc) is basically resolved by then, and it becomes a fairly standard action movie from that point.

STID had - in some ways - an even stronger first and second act compared to ST09. I wasn't surprised by the Khan reveal, but enjoyed the build-up to it and got very excited when it looked like they were going to fundamentally redefine the relationship between Khan and Kirk by having Khan team up with the E-crew against Marcus! If you're going to bring back Trek's most famous villain, that's the way to do it - bring him back, but do something different with him! But then it fell off a bit of a cliff in the third act with Khan's turn back into a conventional antagonist-role and, even worse, blatant and poorly executed TWOK mirroring. (Objectively, there were only two or three TWOK things that spoiled the third act - Kirk's "death", "Khaaaaan!!" - which actually didn't take that much screen time, but still made me roll my eyes, and has coloured my view of the movie ever since.)

STB is more evenly constructed than STID, so its lows aren't as low. But I think its highs aren't as high either. At this point I'd probably rank it just behind the other two, but not too far behind. I might change my mind on subsequent viewings.

I've seen both ST09 and STID multiple times and will do the same for STB, so it's definitely a movie worth seeing more than once.

None of them are in the same league as TWOK of course.
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ralph · Jul 7, 2016

Visitor1982 said: ↑

Sulu is gay!

John Cho confirmed this in an Australian interview at the premiere!

Whoohoo! The first gay character in Star Trek! A nod to Takei

http://www.towleroad.com/2016/07/mr-sulu-gay/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed:+towleroad/feed+(Towleroad+Gay+News+)

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Now, George Takei is going to love this movie.

Shalashaska · Jul 7, 2016

Devon said: ↑

Non-Spoiler Review:
https://kimikomura19.wordpress.com/...beyond/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

BTW, LOTS of (Positive) Buzz over.....

Revelation that Sulu is gay

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I wish I didn't click that. Oh well, hopefully it's not too big of a spoiler.

Shalashaska · Jul 7, 2016

AndyPandy · Jul 7, 2016

It's revealed in the first five minutes of the film - and only hinted at. Open to interpretation.

AndyPandy · Jul 7, 2016

Let me just warn you all - don't go looking for spoilers. I promise you all that you're going to enjoy this film much more when you recognise something that you remember from your Series-watching days - I can ASSURE you that I wouldn't have enjoyed the film if I had access to the spoilers I now know many of you won't be able to resist.

AndyPandy · Jul 7, 2016

I correct myself - I'd have enjoyed it 90% as much as I did, I just know it's MORE enjoyable without spoilers.

Therin of Andor · Jul 7, 2016

photon70 said: ↑

Well ?
Better than ST09 and STiD?
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Keep in mind that ST:TMP and the 2009 Bad Robot movie are probably a tie as my favourite movies of all time. I was also one of the fans who really enjoyed "Into Darkness", although on premiere night I was sitting with three friends, two of whom were a bit antsy after Cumberbatch revealed himself. But I enjoyed it very much.

I'm also a fan a bit disillusioned by the mindless action sequences in "Man of Steel" and "Batman v Superman", but I've never had a problem with JJ's action sequences in the first two Trek movies. I've never seen a Justin Lin film before.

I am still grinning from seeing "Star Trek Beyond". Loved the script, although a few twists were reminiscent of things that have been tried before in Trek novels (sort of). Some really fun callbacks to TOS (even musical cues), especially from McCoy, some tear-jerking moments and several sequences which were kept totally under wraps (including the prologue).

Ian and friends at Star Trek Beyond by Ian McLean, on Flickr

(For those planning to boycott: HA! Your loss!)

AndyPandy · Jul 7, 2016

Feel free to boycott if you're hoping for four hours exploring the intricacies of interstellar democracy as seen from the perspective of the Starfleet JAG.

F. King Daniel · Jul 7, 2016

I just want a fun two hour Star Trek adventure with my favourite crew. I think I'm going to like it.

Therin of Andor · Jul 7, 2016

RAMA said: ↑

I woke up this morning thinking we'd see a flood of reaction from Australia with some general comments but I've only seen 3-4 online (all good). why are you Aussies slacking??

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The Telstra public preview was at 1.30pm in the CBD, the Q&A was a few blocks away and started at 4.30pm and didn't disband until almost 6pm, then most of the fans raced off to cars, taxis and buses to attend the Blue Carpet gala premiere, a little way out of the city centre, and to see the film for a second time.

They probably went straight home to bed! It's now just after 1.30am the next morning!

Therin of Andor · Jul 7, 2016

Malaika said: ↑

the review embargo is annoying.
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There was no review embargo on Australia's premiere of "Star Trek Into Darkness" and I think a lot of negative energy started to be generated from US fans jumping up and down about the first reviews they were getting from Australia. I was in the cinema and felt that everyone was having a great time, yet by the time I got home and checked out TrekBBS, that movie was being torn to shreds by people who hadn't seen it, or were boasting they would not be seeing it. STiD did really well internationally, which is why it premiered Down Under in the first place: to boost the international performance.

Sometimes it's definitely better to remain spoiler-free. "Star Trek Beyond" is probably the most spoiler-free Trek film for me ever! And I'm so glad.

For TMP, I'd read the novelization. For ST III, Australians had a six-month delay in it hitting our cinemas. (Again, I read the novelization first.) For all the other films, I either spoiled myself compiling our club newsletters' sealed section, or stupidly read leaked script drafts ("Generations", "First Contact").

Malaika · Jul 7, 2016

Therin of Andor said: ↑

There was no review embargo on Australia's premiere of "Star Trek Into Darkness" and I think a lot of negative energy started to be generated from US fans jumping up and down about the first reviews they were getting from Australia. I was in the cinema and felt that everyone was having a great time, yet by the time I got home and checked out TrekBBS, that movie was being torn to shreds by people who hadn't seen it, or were boasting they would not be seeing it. STiD did really well internationally, which is why it premiered Down Under in the first place: to boost the international performance..
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yeah, the same exact thing happened to a friend who went to the premiere in Australia for stid. There was a definite disconnect between what they perceived there from everyone and what some were starting to say on the internet.

Botany Bay · Jul 7, 2016

I was fortunate enough to see it twice today.

I swore an oath to Starfleet that I wouldn't share any spoilers, but I will happily report this much : it is by far the best of the three films. It's fast and furious, but is filled with moments of just pure Trek magic for fans of TOS and Enterprise. They got the balance just right. I haven't walked out of a Trek film this happy since First Contact way back in 1996! Well done Justin Lin and team. You'd be hard to please if you don't enjoy this one.

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