Star Trek Beyond Really is Pretty Good
Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2016 3:35 am
I've finally gotten a chance to see the movie and I have to say that I'm impressed by this one. For all the fears about Justin Lin, they are largely unfounded and he did do a fairly competent job, though his "frenetic" style may turn some people off. Doug Jung Simon Pegg's script also delivers, but probably won't win too many new fans since it does seem to be geared a bit more towards the hardcore fans as it gives lots of good continuity references, some in the form of a very touching series of tributes to the late Leonard Nimoy and even manages to make it clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that Nimoy's Spock is indeed from the Prime Timeline we all know and love. However it will probably not win over the die-hard haters of the new Trek franchise with the action scenes.
The U.S.S. Franklin is absolutely an upstaging, wonderful little starship in comparison to the much hated Alt-prise design and shows what could have been done, if Abrams had let the design folks at ILM do a proper job. Lots about the Franklin screams a loving tribute to proper TOS design and ties elements of TOS and ST:ENT together inside as well as out for a knock out continuity punch.
On the character front, aside from the Nimoy tribute, this is where I believe the movie really delivered. Like the first and second films, everyone got to do something and there are some genuine moments that really evoke TOS' Kirk-Spock-McCoy relationship, while still managing to do something new. Idris Elba as Krall works well, though he comes across as a typical Trek meanie villain at first, but then the surprise twist at the end makes him stand out as a unique and sympathetic one. The one character moment with Sulu being revealed to be gay (or bi at the least), felt a bit too forced and pandering to the out of control SJW crowd and jars with his portrayal in TOS. Sofia Boutella as Jaylah works well enough, though I found her similarities to Rey from The Force Awakens to be a bit off putting. At least she doesn't defeat Krall or even his minion with no training and uber powers, like Rey does.
From a Versus standpoint, once again we get to see just how ridiculously tough Trek starship hulls are with the Alt-prise reprising her own version of the E-D's saucer section slide out, only slamming at high speed through way more mountain peaks! This movie also continues the Alternate Timeline's trend towards bigness as Starbase Yorktown easily dwarfs even the mighty Starbase 74 and outside of the Dyson Sphere from "Relics", it is the largest space station seen in Trek.
So overall, the movie does have some flaws, but it manages to deliver and of all the J.J. produced Trek movies, it feels like Trek.
-Mike
The U.S.S. Franklin is absolutely an upstaging, wonderful little starship in comparison to the much hated Alt-prise design and shows what could have been done, if Abrams had let the design folks at ILM do a proper job. Lots about the Franklin screams a loving tribute to proper TOS design and ties elements of TOS and ST:ENT together inside as well as out for a knock out continuity punch.
On the character front, aside from the Nimoy tribute, this is where I believe the movie really delivered. Like the first and second films, everyone got to do something and there are some genuine moments that really evoke TOS' Kirk-Spock-McCoy relationship, while still managing to do something new. Idris Elba as Krall works well, though he comes across as a typical Trek meanie villain at first, but then the surprise twist at the end makes him stand out as a unique and sympathetic one. The one character moment with Sulu being revealed to be gay (or bi at the least), felt a bit too forced and pandering to the out of control SJW crowd and jars with his portrayal in TOS. Sofia Boutella as Jaylah works well enough, though I found her similarities to Rey from The Force Awakens to be a bit off putting. At least she doesn't defeat Krall or even his minion with no training and uber powers, like Rey does.
From a Versus standpoint, once again we get to see just how ridiculously tough Trek starship hulls are with the Alt-prise reprising her own version of the E-D's saucer section slide out, only slamming at high speed through way more mountain peaks! This movie also continues the Alternate Timeline's trend towards bigness as Starbase Yorktown easily dwarfs even the mighty Starbase 74 and outside of the Dyson Sphere from "Relics", it is the largest space station seen in Trek.
So overall, the movie does have some flaws, but it manages to deliver and of all the J.J. produced Trek movies, it feels like Trek.
-Mike