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Thoughts on Star Trek: Beyond


Toa Smoke Monster

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So truth be told, I actually saw this movie when it came out a few weeks back. I just haven't had the motivation time to type up my thoughts on it. I've seen it two more times since then, and since I have some free time now, I'll go ahead and get my thoughts posted on it. :P

 

There are spoilers below, so read at your own risk.

 

 

1. One of the best things I liked about this movie was its cast. They all do a great job with their roles. One of the standouts IMO was James Kirk. In the previous two movies (more so in the first one), he kind of felt like a hotshot leader of the ship. Which was fine because that was part of his character and made him entertaining to watch. In Beyond, Kirk definitely seems to have matured a lot since the events of Into Darkness. It actually feels like he's more of a natural leader here than before, which is to be expected since he's been in Starfleet for a few years at this point in the series. But that 'hotshot' factor really isn't there anymore, which I like because its shows that he's grown as a leader and character.

 

The rest of the cast gets time to shine as well, though some get more than others. Spock and Bones in particular get some good scenes together, both dramatic and comical. Sulu, Uhura, and Chekov all get their own scenes, but it doesn't feel like they get as much time in the story as Kirk, Spock, and Bones.

 

As for Scotty, he gets a good dose of storytime because he's spends a lot of it with a new character named Jaylah. She's actually a really cool character and its interesting to see how she survives being on the planet that the Enterprise crew winds up on. I wouldn't mind seeing her again in a future Star Trek movie, though I doubt we really will see here again.

 

2. The villain of this movie, Krall, isn't as interesting as the previous villains of the rebooted series. But he's still an entertaining one IMO. I do feel like his character and goals could've been developed a little more though. His reasoning for attacking Starfleet is explained well enough, but I do think that more could've been done with it. I also feel like the explanation for how he got his army and its ships, as well as his learning to keep himself young, could've been explained a little more. The movie basically says that Krall and his crew simply found these items on the planet they crashed onto years ago. I feel like a little more explanation could've gone into this.

 

3. The special effects in this movie are just as good as they were in the previous ones. One of the coolest things introduced in the movie is the space station Yorktown. It looks amazing IMO. It's like they took the concept of moving cities around like in Inception and make a Space Station off that concept in space. It's even cooler watching the Enterprise and Franklin fly underneath certain points of the city as well. The only downside about it is that we only see at the beginning and ending of the movie. I wanted to see more of it. :P

 

Another standout in the effects department is the attack on the Enterprise. Seeing the enemy ships fly around our hero's ship and attack it made for an entertaining action scene.

 

4. A lot of the action scenes are good in this movie. Everything from the destruction of the Enterprise to the saving of the crew from Krall's camp to the final showdown with Krall are all entertaining actions scenes. This is definitely one of those films where once it gets going, it goes full speed. And for Beyond, it gets going really quickly.

 

5. The film does acknowledge the passing of the late Leonard Nimoy with the passing of his character Ambassador Spock. They even show a photo of the original cast, which I thought was a neat nod to the original show and movies.

 

6. I mainly have one major complaint about this movie, and it affects it as a whole. This complaint is that Beyond's story isn't as good as the first two movies of the rebooted series. It feels like a simpler story, and I feel that this hurts the development of the characters. For example, Kirk's birthday comes up, and he thinks about why he joined Starfleet and what kind of man he wants to be. He also is up for a promotion to become an Admiral at Yorktown. Another example would be Spock, who decides to leave Starfleet due to the passing of his original counterpart to help out his fellow Vulcans. Both of these plots are introduced at the beginning of the movie, and are not bought up again until the end of it. Spock and Bones do have a conversation about what the former's plans are in the middle of the movie though, but since Spock doesn't leave Starfleet at the end of it, it could be viewed as pointless.

 

In fact, Kirk and Spock really don't spend that much time together in the movie. That is a shame because their friendship is one of the strong points in the first Star Trek and Into Darkness. And don't get me wrong, it is cool to see them have plots with other characters. I just wish we saw them together more here.

 

Overall, I think this is an enjoyable movie. I do think the story isn't as good as it was in the previous movies, and thus it hurts the characters and story line of the film. The movie does somewhat made up for it with its character development that it does have (like with Kirk) and its exciting action scenes. But I still wish the story was a bit stronger. I don't regret seeing it though, and would recommend it for those who are fans of the series and/or like action movies.

 

Have any of you seen the film? And if you have, what did you think of it?

 

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Star Trek, like, doesn't even make any sense

 

I mean I'm sure the newer movies do but

 

How does a TV show about flying around visiting floating hotel casinos in the middle of nothing leading to a bunch of tribal cowboys with a vengeance make any sense? I'm not trying to hate on the series, but really - someone please explain this to me.

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Star Trek, like, doesn't even make any sense

 

I mean I'm sure the newer movies do but

 

How does a TV show about flying around visiting floating hotel casinos in the middle of nothing leading to a bunch of tribal cowboys with a vengeance make any sense? I'm not trying to hate on the series, but really - someone please explain this to me.

 

This comment, like, doesn't make any sense

 

I mean I'm sure your other comments do but

 

How does a comment on a blog entry about a new movie somehow get muddled right in the middle and somehow try to argue that the franchise makes no sense, using randomly inserted locales specifically pulled from widely different genres while ignoring the 50 year history of the franchise make any sense?

 

I'm not trying to hate on your comment, but really - someone please explain this to me.

 

(I'm not sorry)

  • Upvote 5
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(I'm not sorry)

(I don't care)

 

If you ain't answering my question, or you just want to be a nuisance, don't respond, k?

 

 

finest example of "pot calling kettle" I've seen in a long time

  • Upvote 2
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(I'm not sorry)

(I don't care)

 

If you ain't answering my question, or you just want to be a nuisance, don't respond, k?

 

Almost like what you do literally all the time. Except one is uncalled for and one is reactionary.

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I loooved it, dying to see it again! I think I might like it even better than the 2009 film. It was so much fun! And so bright! And I really felt they finally nailed that Star Trek feel and really brought the characters to life and treated them the way they deserve. The big Sabotage scene was probably the most fun, silly, and exhilarating experience I've had in a movie theater. 

I also really appreciated all the little parallels and nods to the past 50 years of Trek, especially tying ST Enterprise into it and all the tiny TOS callbacks. I wish I hadn't seen the newest trailer they put out right before the movie that basically spoils the appearance of the villain as seen towards the very last act, 'cause had I not seen it, I probably wouldn't have put the pieces together quite as quickly and would've gotten more satisfaction out of the twist as it was discovered by the characters. Otherwise, though, yeah, it was pretty spectacular :D

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