As Star Trek approaches this month, one can't help but notice the amount of sheer controversy has surrounded the movie. From the lawsuit, to the death of young Anton Yelchin, and to even the death of pop-culture icon Leonard Nimoy. Has the weekend approaches, we all hope to actually see a Trek movie that delivers what all us Trek fans remember in the Prime universe, so does this Beyond hold up? Well let me just go over my intial thoughts of the entire Kelvin Universe before going further.
STAR TREK (2009)
9/10
While this certainly was a huge surprise, this happens to be one of my favorite Star Trek films ever. Every scene in this movie is so rich with detail in every scene. Every dramatic moment, every flare, every moment seems to pop right out and have you enticed into the Star Trek mythos. Exploring the early days of Kirk & Spock always seemed risky in my eyes, including introducing a time-travel story. My mind kept swirling with what, where and how this would be ever possible and by god they pulled it off. The cast is an absolute wonder to behold as they not only bring a layer to the characters from the original series, but offer another layer to their existing characters. Till this day, I can still watch this movie over and over again and not get bored. It redefined what Star Trek should be and how it should be handled.
STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS
7.5/10
As my excitement and hype was building for the sequel, after viewing this film is when I felt like Trek just hit a giant wall. The movie had an overwhelming amount of hype including the hype of who Benedict Cumberbatch is from Q to Gary Mitchell, as it ended up being the original series infamous villain (who we all knew) Khan. The movie as it begins already feels like a solid action film, capable to not only deliver a better sequel but a satisfying way to continue without doing the same old. This felt like they were trying to imitate that Dark Knight feeling where the sequel offers up an insanely different but enticing feel. The film offered a darker view at the Federation than what was seen before. Everything is fine and dandy until the moment we are revealed John Harrison is Khan is where the movie takes a giant swan dive. The end of the 2nd act to the entire 3rd act is nothing more but a rushed forgettable moment in all of Trek movie history. Complete with terrible writing, horrible shout of KHANNNNNNN from Spock and RESURRECTING TRIBBLES! Not the worst obviously, but it no doubt made me lose faith in the third film.....until
STAR TREK BEYOND
Justin Lin hot off the Fast & Furious trilogy, Justin Lin delivers an action packed space adventure that brings back what we loved so much of the Original Series and so much of what we loved from the 2009 film. THIS is what the sequel should of been like when Into Darkness was released. Every action scene, has again kept me just as enticed into Star Trek as it has all my life. Delivering a script written by Simon Pegg, the script comes off as a clever and witty sequel filled up as an action packed extravaganza that delivers on all fronts.
Three years into their five year mission, Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise spacedock at Yorktown, a space colony, where we learn where our heroes have been. Spock & Uhura have broken up, Sulu misses his family (Takei's favorite scene), Scott can't keep up with the operations of the Enterprise meanwhile Kirk is stressed out over the big weight of being Captain of the Enterprise. This leads to him rethinking his status as a Captain. In good ol Star Trek fashion though, a distress call is called out and they are the only Starship within range, it is when we are greeted to an alien invasion from Krall, a warlord who has been plotting to destroy the Federation for centuries (literally) where we they crash land on the nearest planet as the Enterprise is ripped to shreds.
We meet our new character Jaylah who plays pretty much both sides of the coin in this movie, Sofia Boutella though adds an interesting character to the Star Trek mythos though that really seems more complex than one can imagine. In fact, the entire crew of the Enterprise is complex in nature, given what Simon Pegg had to deal with he was tasked with making a Star Trek film that had Star Trek characters but make it either a thriller, heist, an all around action romp which is mainly what we get. Krall as sadistic as he is, won't be a villain I will be remembering in Star Trek, or maybe so since it is a new universe to follow. He wasn't bad, but to me surely isn't memorable. Although Idris Elba delivers a good performance as a villain with a peculiar background.
Main stand out here is the man above who will be starring in Thor Ragnorak next year as he gives us one hell of a performance as McCoy that is possibly making DeKelley smile in his grave, easily the stand out performance. Everyone pretty much has their moment in this film that doesn't seem rather forced or cheesy, every character has that moment that feels satisfying. For the story, it is very simple and straightforward but the beauty of it is the character development that Pegg had managed to incorporate into the movie, and honesty between these three Trek films it certainly has always been about the overlong development of these characters. So long is the feeling that they are striving to be the characters from the show, THEY ARE the characters from the show.
As far as negativity, it still isn't the Star Trek you remembered from the TV show, and quite possibly never be. Some moments do feel eye-rolling, especially the Uhura-Spock relationship that feels rather forgettable as they're lovers spat in Into Darkness, not the worst on screen romance I have seen, but in Star Trek lore it makes Paris & Torres's relationship seem Emmy award winning. If you don't know who Paris & Torres are.......GOOGLE. As for my final closing thoughts, it is a giant hit that feels closely resembling the first film in style and atmosphere when it comes to delivering an action packed adventure. While it is lacking the whole feel of what made Star Trek important, it is no doubt a movie to remember when speaking of Star Trek films. Seems like the odd number curse is broken.
8.75/10
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