So summertime movies are popping up every week now. I just saw Star Trek:Beyond, today. I’ll write about that in a little bit. Next week Jason Bourne returns in what is promised as a conclusion to the tale of the badass spy with memory problems. A week after that the DC Comics, villains for justice epic, Suicide Squad will debut. I have my next couple of Fridays booked out in advance 🙂
Today, my son Nolan and I, both of us are pretty hard-core trek fans, went to see the new Star Trek film, “Beyond”. My son and I disagree a bit on this one, he rates it very high but I come in a little more moderated. Was it a good flick? Yep; it was good. Was it worthy of top five trek films of all time grandeur? Nope.
This Trek film had all the trademarks of the JJ films with more explosions than a Vancouver USA Fourth of July. It also had the luxury of already well-developed characters. This being the third installment of the alternate timeline, the movie goers have a good understanding who these people are and what they are all about. Although the characters are 50 years old, these alternate timeline versions had some nuanced differences that some did not approve of. I am fine with all of that.
The developed characters also allowed for more exploration into a plot that was not particularly spectacular, but pretty good. Unlike the last film, this one was not a JJ Version 2.0 of a classic trek film. The movie did advance us three years into the “5 year” mission that was the talk of the epilogue closing the Wrath of Kahn 2.0, er, uh, I mean, Into Darkness.
The dialog is pretty solid and Bones, Scotty, Kirk, Spock, and Uhura are fantastic. The actors seem to be comfortable in their roles and it shows in a fluid performance. We don’t see much of the late Anton Yelchin in the movie. It seems Pavel Chekov did not have a big role this time. The film was dedicated to him in the closing credits and there is also a tie in to passing of Leonard Nimoy earlier this year.
This movie is full of action and it really never takes a breath. Here is where Nolan and I disagree, he thought it was moderately packed with action. I guess I’ll have to have him watch “Remains of the Day” with Sir Anthony Hopkins so he can have a different benchmark from which to measure the speed of a movie.
Justin Lin who is known for directing the Fast and the Furious and for having a loose free camera on fight scenes was feeling quite at home with this effort. The action is broken up with pretty good comic relief in the form of classic quips between the characters. Many of the scenes are very darkly lit and that creates a bit of a dark mood even in some of the scenes that were not really that gloomy. Nolan pined for the over-abundance of lens flare from the two previous installments directed by JJ Abrams. There is a scene with the sun coming out from behind a planet in which a full dose of JJ flare is utilized, a reminder to us that he served as a Producer 😉
We have a great new female heroine in the movie. That is a welcome addition. I am greatly disappointed that Kirk did NOT hit on the hot alien hero babe. Because you know, he’s captain Kirk, that’s what he does. Overall I give this movie solid marks and you don’t have to be a franchise fan to enjoy the film. I’m feeling like it’s about a 7.5 on the ten scale and lands right in the middle of the pack of now 13 films. So here is a fluid list, depending on my mood, of the Star Trek movies ranked best to worst.
- 1982 : Star Trek II : Wrath of Kahn
- 1991 : Star Trek VI : The Undiscovered Country
- 1986 : Star Trek IV : The Voyage Home
- 2009 : Star Trek
- 1996 : Star Trek : First Contact
- 2013 : Star Trek : Into Darkness
- 2016 : Star Trek : Beyond
- 2002 : Star Trek : Nemesis
- 1998 : Star Trek : Insurrection
- 1994 : Star Trek : Generations
- 1984 : Star Trek III : The Search for Spock
- 1979 : Star Trek : The Motion Picture
- 1989 : Star Trek V : The Final Frontier
The Evergreen Times 