Westside Steve Posted July 23, 2016 Report Share Posted July 23, 2016 Star Trek Beyond Paramount PG-13. 122 min I make no excuses for being a huge Star Trek fan. Loved it in the sixties loved or liked most of the spin-offs and have been enthusiastically impressed by the latest crop of films from the JJ Abrams reboot. A new version of a television show is much different than a new version of a well-known film. The film has a cast and a specific story while a television series has a specific cast but will have a different story each and every week and that's what happens when you make a series of films. As long as your characters stay relatively true to form you can write just about any story you want and plug them in. As Gene Roddenberry said 'good science fiction has to first be good fiction.' And so far this series has been some damn good fiction. Well sorry to say but this third episode is probably my least favorite of the three. Now that it's a series, albeit a series that only airs once a year and costs ten bucks to watch, some episodes will probably be better than others. Don't misunderstand, all the good stuff about the other two still exists here in spades, and the best thing is the almost perfect casting blended with attention to detail and extremely true to character writing. Unfortunately the problem here is they didn't follow Roddenberry's rule and it's not very good fiction. That's sad because apparently this was written by Simon Pegg (Mr Scott) a gifted actor but apparently not a great writer. I'm thinking also that some blame could be laid at the feet of director Justin Lin who up to now hasn't directed anything I've enjoyed, including a raft of FAST AND FURIOUS flicks. This film reminds me of F and F featuring lots of non-stop noise with little rhyme or reason. BEYOND opens up with Captain Kirk (Chris Pine)and Spock (Zachary Quinto) undecided about what to do with their lives. Kirk is considering an appointment as vice admiral and Spock a career as an ambassador like his old man. Before they get an opportunity to discuss their plans, they set off on one last mission. Upcoming peril is telegraphed when it's reported that they will be outside of the range of Federation communication. Yep we know there's going to be trouble, and there is. Someone by the name of Krall , has his claws on a super weapon that will destroy, well who knows, but lots and lots of stuff and he plans to use it to kill millions at a new Federation space station. He's got a super grudge against the Federation but unfortunately not the the audience, nor anyone else, has any idea what that might be. We are also clue free as to why he kidnaps the crew of Kirk's ship. There are also a couple of alien chicks thrown into the mix, one a refugee and one a castaway, both of them cute, for aliens that is, one evil and one good but neither one with a specific purpose. So we know that Krall is pissed off, his weapon is dangerous and the crew is scattered over a barren planet with nothing but their wits to save them. Unfortunately the nonstop action, while certainly well shot, doesn't further the story, whatever it turns out to be. As a matter of fact we don't find out exactly why all of this is taking place until the last 15 minutes of the film. Had we known from the beginning we'd have had someone to cheer for or against instead of just waiting out the cacophony. I still love all these characters and the producers are smart enough to give them plenty of lines that hearken back to the original series and keep the true believers happy. And I did like the obvious but happy ending . Had they brought in a ringer to help Simon Pegg with the screenplay this could have been great. Where is David Mamet when you need him? B- WSS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoorta Posted July 29, 2016 Report Share Posted July 29, 2016 Steve you beat me to it- I'm also a Star Trek junkie. So here's my POV and take. Dang- where did 50 years of my life go since Star Trek first showed up on TV. My wife said the original series was meant to be corny- and I violently disagree. At least at the time- it was way cool- we were were about to go to the moon- and Kirk and crew took us way farther than that. I own the original series on DVD- and I can honestly say I've seen every episode- a few dozens of times. As the series progressed over time, my interest grew less and less. Next Gen was pretty good. Didn't care much for Deep space 9, Enjoyed most of Voyager, ditto Star Trek Enterprise. So here's my problem as an old fart. When they rebooted the series- I have big problems with the actors chosen to replace Shatner, NImoy, Kelley, and Doohan. Some more than others. I understand you want to make the part "your own" but that's not what I'm looking for. Zachary Quinto could for sure do Nimoy's rendition of Spok perfectly- if he wanted to. Nimoy had an edge to him that Quinto has yet to show. That's what I was hoping for. Saldana carries none of the mannerisms of Nichole Nichols as Uhura. My mind just goes- "who the hell are you"? Did we leave Uhura off at some outpost near the Romulan border, and get a replacement? Now I will agree- most of the millennials on the low side of 30 probably have never seen any of the original episodes, so they probably could care less about exact character and mannerism matches. That brings us to the technological advances- and about all of the reboots have been over the top. Is it really all that entertaining to see 10,000 bits of shrapnel flying at you a bunch of times in IMAX 3D? OTOH, I loved the take of young Kirk beating the Kobiashi Maru maneuver in one of the previous movies- that was alluded to in Wrath of Kahn. So Brother Steve- to my mind though it wasn't any better than the previous efforts of the reboot- Beyond wasn't any worse either. I suppose I should rewatch the earlier ones I own on Blu Ray, and see if that changes my opinion. But man on first blush- this one pales to Wrath of Kahn or Next Gen's First Contact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westside Steve Posted July 29, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2016 I guess I think they did a better job with the cast then you do. Any discrepancies are due to writing and I did raise an eyebrow about the romance between Spock and Uhura. Still the character of Uhura was an afterthought in the first series so it doesn't bother me all that much if they changed her. On the other hand I did think of this, that if Chris Pine is balking at doing another film none of these actors are irreplaceable like Shatner Nimoy Kelly and Company. I would also hope they find a new chekov rather than write him out of the script which would be a big departure from the reality of the legend. Also I like the Wrath of Khan just fine but I don't Revere it like some friends do. And I didn't mind changing the Ricardo Montalban character. As with Batman I don't expect the Joker to follow the lead set down by Cesar Romero. WSS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gipper Posted July 29, 2016 Report Share Posted July 29, 2016 I too think that they did a damn fine job of casting with the new group. Kirk, Spock, Bones....those actors I think are almost perfectly the same character types in terms of appearance and mannerisms. While Scotty, Uhuru and Sulu are not the quite as close to the original characters in terms of looks....I still think they do fine. I didn't really care for Chekov...but that kid was actually really Russian. I did NOT like the casting of Benedict Cumberbatch as Khan. And I really love BC as an actor on most everything he has done. I just did not think he was right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Cysko Kid Posted July 29, 2016 Report Share Posted July 29, 2016 Chris pine nails it as kirk. I think he could be a fine Indiana Jones as well if they ever recast the role. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gipper Posted July 29, 2016 Report Share Posted July 29, 2016 Chris pine nails it as kirk. I think he could be a fine Indiana Jones as well if they ever recast the role. He did well as Jack Ryan.....(Tom Clancy character) who has been portrayed previously by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Cysko Kid Posted July 29, 2016 Report Share Posted July 29, 2016 The other guy I think could do indy would be chris pratt but pine would be my first choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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