My Grading System

A+ = Masterpiece (I hold back on this one.) / A = Great. / A- = Really Good. / B+ = Good. / B = Decent (Serviceable). / B- = Flawed but okay (For those times there's something redeeming about the work). / C+ = Not very good (Skip it). C = Bad. / C- = Awful. / F = Complete Disaster (I hold back on this one too).

Note on Spoilers: I will try to avoid ruining a story by going into too much detail. But if I wish to include some revealing points to my analysis I will try to remember to add a separate spoiler paragraph.

Saturday, July 30, 2016

Star Trek Beyond (2016)

After the last installment to this intergalactic reboot, I was glad to see J.J. Abrams leave so another director could attempt to bring back the magic he created and so promised.  I’m not a fan of the second film and had high hopes this third film would be better.  And it is!  Yeah!   It still has its problems but I’m grateful that they at least got us away from Earth and took us out into space.   Again there are some issues with this film and perhaps that’s because instead of making a Star Trek film, Paramount wanted to make an action-packed Guardians of the Galaxy-type film.  That makes sense.   I don’t know how excited today’s audiences would be to see a pure science fiction drama that explored any “big” ideas.   This is more of a fun movie made for those who like spectacle over substance.   Justin Lin does a mostly serviceable job and you can tell the writers (Simon Pegg and Doug Jung) want to have an explosive good time.   It’s not a film you have to see in the theater but it’s good enough to recommend.  If this is the last we see of this cast, making this the last of a trilogy, I’ll be okay with it.  It’s a good one to end on even if I’d love to see this cast return one more time.   I’d love to see this cast return for a Star Trek film that contained some actual innovation but that’s unlikely with those in charge.   Grade: B+

Spoilers:

They might as well paint the Enterprise red.  In every film the poor thing gets destroyed and crashes.   It’s really getting old.  Can’t you guys think of anything more eventful to have happen then the heroes’ spaceship getting killed?   Very redundant and dilutes the impact every time this happens.   Also it’s getting really tiring to have a villain whose sole goal is revenge against the Federation.  That’s the villain’s goal in all three films.  What happened to the Enterprise running into a threat that doesn’t know who the Federation is?   With the endless plots that can be created in a universe teeming with dangerous obstacles it’s very annoying that they keep using the same old “revenge” plot.   It also cheapens any potential conflict or drama from the crew.   It’s like the producers never watched an episode of any of the shows.  And again poor Idris Elba, the guy can’t get a decent role.  Here he’s under a ton of makeup and made to play a very typical baddy.   It’s Idris Elba, folks.  Will someone in Hollywood give this guy a meaty role he can sink his teeth into?   

Note: Anton Yelchin died before this was released by a freak accident.  His death might make it even more unlikely we’ll see more from this cast.  You can’t recast Chekov, it would be weird.  Still I think he would have liked for this cast to keep making Star Trek movies without him.   We’ll see.  A very talented guy and he’ll be missed by everyone who knew him or those who watched him perform.

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