Thoughts on Star Trek Beyond (Spoiler Free)
I really enjoyed Beyond a whole lot more than the first two movies, and I think that it's because this movie showed the Enterprise crew maturing into their roles. It showed that 2.5 years in space isn't all about kicking ass and chewing bubble gum and that as with everything, people fall into a largely mundane routine and might even start to question if this job is really what they want to do for the rest of their lives. It had a very relateable angle for me.
I also appreciated Kirk maturing into the role of a Captain, rather than just being some hot-shot upstart that for some inexplicable reason, was given command of a Starship that he hadn't earned through wisdom, experience or temperament. The character has really shown to have matured and had to start to struggle with the implications of growing older and the burden of the Captaincy, though he still had the reckless side to him that the Kirk character was known for.
Like you, I also liked that Sulu and Chekov were given larger, more predominant roles. I just felt that we got to know most of the characters on a more personal and relateable level and that they were so much more real to me in this movie than they were as the two dimensional action movie stars of the previous ones.
Lastly, I liked the underlying message of diversity and unity between people of all walks of life, winning out over hate. It goes back to making social commentary through story; something that Trek is supposed to do well, and it's the first time we've really seen any real message being delivered to the audience in the Kelvin timeline.
My only real complaint is that the villain and all of his anger, as well as the method in which he chose to strike out, didn't really make sense to me. As you said, I don't think that the story surrounding the villain was particularly good. Also, sadly... I have a really hard time seeing any of the original Spock in the Kelvin timeline Spock. I think they're two completely different characters with this one being as close to human as you can possibly get, just with a terrible haircut. There's very little semblance left to the Spock character that the world came to love and adore and I have a hard time buying that even the destruction of his home world would have created such a radically different person than that of the original timeline. Also, it would be nice if Uhura was given a bit more of a role than just being Spock's girlfriend.
All in all, I really enjoyed it... enough to see it again. 8.5/10 for me.
I also appreciated Kirk maturing into the role of a Captain, rather than just being some hot-shot upstart that for some inexplicable reason, was given command of a Starship that he hadn't earned through wisdom, experience or temperament. The character has really shown to have matured and had to start to struggle with the implications of growing older and the burden of the Captaincy, though he still had the reckless side to him that the Kirk character was known for.
Like you, I also liked that Sulu and Chekov were given larger, more predominant roles. I just felt that we got to know most of the characters on a more personal and relateable level and that they were so much more real to me in this movie than they were as the two dimensional action movie stars of the previous ones.
Lastly, I liked the underlying message of diversity and unity between people of all walks of life, winning out over hate. It goes back to making social commentary through story; something that Trek is supposed to do well, and it's the first time we've really seen any real message being delivered to the audience in the Kelvin timeline.
My only real complaint is that the villain and all of his anger, as well as the method in which he chose to strike out, didn't really make sense to me. As you said, I don't think that the story surrounding the villain was particularly good. Also, sadly... I have a really hard time seeing any of the original Spock in the Kelvin timeline Spock. I think they're two completely different characters with this one being as close to human as you can possibly get, just with a terrible haircut. There's very little semblance left to the Spock character that the world came to love and adore and I have a hard time buying that even the destruction of his home world would have created such a radically different person than that of the original timeline. Also, it would be nice if Uhura was given a bit more of a role than just being Spock's girlfriend.
All in all, I really enjoyed it... enough to see it again. 8.5/10 for me.
