Is Beyond Worth Renting?

[Palanan]

Star Trek Beyond, that is. I didn't see it in the theater, back and forth on whether to rent.

I just watched a ten-minute preview, which included Scotty meeting Alien Scavenger Woman (bam! pow! whack!) and Kirk finding the saucer section. The general vibe seems to be "Enterprise crash-lands on Pandora, complete with atokirina." Alien Scavenger Woman even sounds like Neytiri.

Based on that, not too impressed. Is this even remotely entertaining and vaguely Trek-like? Or is it a pile of reheated awful?

[Rodin]

Star Trek Beyond, that is. I didn't see it in the theater, back and forth on whether to rent.

I just watched a ten-minute preview, which included Scotty meeting Alien Scavenger Woman (bam! pow! whack!) and Kirk finding the saucer section. The general vibe seems to be "Enterprise crash-lands on Pandora, complete with atokirina." Alien Scavenger Woman even sounds like Neytiri.

Based on that, not too impressed. Is this even remotely entertaining and vaguely Trek-like? Or is it a pile of reheated awful?

The debate on that could start a flame war.

The characters are very true to TOS. A fair bit of the plot is like a TOS episode. However, it's also a Summer Blockbuster, with all the action that implies and a villain that isn't terribly compelling.

Personally, I really enjoyed it. It's the first of the nuTrek movies where the new actors really nailed the vibe of the TOS crew, and the movie was a delight for that. The action sequences themselves were well done, and apart from a particular bit of ridiculous technobabble near the end there's nothing so weird as Into Darkness. The villain being boring is a complaint that can be leveled at most Trek films (in fact, all of them apart from II and VI). Despite that, the film is still excellent. However, I know there are some people on these forums who hate it with the fire of a thousand burning suns, so your mileage may vary.

On my personal meter, I'd put it as the best of the nuTrek films, better than all the TNG films, and just below the even numbered TOS films (accounting for age).

[Urzamax]

It's fairly entertaining, for what it is, but I felt the pacing (both in plot and in action scenes) was poor, and that they failed to properly explain some of what I thought to be critical elements of the plot. I'd personally rate it below Into Darkness, as far as the nuTreks go, if only because I loved the TOS Revenge of Kahn and ID was a big nostalgia bump for that (I also think it cohered better and the villain was, if not more interesting, then at least more present).
Renting would be fine, though I wouldn't recommend buying it.

[Kitten Champion]

Star Trek Beyond, that is. I didn't see it in the theater, back and forth on whether to rent.

I just watched a ten-minute preview, which included Scotty meeting Alien Scavenger Woman (bam! pow! whack!) and Kirk finding the saucer section. The general vibe seems to be "Enterprise crash-lands on Pandora, complete with atokirina." Alien Scavenger Woman even sounds like Neytiri.

Based on that, not too impressed. Is this even remotely entertaining and vaguely Trek-like? Or is it a pile of reheated awful?

Nothing much like Avatar. The world they land on is more similar to a Farcry game -- crew finds itself shipwrecked in an exotic local due to the actions of a brutal warlord and his faceless minions who reign over it, useful items and ruins are just laying around ready to be discovered, and various search and rescue quests are available. Given 20 more hours of padding where Kirk and friends clear enemy fortress after fortress to turn a map Federation-Blue and it'd be ready for a Christmas release.

I don't know, I enjoyed it. It's got some compelling visuals, the character banter is pretty entertaining, it's more of an ensemble piece than a lot of Trek movies turn out to be, and it didn't do anything infuriating like Into Darkness. On the other hand, it's not particularly ambitious or especially smart, the villain is rather weak, and you can nitpick a lot of it if you're so inclined as it's on the more fanciful side of Trek and scrutiny isn't its friend. I compared it to First Contact in terms of overall quality.

So, I think it's worth a rental. Though it'll be on Netflix not so long from now if it's anything like the other nuTrek movies.

[Coidzor]

It's fun while you're watching it, at least for many scenes, but if you're a fan of Idris Elba, I'd recommend skipping it.

[Palanan]

So, I finally rented this tonight. The comments above were enough to convince me to give it a try.

To answer my own thread title…Gah. Just barely.

The first two-thirds were entertaining enough, and there was some genuinely enjoyable banter--for a few fleeting moments they really caught the spirit of the original series. Chris Pine was much more Kirk-like than in the first two movies, although sadly Karl Urban's version of McCoy wasn't convincing for me.

But the final act just got silly, with the Enterprise surfing on a wave of Beastie Boys destruction and the Grand Dramatic Reveal of the villain's identity. Lo, the heavens opened, and it was meh.

There were plenty of nice touches, especially the design of Kral's camp; that really caught the aesthetic of the original series. I enjoyed the brief references to the Xinti, Romulans, Sulu's daughter, etc. And the Franklin's shape was a nice echo of the NX-01. (But what is it with these movies and starships exploding out of the water?)

Unfortunately, this is the sort of movie that hurts if you think about anything for more than two seconds. What exactly was the villain transforming into, and why? Where did he get the immense swarm at the end? Why does his Horrid Weapon of Doom™ look just like the aether from Dark World? What happened to his second-in-command once Jayla leaped off the roof? And so on.

It was a fun joyride, but after all the explosions and action sequences, I can't help thinking of a quote from another starship captain: "Does anyone remember when we used to be explorers?"

[Velaryon]

Thanks for asking this question, because I've been wondering the same thing. I found the first nuTrek to be an alright movie but not very Star Trek, and thought Into Darkness was pretty terrible all around. Most of the cast has gotten the hang of their characters (and I actually liked Karl Urban's McCoy best of all), but my one sticking point has been Chris Pine and how unKirk-like he has been.

Even if it's not great, this film sounds like it's a bit more toward what I want from a Star Trek film, so I'll get it out from the library when I can.

[Lord Fullbladder, Master of Goblins]

Unfortunately, this is the sort of movie that hurts if you think about anything for more than two seconds. What exactly was the villain transforming into, and why? Where did he get the immense swarm at the end? Why does his Horrid Weapon of Doom™ look just like the aether from Dark World? What happened to his second-in-command once Jayla leaped off the roof? And so on.

It was a fun joyride, but after all the explosions and action sequences, I can't help thinking of a quote from another starship captain: "Does anyone remember when we used to be explorers?"

They really did need to put more time into Krall and his motivations. Ultimately, it's much the same as that of Admiral Cartwright and his conspirators in The Undiscovered Country: what use is a soldier when the war is over? Add in over a hundred years of isolation with no one but his leuitenant (and his victims) and sure, I see how he develops from Cartwright to Crazypants. The problem is we don't see that, there's just a couple of lines of dialogue to build that. I also must infer that whatever species he feeds on with his magic vampire gauntlets alters his physical appearance towards that species, since we only see him suck on humans as he grows more human-esque. So, a hundred plus years of sucking on Jayla's crew, and Tentacle Scalp Lady's crew, and Assorted Spiky Goons' crews did a number on his physiology. Like he says in that fight, "I missed being me," which you can also add onto the Captain Crazypants building pile, I guess.

The immense swarm, near as I figure, is that for his attack on Yorktown station he brought with him the entire remaining planet-wide drone work/attack force, which he states were left behind by the same dudes that made the weapon. I can't explain that one, though. Still would hav been nice to see the scale they were going for before the silly surfer scene.

Ultimately, my family and I, long time Trek fans, did enjoy the movie. Yes, it has all the failings of the modern summer blockbuster, but it also felt more like an actual Star Trek movie than the othe nuTrek movies.

[digiman619]

While I enjoyed it, I had some problems with it. The three big ones were a) where did Krall get his huge ground forces?, b)How were they able to phase through the Enterprise's shields so effortlessly? and c) if this happened to the original Enterprise crew, their Montgomery Scott would have played bagpipes to jam Krall rather than The Beastie Boys.

[Hunter Noventa]

While I enjoyed it, I had some problems with it. The three big ones were a) where did Krall get his huge ground forces?, b)How were they able to phase through the Enterprise's shields so effortlessly? and c) if this happened to the original Enterprise crew, their Montgomery Scott would have played bagpipes to jam Krall rather than The Beastie Boys.

A) The ground forces seemed to be some kind of drones like the ships they used, I agree it could have been explained a lot better.
B) It seems like he's been spying on the Yorktown station for sometime, possibly years, and probably used a variant of the trick the Klingons used in Generations to bypass the shields. Again, I agree that it could have been explained better.
C) His bagpipes would have been on the Enterprise when it exploded, sadly. I don't get the series fascination with the Beastie Boys either.

[Leewei]

I'm pretty much in complete agreement with Palanan. I would add that I loved Yorktown - practically right out of an Iain M. Banks novel. This showed a glimpse of the utopian side of the Federation.