"Star Trek XIII: Beyond" - Fan Reviews, No Spoilers

To boldly go where Kirk, Spock and McCoy have gone before

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Mr Hayes
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Lid geworden op: 11 jun 2002, 12:54
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"Star Trek XIII: Beyond" - Fan Reviews, No Spoilers

Bericht door Mr Hayes »

Zoals jullie weten ben ik ook een groot James Bond-fan. En in het bijbehorende Bond fan forum (MI6community.com) heb ik deze puntsgewijze recensie geplaatst. Ik ben benieuwd wat jullie ervan vinden:

THE GOOD:

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It is indeed the best of the Kelvin timeline trilogy. So it saddens me a bit that until now "Beyond" is on course to become the least succesful Kelvin-film.

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It's a real teamplayer movie, in which every character gets a worthy role. The writers did a good thing by dropping the crew in duo's on the planet Altamid. By doing so there are more heftier, deeper conversations taking place between all of them. For instance, Kirk and Bones drinking some powerful brandy together works, talking about Kirk's father George. Furthermore, you can see some 'George Kirk' in James Tiberius once he makes sure he's the very last person to abandon the ship...or what's left of it.

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The theme of the film, basically Hillary Clinton's 'Stronger Together', is being used in here. Unity and cooperation eventually achieve more good, as opposed to Krall's vision of dividing crews and destroying unions.

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It was refreshing to see the Enterprise crew for the most part on a true alien planet. Altamid looked different from many of the alien planets and moons the previous 12 films focused on. Altamid has exotic forests, yet also dangerous rocky environments.

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Sofia Boutella as Jaylah was a real nice addition to the film. She was really spicy and shook up things a bit once the crew members came together with her help. In a way she reminded me of Lily from "Star Trek: First Contact".

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I am a big fan of actress Shohreh Aghdashloo. She currently plays a lovely Clinton-esque power-politician in "The Expanse" (worthwhile watching it). In here she plays Commodore Paris, the commander of Federation Station Yorktown, with her own lovely charisma and smokey vocals.

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The film had some nice, positive references to Prime Spock and his own senior crew he was part of.

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Nice to finally see Sulu being revealed as a gay husband with a kid (Demora Sulu??). It actually gave me a warm feeling, seeing two men with kids. It's what I dream off, and will probably never get or achieve. But, I found it a missed opportunity to do a bit more with gay characters, story-wise.

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From the viewpoint of technical continuity "Beyond" is a big party. The USS Franklin to me always looked like a slightly cleaner, leaner version of Captain Archer's NX-Class USS Enterprise. And now we understand why. The USS Franklin NX-326 (2161) was commissioned 10 years after the launch of the USS Enterprise NX-01 (2151).

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There are many little references to "Star Trek: Enterprise", of which season 3 and especially season 4 were really good. The uniforms of Captain Balthazar Edison's crew really looked like a streamlined combination of Captain Archer's crew and the Kelvin timeline Captain Kirk. Captain Edison also shortly mentioned The Xindi. Make no mistake, "Star Trek: Enterprise" now serves as a bridge between the Kelvin Timeline and the Prime Timeline. "Enterprise" in a way is part of both timelines.

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A comparison between the USS (M.A.C.O.-ship) Franklin and the first USS Enterprise:
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And there are some nice comparisons already with the saucer section of the USS Franklin and the upcoming USS Discovery from the new series "Star Trek: Discovery". You see this fishbone-like array? It could very well be the predecessor of 24th century phaser arrays. But both the USS Franklin and the USS Discovery -both Prime Timeline ships- have it:
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THE BAD:

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"Star Trek Beyond" still is what it is: A fairly OK Trek-blockbuster, but by no means a groundbreaking "Star Trek"-adventure. It touches a lot of moral and ethical dilemma's, but it only stays with 'touching'. It doesn't go into detail with such dilemma's. I find that a missed opportunity. And I do think the Trek-franchise needs a more groundbreaking Sci-Fi epic. Similar to what 'Skyfall' and 'Casino Royale' did to the Bond franchise.

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A lot of events that occured in "Beyond" deserved to be on the forefront if you ask me. There was the mention of 'New Vulcan'. You see some other Vulcans wandering on that wonderful space station Yorktown. But as we are facing our own immigrant crisis in Europe, then why did no writer stand up and asked themselves: "We need to tailor a story around those Vulcans who are now desparate immigrants themselves". Why couldn't there be at least a bit more conversation about this? It could have fitted perfectly in the theme of 'Stronger Together'.

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Same goes with the very essence of the United Federation of Planets. Commodore Paris had a small role, but why couldn't her role be made bigger? In which she more fiercefully supported the need of a United Federation of Planets?

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The more grotesque bits of humours to me felt a bit flat. The opening sequence, a diplomatic mission, was funny. But when can we see Captain Kirk more competent during diplomatic missions? God, I do miss Captain Picard.

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Krall/Captain Edison to me felt like the biggest flaw of the film. Perhaps the Kelvin films needed a less dominant villain this time. But at least Krall's reasoning to me was vague. He was just 'there' to make revenge. I would have loved to see a dinner table sequence in which Kirk and Krall had a fierce intellectual discussion about the need of the Federation. This is why Silva in 'Skyfall' is a good villain, and Krall a badly written villain.

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The story to me was too simple. Yes, I loved the buddy-esque storyline, but it lacked mystery and intrige. If only Christopher Nolan was there to write a more complex story for a future Trek-film. And, he actually made his own 'Trek-film' already: "Interstellar".

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The action of the film, especially those swarm ships, to me didn't really do it. It all looks great visually, but I'm actually a bit tired of too much destruction.

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And that brings me to the destruction of the USS Enterprise. It has been done before, in "Star Trek: Generations" and "Star Trek: The Search For Spock", and even in the episode "Timeless" from "Star Trek: Voyager".


Still, "Star Trek Beyond" left a bigger smile on my face than the previous two Kelvin-films. Yet, I do hope "Star Trek: Discovery" becomes more groundbreaking as a TV Series when it comes to moral and ethical dilemma's and real exploration.


So, here's my new ranking of the Star Trek movie franchise:
01. "Star Trek IX: Insurrection" (1998)
02. "Star Trek VIII: First Contact" (1996)
03. "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" (1991)
04. "Star Trek VII: Generations" (1994)
05. "Star Trek I: The Motion Picture" (1979)
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06. "Star Trek XIII: Beyond" (2016)
07. "Star Trek III: The Search For Spock" (1984)
08. "Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan" (1982)
09. "Star Trek XII: Into Darkness" (2013)
10. "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" (1986)
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11. "Star Trek XI" (2009)
12. "Star Trek X: Nemesis" (2002)
13. "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" (1989)


And here are my overall ratings from the entire Kelvin-trilogy:
7.0/10: "Star Trek XIII: Beyond" (2016)
6.5/10: "Star Trek XII: Into Darkness" (2013)
5.0/10: "Star Trek XI" (2009)
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