Starting in 2009, the Star Trek franchise was rebooted with a new movie that created an alternate timeline. This was first referred to as the J-J-verse, both with derision and not, then recently made officially the Kelvin-timeline in reference to the USS Kelvin that was destroyed at the beginning of the movie.
The first one was good. It was fun, and had new spin on the franchise. Sure it had plenty of plot holes. The biggest one for me that pushed me out of the movie was the construction of the starship on the ground. True, there were no real deep issues involved but rather an exercise in melding the science and drama of Star Trek and the action of Star Wars.
The second one, Star Trek Into Darkness, was good at parts, too. There were some interesting character and political moments and exciting bits of action. But then the whole John-Harrison-is-Khan thing could have even been good. Except for when it started being an almost scene for scene homage/remake of Wrath of Khan.
Now there is the latest in the Kelvin timeline, Star Trek Beyond. I saw this over the weekend, and I thought it was great. It still had the action of a modern movie (helped by the director Justin Lin who also directed three of the Fast and the Furious movies) but also had some good thought provoking moments. Questions on why we do what we do, questions on the wisdom of pushing boundaries and the risks we take when we do. The old line of “just because we can do a thing, should we do that thing.” And each of the main characters has a chance to shine. I highly recommend it.
Here’s what I don’t understand. Why are so many people hating on the new Star Trek movies so much? Is it just because they are action movies? Each of the movies from TWOK on have had action, each more than the one before. Chris Pine said that a thoughtful movie can’t be made today, and as much as I don’t want to admit it, he’s right. People like to complain about dumb movies full of explosions, but they keep going to Transformers movies. I’m not sure even Donnie Darko could be created this year. I think you can have both. I think you can have a thought-provoking movie with production value.
I think it’s better to trust movie makers we know. And give things a chance. How many times do we have to experience how completely different from the tone of a movie the trailer is to start not trusting them? People could at least wait until the thing comes out and make up their own mind. Or at least find a reviewer they tend to agree with and go with them. But just don’t hate something because it’s cool to hate it or you think too many people like it.