Hey, everyone! I’m not dead and I promised Charlene I would try to get around to reviewing Star Trek Beyond, so here I am coming back from my unintentional absence to talk about two summer flicks.
I went into these two different movies with different expectations, and they may surprise you. Despite my love for Star Trek, my enthusiasm for Star Trek Beyond waned before I saw the movie because, of all things, my rewatch of the two previous reboot films. I really enjoyed Star Trek 2009 and Into Darkness the first few times, but the more I watch the show and the more I watch these movies the less I care for the latter. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy them enough to rewatch them, but I definitely have problems with their respective stories.
On the other hand, I was really excited about Jason Bourne. It just looked spot-on and I could not wait.
Ultimately, when I went into Star Trek Beyond, I went in a little warily but also hopeful that I could enjoy it based on everyone else’s reviews that it was fun. And fun is a very good word to describe it. Not that there aren’t any serious moments or stakes, but it felt like TOS to me, in the best way. (Well, not the literal best, like The Trouble With Tribbles, but another solid and fun episode like A Piece of the Action or something.) Chris Pine actually for real felt like Kirk to me, but not in some rip-off-of-Shatner way at all. I believed that this alternate Kirk was actually a viable Kirk. Really, the entire cast of the Enterprise crew were great, and I loved how they spent part of the movie separated but paired off, giving us a taste of some different interactions we don’t normally get.
Jaylah was a great new character too, though I’m still annoyed that there are like zero aliens from the prime Star Trek universe other than Vulcans and a couple others, and that almost every alien is something brand new. I appreciate the creativity of it, but it just feels disproportionate. And I feel that leads me to my main quibble with this movie, the villain.
Before we see Krall or even know he’s the big bad, he seems pretty vicious the way he attacks the Enterprise. When we actually meet him and see him on the planet he doesn’t seem quite as bad until we see how he attacks one of the crew members. Then we get a big reveal about him (that I guessed beforehand) that is pretty significant but we get so little development that it ultimately falls flat, and we end up with someone who was just a hair better than Nero in 2009.
Overall, I enjoyed all the great character interactions that felt so genuine, the fun lines, and I really appreciated the tribute to Leonard Nimoy (and there’s just a tiny bit there for Anton as well). I was absolutely against more of the reboot films before seeing this film, but now I’m more open to it if they stay more true to the feel of this film.
The new Jason Bourne feels pretty much just like the first three Bourne films, just more modern. If you enjoyed those, you’re probably going to enjoy this one as well. I had some problems with it… mass amounts of unnecessary destruction, the death of a certain character that felt meaningless, and perhaps a slightly shallow/flimsy storyline… but overall I was entertained. I think my favorite part of the movie was Alicia Vikander’s character, Heather Lee. I love how there was more to her than met the eye, and if the story continues, I definitely want more of her. There was also a little bit of a subplot that I felt was sadly too underdeveloped that I want more of, involving a social media company called Deep Dream and its mogul.
And since I’m like the only person who prefers the Aaron Cross/Jeremy Renner movie to the Matt Damon ones, I would be super intrigued if we could see these two intersect in the future as well. But please don’t fridge Rachel Weiss.
Have you seen either of these? What are your thoughts?
Huh, I didn’t know Alicia was in the Bourne movie! Also haven’t watched any of them unfortunately, but they do look entertaining!
I really do need to rewatch the first two reboot movies and see how they compare now, I’m so curious to see how I would like them. And to see the nods to the original series in the first film. I totally agree that Chris Pine was more Kirk-ian in this film – just the beginning felt more like TOS Kirk and that was fun. Jaylah was an awesome character too – I wonder if she will be included in future films – I hope so!
What did G think of Beyond?
He liked it pretty well.
I haven’t seen Star Trek Beyond OR Jason Bourne in general, so I may have skimmed your review, because I do want to watch Star Trek later! I’m glad to see that it’s staying true to the series though! (Even though I have never watched the original)
I made sure to keep it spoiler free! Hope you enjoy it; let me know what you think when you do watch it!
I haven’t seen Star Trek but I’m not a fan of the rebooting so I may see it but not chomping at the bit or anything. 🙂 And oh how I would love to see tribbles lol. But I have heard it’s pretty good and in the spirit of the TOS so maybe I should break down and watch.
I did see Jason Bourne and honestly was a bit disappointed. I didn’t think it was better than any of the first three, and I think it missed having a good Pam Landy-type character. And I did not like the direction they took Nicky, i’ll just say that. 🙂 Still it was nice to see a Bourne movie again. In spite of a cardboard cutout overly ruthless villain (or so I thought).
I think Beyond is at least worth a watch. I think it’s better than the other two reboot films, but I guess I won’t really know how I feel until time has passed and I’ve had the chance to rewatch it.
I saw Heather Lee as a sort of Pamela Landy character… helping Bourne from the inside, and then they turn that on its head. I just found that part of it interesting, but I can’t disagree that the movie has other weaknesses. And I agree with you about Nicky, that was just uncalled for!
I skipped the Jason Bourne section because I haven’t seen that yet.
But I thought a lot the same about Beyond. The villain totally for very Nero-esque in the end but I like the character moments that splitting up the crew created. And I liked jah-la a lot. I hope she shows up in future installments.
I haven’t been much of a fan of Into Darkness though I mostly kind of liked the first reboot. Nero was such an illogical, one dimensional villain and the flop flopping of the aim of Into Darkness never worked for me (though I love Benedict Cumberbatch). The whole wannabe Khan storyline just wrecked that movie for me.
So the balance of funny and serious, Beyond that felt truer to the series. Even though I guessed the twist also.
Yeah, when I rewatched Into Darkness this last time I was so much more disappointed by it after having like it a lot before. But I really think that was the wrong way to go; they could have done something else with Benedict Cumberbatch for sure.
I fully intended to see “Jason Bourne” in theaters, but life happens, and I didn’t get to it. That said, I plan on seeing both of these when they arrive to DVD and will likely skip the renting option and go straight for the buy since I’m 99% sure I’ll love both. 🙂