The latest entry in the JJ Abrams "rebootiverse" timeline Star Trek franchise arrived in theaters yesterday, and the result is overwhelmingly positive.

With a story in which the players finally seem comfortable in their own skin, and a story that doesn't try nearly so hard to be a "Star Trek" movie, "Star Trek Beyond" weaves an energetic yet thoughtful story that is a worthy contemporary successor to the original franchise. Co-authored by co-star Simon Pegg, "Beyond" tells a story that combines introspection and life uncertainty with a wonderfully mixed concoction of action and special effects that sets it light years beyond its predecessor, "Star Trek Into Darkness."

Where the previous two JJ movies worked almost slavlishly to incorporate "wink-wink, nod-nod" references to the iconic original franchise, "Beyond" allows these characters to move into their own with a marvelously appropriate movie that feels like the best of the more adventurous original series episodes. Justin Lin moves the franchise forward by dropping the lens-flare tricks and handling with surprising deftness these characters that just came out of one of the most poorly received films of the large-screen Star Trek era (Into Darkness). Rather than straining to seem familiar, these characters and their actors now seem relaxed and confident in their *own* portrayals, and the film is all the stronger for it. Clearly Pegg was the right choice to pen this Trek incarnation, and while it isn't without flaws, they're nothing that derails the broader entertainment value of the film or the story it tells - unlike "Into Darkness."

Combined in "Beyond's" story of unity is some of the most spectacular visuals in any Trek film: the spherical "Yorktown" space station is a special effects marvel that integrates perfectly into the underlying story without becoming a CGI contrivance. We see the Enterprise from angles not previously conceived in any other movie. The film also sports a wonderfully dignified integration of the passing of Leonard Nimoy and Anton Yelchin (Checkov) into both the story and the credits.

Perhaps the greatest credit you can give to "Beyond" is that, sometimes, it opts to embrace affectionately some of those aspects of the original series that sometimes wavered into the hammy. Yet Lin shows deft directorial appreciation for these characters and the franchise by never letting those aspects spiral out of control. The result is a delightfully satisfying movie that is more than a worthy homage to Star Trek's 50th anniversary. If JJ Abrams got the 2009 reboot right, but went astray with "Into Darkness," clearly Lin and Pegg at the directorial and writing helm have allowed the rebooted franchise to regain its stride.

Although Beyond is offered in 3D, there's little point; the IMAX presentation is more than adequate, and the 3D version offers very little in the way of enhancement even within the spherical Yorktown space station. Michael Giacchino returns with a score that is essentially on a par with the prior two Trek reboot films; pleasant but unremarkable. In fact, the degree to which music plays an integral part of the movie's plot bears close attention entirely apart from the score itself. This aspect of the movie's plot is a wonderful cross-generational homage left to the viewer to discover for themselves.

I thoroughly enjoyed Beyond, and unlike its predecessor, I find myself enjoying it more as I reflect on it more. If you've given any of the Reboot movies a try, or even had a fleeting interest in the original series, I give it an enthusiastic recommendation. Give it a shot.

The latest entry in the JJ Abrams "rebootiverse" timeline Star Trek franchise arrived in theaters yesterday, and the result is overwhelmingly positive.

With a story in which the players finally seem comfortable in their own skin, and a story that doesn't try nearly so hard to be a "Star Trek" movie, "Star Trek Beyond" weaves an energetic yet thoughtful story that is a worthy contemporary successor to the original franchise. Co-authored by co-star Simon Pegg, "Beyond" tells a story that combines introspection and life uncertainty with a wonderfully mixed concoction of action and special effects that sets it light years beyond its predecessor, "Star Trek Into Darkness."

Where the previous two JJ movies worked almost slavlishly to incorporate "wink-wink, nod-nod" references to the iconic original franchise, "Beyond" allows these characters to move into their own with a marvelously appropriate movie that feels like the best of the more adventurous original series episodes. Justin Lin moves the franchise forward by dropping the lens-flare tricks and handling with surprising deftness these characters that just came out of one of the most poorly received films of the large-screen Star Trek era (Into Darkness). Rather than straining to seem familiar, these characters and their actors now seem relaxed and confident in their *own* portrayals, and the film is all the stronger for it. Clearly Pegg was the right choice to pen this Trek incarnation, and while it isn't without flaws, they're nothing that derails the broader entertainment value of the film or the story it tells - unlike "Into Darkness."

Combined in "Beyond's" story of unity is some of the most spectacular visuals in any Trek film: the spherical "Yorktown" space station is a special effects marvel that integrates perfectly into the underlying story without becoming a CGI contrivance. We see the Enterprise from angles not previously conceived in any other movie. The film also sports a wonderfully dignified integration of the passing of Leonard Nimoy and Anton Yelchin (Checkov) into both the story and the credits.

Perhaps the greatest credit you can give to "Beyond" is that, sometimes, it opts to embrace affectionately some of those aspects of the original series that sometimes wavered into the hammy. Yet Lin shows deft directorial appreciation for these characters and the franchise by never letting those aspects spiral out of control. The result is a delightfully satisfying movie that is more than a worthy homage to Star Trek's 50th anniversary. If JJ Abrams got the 2009 reboot right, but went astray with "Into Darkness," clearly Lin and Pegg at the directorial and writing helm have allowed the rebooted franchise to regain its stride.

Although Beyond is offered in 3D, there's little point; the IMAX presentation is more than adequate, and the 3D version offers very little in the way of enhancement even within the spherical Yorktown space station. Michael Giacchino returns with a score that is essentially on a par with the prior two Trek reboot films; pleasant but unremarkable. In fact, the degree to which music plays an integral part of the movie's plot bears close attention entirely apart from the score itself. This aspect of the movie's plot is a wonderful cross-generational homage left to the viewer to discover for themselves.

I thoroughly enjoyed Beyond, and unlike its predecessor, I find myself enjoying it more as I reflect on it more. If you've given any of the Reboot movies a try, or even had a fleeting interest in the original series, I give it an enthusiastic recommendation. Give it a shot.
Saw it Thursday night in 3D Imax at the Warren. Outstanding movie. Special affects were outstanding. Story line well done and engaging. All of the major characters were done to a T. The legend of James T. Kirk lives and grows.

saw it last night and thought it was enjoyable... there were some slight cringes from me in the plot but otherwise it was a fun movie to watch. i liked it way better than the second movie whose last act nearly ruined the whole thing for me. -M

saw it last night and thought it was enjoyable... there were some slight cringes from me in the plot but otherwise it was a fun movie to watch. i liked it way better than the second movie whose last act nearly ruined the whole thing for me. -M

I agree and that's the observation I made in my "mini review" - they let the movie embrace some of Trek's, oh, shall we say "dramatic extremes" but not so much that it turned the movie into a bad 3rd-season episode. It's almost a nod to the idea that to make Trek really "Trek" you have to embrace at least a bit of the "cringe" elements if you can figure out how to...
mitigate the cringe..." if you will. And I think Lin and Pegg deserve a great deal of credit for having done precisely that.

I thought the open, with Kirk on the diplomatic mission, was awesome. It set the scene so well. And it really let Pine play his own Kirk while still sending up Shatner at least some - but it was all kept under control. I did *not* expect that kind of sensibility from Lin, and I must also admit that the motorcycle stunt within the context of the movie wasn't nearly as cringe-inducing there as it was in that first trailer. I thought that part of the movie was actually a really creative, "trek-sensible" element.

And I have already felt a sense that I want to see it again, which is just the opposite of how I felt after watching "Into Darkness." I've tried to watch ID a couiple of times since it first came out, and the bad aspects of the story just make you shake your head. It holds up *not at all* over time. I think this one will. And I think they've already got their story in mind for the next movie.

Enjoyed the movie, but whoever is at the helm for the ST universe (i.e. whoever replaced the Roddenberrys) missed a great opportunity to explore the new timeline with the old characters (i.e. how does the new time affect Picard et al). Instead we get a new series occurring in the old timeline announced on the premiere weekend of an alternate timeline movie. Don't get me wrong, it's Trek and I'll take it, but for crying out loud, how are we supposed to completely buy-in to the new timeline if you're going to undermine it with the continuation of the old? The streaming-only format would have been perfect to explore the various storylines of the familiar characters in the new timeline.....

Also, can we have a movie where the Enterprise doesn't get destroyed next?

I had heard some mixed reviews going in, so had fairly low expectations.

Personally I thought it had a lot of good parts, overall I thought it had a few issues too. Though one of the movies downsides is they get a level of criticism you generally do not get with each episode in the TV series, just from people move on week to week, whereas films you get at best like one every three years. So people have the time to pick every negative apart and there just seems to be a much larger number of critics that will evaluate a moves, where on series episodes you mostly only see fan ratings, which tend to be generous (I liked one fan site that ranked on a scale from 5-10, possibly tongue in cheek, stating up front they did not expect to give any episode a really bad rating).

Enjoyed the movie, but whoever is at the helm for the ST universe (i.e. whoever replaced the Roddenberrys) missed a great opportunity to explore the new timeline with the old characters (i.e. how does the new time affect Picard et al). Instead we get a new series occurring in the old timeline announced on the premiere weekend of an alternate timeline movie. Don't get me wrong, it's Trek and I'll take it, but for crying out loud, how are we supposed to completely buy-in to the new timeline if you're going to undermine it with the continuation of the old? The streaming-only format would have been perfect to explore the various storylines of the familiar characters in the new timeline.....

I'm pretty okay with the movie series focusing on this new timeline and the TV series continuing to focus on the mainline /"old" timeline. Especially with the movie series taking more prominence, I think it would be difficult to have a TV show in the new continuity that doesn't just feel like a lame spin-off. With it being focused in the old timeline, the TV show can be primed as the "main event".

The "rebootiverse" will, for me, never quite carry the magic of TOS or the TOS crew within the movies. I grew up on TOS, and I enjoyed TNG after the first couple of seasons when all they could do were TOS script retreads...and some of it was excellent...but the other incarnations of Trek just never resonated for me. I never clicked with DS9, or Enterprise, and kinda gave up on Voyager after the first season or two. Maybe its the curse of growing up, or recognizing the flaws too well, or heck, maybe I'm just a little too jaded...

Since Paramount has already announced a Trek 4 with Kirk's dad coming back, and the writing team from the previous movie having already been penned to write the script, it *sure* sounds to me like they're going to make the movie that Orci and that same crew had been rumored to have written only to have rejected by Paramount. The rumor was that Orci had written a movie that was going to reunite the "Kelvin timeline" and "Classic Timeline" and resolve the Kelvin timeline rift, essentially ending the rebootiverse series. All the original players were tied up for three films, with I think Quinto and Pine already given an option on a 4th. It sure seems logical to me if Paramount is shifting emphasis back to the TV side, it may well be that they've opted to shut down the JJ verse after one final film.

With the opening weekend trajectories of the JJ films dropping fairly precipitously - even though I think Beyond is a *much* better film than "Into Darkness" and comparable to the original reboot - Par may be seeing the end of the reliable cash cow for the Trek franchise on the movie side. Beyond probably will do well to hit the $200-$250M worldwide when all is said and done, and in this era of $1B blockbusters, that's probably not quite good enough.

We'll see.

Just picking up a bit on this thread...got to see this again with some friends last night, and enjoyed it as much or more than the first time around. Unfortunately, it was in a nearly empty theater amid what looks to be the final few weeks of its run. it's clear that Beyond just didn't resonate with the broader public. Kind of a pity, as I think this may go down as one of the better Trek movies that, ironically, gets lost in the shuffle - a "Best Trek Movie You Probably Haven't Seen" notion. Looking like Beyond won't even turn a profit, despite good reviews and generally positive audience response. I think at least part of it is that a bunch of folks getting into a starship and doing interesting things in space just isn't a big deal in 2016. Pity.

My mom went to see this last night with my son and their car club st a drive in and loved it. I'm waiting for the Blu ray as I don't do crowd s, but I am looking forward to it.

I'm not sure you would have to fight a crowd for this one Jerry.

I'm not sure you would have to fight a crowd for this one Jerry.

Yeah no crowds at all now. I'll be surprised if its playing at all in a month, except may be the discount houses, etc. We went to the Harkins THeater downtown on a Saturday afternoon and there were maybe 10-20 people there.

The younger kids are too busy watching the latest marvel or DC movie. Hard for startrek to compete in this crowded genre.

The younger kids are too busy watching the latest marvel or DC movie. Hard for startrek to compete in this crowded genre.

Even adjusted for inflation, the Star Trek movies hadn't really been $200 million+ grossers since the 80's until the reboot in 2009. The others seems to hover at $150 million (adjusted for inflation) which is where Beyond is. So, really, it seems like more of a return to form for the franchise, although I'm sure its disappointing for the studio.

Even adjusted for inflation, the Star Trek movies hadn't really been $200 million+ grossers since the 80's until the reboot in 2009. The others seems to hover at $150 million (adjusted for inflation) which is where Beyond is. So, really, it seems like more of a return to form for the franchise, although I'm sure its disappointing for the studio.

Although, the world movie market has shifted so much, and it hasn't even opened in China yet. Star Trek into Darkness saw the majority of it's gross come internationally. I imagine that the $100 or so million I expect them to get in China and other unreleased countries will soothe the studio a bit.

I think I liked this on the best of the three.