Star Trek: Kelvin Timeline

Since I'm watching the Star Trek series (and films), I did want to review the films that I have fully seen prior this rewatch, which are all of the reboot/Kelvin films. Despite their divisiveness, I do enjoy all of them, so I wanted to give each of them a quick review before I do my ultimate ranking of all the Star Trek films (plus Galaxy Quest):

Star Trek (2009): I actually first watched Into Darkness before 09', and I actually liked it more at the time. Obviously, I don't at all agree with that opinion, but I understand why. Star Trek 09' is an origin story. It's not just an introduction to the characters like TMP was, it's a full-on backstory for every single member of the cast and how they met, and that means it gets off to a bit of a slow start and everyone's pretty pissed at each other for a lot of the movie. However, once you get past that hurdle, this is a really great film. The opening with Kirk's father is fantastic, the destruction of Vulcan is so gutsy yet so memorable, Spock Prime's appearance was a great surprise, the final battle and escape from the black hole is great, and above all, this film does a fantastic job of introducing new viewers to the Star Trek franchise. It's slick, full of fun action and crazy twists, and the new cast is not only really good but fully-utilized. It could have easily fallen into the trap of focusing on just the main trio, but that is absolutely not the case here. Star Trek '09 suffers from being a reboot/origin story/introduction, but it works as a really great one.

4/5 Stars

Star Trek: Into Darkness: I feel like I have the same opinions on this film as I do "The Rise Of Skywalker". On its own merits, it's a fun, tight blockbuster with a ton of great action, fun character interactions, and absolutely stunning visuals, continuing Kirk's character arc from the first film incredibly well. And you know what? I'd say the first half of the film is legitimately great! And so are some parts of the latter half! However, it suffers from its comparison to a much better film: Wrath Of Khan. That film was tense, brutal, exciting, and incredibly well-plotted, and it lived and died on Ricardo Montalbán's performance as Khan. The only thing this film really tops WoK in is the brutality, this is by far the darkest Trek and it owns it. The scenes with the Vengeance, Khan crushing someone's skull, the Enterprise being destroyed in warp speed, I admire how gleefully edgy Into Darkness is. But outside of that, Cumberbatch is pretty good, but he's not quite as gripping as Montalbán (not to mention the whitewashing), and the lack of any previous encounters with Kirk removes that sense of personal stakes. Kirk's death could have been an effective subversion of expectations, but it gets reversed immediately in a clumsy, rushed climactic fight scene. It tries to twist Wrath of Khan's story but just feels like a hollow recreation, especially without 80 episodes of TV backing it up. Don't get me wrong, though. This is still a fun film and I enjoy watching it a lot, it's just not all that original. It introduce me to the Tribble though, so I can't get too mad at it.

3/5 Stars

Star Trek Beyond: Star Trek Beyond is easily the best of the Reboot films, and is one of my favorite Star Trek films period! The main reason why I love it so much is the character work. I love Kirk's arc about being exhausted with the five-year exposition, Kaylah is a super lovable addition, and I love how the destruction of the Enterprise splits up the cast into unusual pairings, all with their own unique dynamics and banter. This film has a lot of action, but it also makes sure to allow for moments of character interaction and introspection. As an anniversary film, Beyond also feels like a love letter to Star Trek as a whole, with the heartwrenching tributes to Leonard Nimoy, that amazing Beastie Boys scene, and nearly as much spirit as Galaxy Quest (which can only be a good thing). My only big weak point is that Krall is a pretty dull villain who gets an exposition dump backstory near the end, but otherwise, Beyond is a blast to watch. It's funny, action-packed, character-driven, and filled with love for the Star Trek universe. I started with the reboot films, but I think Beyond was the one that really sold me on the franchise as a whole.

4/5 Stars

My ranking of the reboot films are:

Beyond > Trek > Into Darkness

And my ultimate ranking of Star Trek's films are:

1. Galaxy Quest (Still the best! An affectionate love letter to Trek with sharp comedic writing, a strong cast, and a ton of spirit. It works just as well for both Trek fans and general audiences)
2. The Undiscovered Country (A nearly perfect Star Trek film. A tense and well-paced political thriller with great heavy themes that doubles as a satisfying goodbye to the original series cast)
3. First Contact (Despite its deviations from previous Trek films, this is still a brilliantly executed movie with cool action, strong pacing, great character work, and stunning effects for when it came out)
4. Wrath Of Khan (While it takes a bit of time to get going, Wrath Of Khan is a fantastic and dark movie with an amazing villain, great deconstruction of Kirk, and an iconic and emotional ending)
5. Beyond (A fantastic love letter to Star Trek that puts a greater emphasis on the characters, exploring them in interesting ways, and putting them in interesting pairings for maximum banter)
   
6. The Voyage Home (The main premise is ridiculously stupid and the core message is poorly aged, but the comedy and camaraderie among the cast makes this one impossible to hate)
7. Search For Spock (Not all of the effects are all that amazing, but this is still a great followup to WoK with a compelling emotional hook, some outstanding setpieces, and a strong central theme)
8. Star Trek '09 (The fact that this film was an origin story holds it back for me, but it does a good job of reintroducing Trek to its audiences with a great new cast, slick production, and some big twists)
9. The Motion Picture (This is a beautiful film with stunning visuals, interesting themes, and amazing music, but it suffers from some drawn-out sequences and drops off a bit after the first act)
10. Star Trek Generations (This is an overstuffed film with a shoddy production and just as many bad scenes as there are fantastic ones, but its story and action is solid enough to be entertaining)
11. Into Darkness (On its own merits, this is a fun sci-fi action movie with great pacing that doesn't need to reintroduce the cast. As a Star Trek film, it's a hollow copy of Wrath of Khan but worse)
12. Nemesis (The action and visuals are pretty good and there are some great scenes here and there, but it suffers from a confusing and unoriginal story with an odd villain and some obvious cut scenes)
13. The Final Frontier (While Shatner's direction is pretty decent especially with the character interactions, the awful hodgepodge of a script ends up tanking the entire thing)
14. Insurrection (This film is just boring, suffering from bad comedy, a plot where the protagonists feel like the bad guys, dull action, and shoddy effects. At least TFF was ambitious, this was just bland.)