Thoughts about the new Star Trek films

I like the New Star Trek films. I was not sure of the reboot idea when I first heard it but it worked out. Chris Pine has been very good as Kirk and Zachary  Quinto has been very good as Spock. Karl Urban has been good as Bones. None of the three are doing impressions of the previous actors who made the roles famous but each are a good fit for their characters.

Zoe Saldana has been really good as Uhura. (She was let down by the writing of the second film.) John Cho has been good as Sulu and the late Anton Yelchin was good as Chekov but they did not have a lot to do in the second film. I like Simon Pegg as Scotty but maybe not as much as I like some other members of the cast.

Of the three films, I think Star Trek Into Darkness is the weakest. It is not terrible but some members of the cast did not feel as involved as they were in the first film and there were a few other script problems. In hindsight it is a bit too much like the Wrath of Kahn. (Also maybe I am missing something but part of the appeal of Kahn in Wrath of Kahn is that Kirk had faced him before and Kahn wanted revenge.) Into Darkness is not as bad as Star Trek V.

Star Trek Beyond was an improvement over Star Trek Into Darkness. More members of the crew had more to do (and seemed more important to the film) and I think the writing was sharper. It is disappointing that this was the least successful of the series. This film came out after Yelchin and Leonard Nimoy’s deaths and the movie was dedicated to them.

Bruce Greenwood was good as Captain Pike in the first two movies. I wish we’d get at least a spin-off novel about the character’s early days (with an audiobook version read by Greenwood).

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