Here on No But Listen, we love a good deep-dive into a certain franchise – and, as I’ve been finally allowing myself to sink into the warm embrace of Star Trek over the last few months, I figured it was high time we take a look at some of the franchise’s cinematic offerings. Let’s talk about the best and worst of Star Trek’s movies (part one!)
14. Section 31
While I’m always up for Michelle Yeoh heading a Suicide Squad-like team-up, it just doesn’t fit well in the Star Trek universe. Spun off from Star Trek Discovery, the most divisive show of the franchise, Section 31 feels like it came from the not-so twisted mind of someone who likes James Gunn movies, the kind of content that would only exist when streaming services are in messy competition with each other.
13. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
The Final Frontier has a lot to be grateful to Section 31 for – without it, the William Shatner-directed disaster would be at home in its usual place at the bottom of these lists. Though, considering the blockbuster guff we are treated to these days. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy meeting an entity claiming to be God has lots more personality and artistry than whatever Netflix movie they put Millie Bobby Brown in next.
12. Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Star Trek does 2001: A Space Odyssey. It shouldn’t work and it doesn’t. The tone is overly serious, with none of the playful back and forth between the characters that lit up the series. What it does have is a sense of awe – while a lot of the special effects have dated, the model work and especially the Enterprise are a wonder.
11. Star Trek Into Darkness
I like this movie a lot, perhaps more than I should – I got caught up in the Abrams/Cumberbatch hype of 2013 and Star Trek Into Darkness is a solid Trek movie until it wants to be Wrath of Khan. This choice has, rightly in my view, lands the reboot sequel in the dregs of this list but it’s not anywhere near as bad as you remember.
10. Star Trek: Nemesis
The biggest crime that Nemesis commits (apart from the weird bullshit of violating Deanna Troi) is not letting LeVar Burton direct and giving this movie instead to a Trek novice like Stuart Baird. Burton had already proved his skill behind the camera on darker episodes of both Deep Space Nine and Voyager so he would have been perfect at adapting John Logan’s freakier, lore heavy script. It’s not a complete disaster: the TNG cast are great as usual, Tom Hardy is absolutely incredible even if his character isn’t, and the space battles are cool. Nemesis is the “it’s not as bad as I remember” TNG Star Trek movie, but it’s still not great.
9. Star Trek: Generations
How much you like Generations probably depends on what captain you like better: Kirk or Picard. If you’re for Kirk, then Generations is a frustrating swansong for the Enterprise’s most iconic captain. I, however, am firmly a Picard man, and, through that lens, I think Generations is kind of brilliant. There are better movies to come, but even if Generations fluffs Kirk’s exit from the stage, it brilliantly introduced the Next Gen crew to the silver screen.
8. Star Trek: Beyond
Star Trek Beyond is the reboot movie that feels most like a feature length episode of a Star Trek show, finally. Even so, it doesn’t dilute its own brand of humour and action that made the previous two movies so divisive, though I like them for what they are. Beyond’s plot is the classic Star Trek device of stranding the crew, destroying the Enterprise (it needs to happen at least once with every cinematic crew) and giving Chris Pine’s Kirk more to do than be just a quipping machine. It’s a good time and one of the two best examples of an all-action Star Trek movie.
I’m going to finish up with the best of the best Star Trek movies later this week, but in the meantime, I would love to hear where you stand on these Trekkie cinematic offerings – what’s at the bottom of your list? What deserve to be higher up? Let me know in the comments!
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By Kevin Boyle
(header image via IMDB)
No But Listen 