The Star Trek Movies from Best to Worst
I know it's customary to do some throat-clearing here about how this is "just my personal opinion" or something like that. But screw it. This is THE list. It is a jealous list. You shall have no other lists before it.
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- DirectorNicholas MeyerStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyDeForest KelleyWith the assistance of the Enterprise crew, Admiral Kirk must stop an old nemesis, Khan Noonien Singh, from using the life-generating Genesis Device as the ultimate weapon.It remains the leading generally-acknowledged classic of the film franchise for good reason. The character work and performances, the action and pacing, the story (barring some minor plot holes), the Genesis Device as a plot motivator -- all of these elements come together to work a magic that has thus far proved impossible to replicate.
- DirectorLeonard NimoyStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyDeForest KelleyTo save Earth from an alien probe, Admiral James T. Kirk and his fugitive crew go back in time to San Francisco in 1986 to retrieve the only beings who can communicate with it: humpback whales."The one with the whales." Sporting a welcome sense of fun and charm after the lackluster outing that preceded it -- and a welcome return to the kind of sci-fi problem-solving storytelling that doesn't need a Villain -- The Voyage Home's ecologically-conscious storyline still resonates today. Although its fish-out-of-water farce premise hasn't necessarily aged all that well, there's a joyous energy about it that's infectious.
- DirectorJonathan FrakesStarsPatrick StewartJonathan FrakesBrent SpinerThe Borg travel back in time intent on preventing Earth's first contact with an alien species. Captain Picard and his crew pursue them to ensure that Zefram Cochrane makes his maiden flight reaching warp speed.The Next Generation's era of the film franchise -- which by that time the studio had plainly decided to try to turn into tentpole action fare -- stubbornly refused to play to the series' strengths. As close as it came, and by far the best big screen outing Picard's crew got, was First Contact, which delivered some very solid entertainment (in no small part thanks to an indelible guest turn by James Cromwell as Zefram Cochrane) despite dubiously retconning TNG's most signature villains.
- DirectorJustin LinStarsChris PineZachary QuintoKarl UrbanThe crew of the USS Enterprise explores the furthest reaches of uncharted space, where they encounter a new ruthless enemy, who puts them, and everything the Federation stands for, to the test.It's not the most original of Trek stories, basically just another take on villain-with-a-death-ray which the reboot movies have done from the start. This time, however, there's substance under the shellack. The plot might be basic, but it makes sense for a change, and we're spared awkward slapstick humour and gratingly stupid anti-science bollocks. Instead we get a fully developed and convincing take on the Enterprise crew from a cast at the top of its game, an adventure that balances humour, action and problem-solving skilfully, a setting that really feels like Trek... basically the reboot formula finally gelling into something audiences can enjoy without reservation.
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyDeForest KelleyWhen an alien spacecraft of enormous power is spotted approaching Earth, Admiral James T. Kirk resumes command of the overhauled USS Enterprise in order to intercept it.All the "Slow Motion Picture" jokes of its initial reception aside, people still watch this movie and still talk about it and it remains, bar none (including the reboots) the most commercially successful film of the franchise. Appreciated on its own terms -- instead of as a direct competitor for Star Wars' niche -- it's a perfectly solid film, not to mention a gorgeous spectacle by the any standard, and perhaps the truest entry in the film franchise to the spirit of the show. Time hasn't been so kind to many of its sequels.
- DirectorDean ParisotStarsTim AllenSigourney WeaverAlan RickmanThe alumni cast of a space opera television series have to play their roles as the real thing when an alien race needs their help. However, they also have to defend both Earth and the alien race from a reptilian warlord.On account of the warmth and perceptive affection with which it both lampoons and celebrates the Trek franchise, Galaxy Quest is basically an honorary Trek film at this point and well at home in the top half of the bracket. Its singular achievement is to tell a solid, very funny story in its own right while at the same time parodying Trek and its fanbase without descending into mockery or condescension. Not an easy line to walk at all.
- DirectorNicholas MeyerStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyDeForest KelleyOn the eve of retirement, Kirk and McCoy are charged with assassinating the Klingon High Chancellor and imprisoned. The Enterprise crew must help them escape to thwart a conspiracy aimed at sabotaging the last best hope for peace.The first movie to be tasked with resuscitating the film franchise after an out-and-out catastrophe, The Undiscovered Country looked to so good by contrast with its predecessor that it probably got more praise than it strictly deserved. Bringing back the Wrath of Khan's director, it featured a disappointingly silly allegorical plot and felt somewhat awkward and overstuffed, not to mention the cast by this time was looking a little long in the tooth. But it had a few memorable and plain fun moments, too, and at least represented a more dignified farewell for the original crew.
- DirectorJ.J. AbramsStarsChris PineZachary QuintoSimon PeggThe brash James T. Kirk tries to live up to his father's legacy with Mr. Spock keeping him in check as a vengeful Romulan from the future creates black holes to destroy the Federation one planet at a time.The second film tasked with resuscitating the franchise after even worse catastrophe, Star Trek brought the movies fully into the tentpole blockbuster era of bone-crushingly kinetic spectacle, while injecting badly-needed youthful energy and packing itself with plenty of nods and tie-ins to the old franchise. The reboot did so many things right that the things it got wrong were that much more frustrating: its storytelling was contrived and sloppy to the point of outright stupidity, its disinterest in ideas was palpable, its basic plot (such as it was) unoriginal and uninspiring. It got the job done mostly on effects and nostalgia and arguably would have enjoyed far less goodwill without the Trek brand.
- DirectorJ.J. AbramsStarsChris PineZachary QuintoZoe SaldanaAfter the crew of the Enterprise find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one-man weapon of mass destruction.Into Darkness is made even more frustrating than its predecessor by its outright broken plot and foolhardy determination to set itself side-by-side with the far better Wrath of Khan. The effects spectacle and kinetic energy is still there, along with all the expected nods toward the older continuity; the charismatic cast is still plainly having a blast, and the villains are teased at first as having complex personalities and motives. But B-movie mustache twirling reasserts itself and a self-inflicted stupidity, incoherency and shoddiness continues to overshadow the proceedings, utimately sabotaging the impression it finally tries to give of re-engaging with Big Ideas.
- DirectorLeonard NimoyStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyDeForest KelleyAdmiral Kirk and his bridge crew risk their careers stealing the decommissioned U.S.S. Enterprise to return to the restricted Genesis Planet to recover Spock's body.Granted, literally resurrecting Spock may have gotten us The Voyage Home... but on its own merits it was perhaps one of the most creatively cowardly decisions in the film franchise as a whole, and the movie created to sell it was one of the original crew's least interesting outings. Christopher Lloyd's evident relish in the part of Kruge is a bright spot, but the Klingon commander is plainly meant to capitalize on the menacing charisma of Khan from the previous film and has none of the depth, poignancy and tragic madness that made that character work.
- DirectorDavid CarsonStarsPatrick StewartWilliam ShatnerMalcolm McDowellWith the help of long presumed dead Captain Kirk, Captain Picard must stop a deranged scientist willing to murder on a planetary scale in order to enter a space matrix.A muddled and mediocre movie meant to pass the torch from Shatner to Stewart and his Next Generation crew, Generations contains little to outright hate or to particularly praise. Mostly it is underwhelming, performing its intended function adequately but with few thrills. It tells a great deal about where the franchise had gotten to that a climactic action sequence featuring Stewart, Shatner and Malcolm MacDowell tottering around a scaffold seemed like a good idea.
- DirectorJonathan FrakesStarsPatrick StewartJonathan FrakesBrent SpinerWhen the crew of the Enterprise learn of a Federation conspiracy against the inhabitants of a unique planet, Captain Picard begins an open rebellion.It gets points for at least trying to capture some of the flavour of the show, but ultimately Insurrection misfires on every level: its potentially interesting premise is executed in too dull and limited a way; its character work feels too awkward and off to sell the charming humor it reaches for; its supposedly menacing villains would be at home in one of the more forgettable televised episodes. Not as outright awful as it's sometimes made out to be, it is nevertheless thoroughly inessential and disposable viewing.
- DirectorStuart BairdStarsPatrick StewartJonathan FrakesBrent SpinerThe Enterprise is diverted to the Romulan homeworld Romulus, supposedly because they want to negotiate a peace treaty. Captain Picard and his crew discover a serious threat to the Federation once Praetor Shinzon plans to attack Earth.If Star Trek: Into Darkness lives visibly in Wrath of Khan's shadow, Nemesis dies in it. Viewed on its own it's not quite the total cinematic abortion it's sometimes claimed to be, and actually features some strong action sequences and an underrated performance by Tom Hardy as Shinzon... but the loathing it attracts makes more sense in the context of its absolute refusal to play to any strengths of the TNG characters, its leaden and unearned use of Data to retread Wrath of Khan's Noble Sacrifice trope, and the bizarre decision to retcon the previously unheard-of "Remans" into the picture. Arguably it needn't have been as bad a bomb as it was, but it's completely understandable why it bombed.
- DirectorWilliam ShatnerStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyDeForest KelleyCaptain Kirk and his crew must deal with Mr. Spock's long-lost half-brother who hijacks the Enterprise for an obsessive search for God at the center of the galaxy.On paper, the "quest for God at the center of the galaxy" premise of the Final Frontier seems like properly Trekkish material, albeit from the goofier end of the spectrum. Unfortunately this glorified Shatner vanity project is also the Trek film that's genuinely, solidly bad in almost every possible way: other Trek movies have featured bad characterization, staleness and lack of excitement, muddled ideas and execution or outright broken and stupid plotting... but the Final Frontier is the only one to compass all of those flaws at the same time. Deservedly seen as flatly unwatchable by many, it's a minor miracle -- probably owed in part to the televised success of TNG -- that this outing didn't kill the film franchise dead.