Star Trek Movies Ranked
Over the last month, I’ve watched through all of the Star Trek movies. It was my first time watching a large majority of them. I thought it would be fun to stop and rank all 13 Star Trek movies, let’s get started!
NOTE: As a point of reference, I'm not a big Star Trek fan. The only Star Trek movies I’d seen prior to this ranking was the reboot trilogy. I haven’t seen any of the tv shows either. So this is largely a first time watch for me. That’s my perspective going into this ranking. I’m a newer viewer to a majority of these movies.
13. Star Trek: Nemesis: A pretty bland and generic Star Trek movie that doesn’t even feel like a Star Trek movie. There’s several elements about the film that don’t feel like they belong in a Star Trek movie. In this movie we get a car chase and rape sequence, why? Well I don’t know why. The rape sequence is sort of just there to be there, it doesn’t tie into the plot. Several of the actors have spoken about how they weren’t happy with the final execution of the film. Jonathan Frakes, Marina Siris, and LeVar Burton were disappointed that the director, Stuart Baird didn’t watch any Star Trek. I think you can feel that when you watch the film, a non Star Trek fan directing a Star Trek movie. It’s been a few weeks since I watched the film, I don’t really remember much about the film. The only thing I remember about it was the stuff with Data and seeing a young Tom Hardy, 10 years before he became an A-lister. Simply put, I don’t think this is a very good movie. It doesn’t feel like Star Trek, it doesn’t have the right experience that a Star Trek movie should have.
12. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier: After three great Star Trek movies, this was a pretty big step down in quality. Everything about it just feels off. It doesn’t feel as good as it should have been, the characters aren’t as fun and memorable as they used to be. Even the basic idea of learning that Spock has a half-brother doesn’t make any sense, that was the wrong direction to take this movie. The plot of the movie revolving around the search for God is a weird direction for a Star Trek movie. Leonard Nimoy directed the previous two movies, he did a really good job. William Shanter directed this movie, I don’t think he’s as good a director as Nimoy was. There’s weird creature designs in here, with a three breasted cat alien creature at the beginning. It gets goofy, but goofy to a fault. Some of the chemistry between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy is very funny. Some of it maybe is cringy, but the cringy nature of it is what makes me laugh. I strongly debated putting this movie in last place, but at least with this movie it provides more of a classic Star Trek experience.
11. Star Trek: The Motion Picture: The first ever Star Trek movie and to be honest not a great movie. I think the big problem here is that it’s overly long, the movie is about 2 hours and 15 minutes long. But a good percentage of this movie has slow moving camera shots of our character’s faces as they look at something. There’s scenes and sequences that are overly long and this takes up the entire run time. I feel like if the movie didn’t have those shots, this movie would probably be much shorter therefore having better pacing for the movie. On the positive side, I like that there’s a lot of practical effects. While this movie is 45 years old, the practical effects hold up and look pretty solid to this day. The score from Jerry Goldsmith is also great, it fits Star Trek and this movie very well. It was a lot more memorable and iconic than I was expecting it to be. All around, this isn’t a bad movie but it’s also not a great movie and not a great first movie for the Star Trek franchise.
10. Star Trek: Insurrection: A decent film, but of all of the films on the list this is easily the most forgettable of the bunch. There’s not much about the story that I remember, there’s some interesting ideas of exploring Data going rogue and how his rogue actions affected the community of people. That’s interesting and there’s a plot of a movie in that. The way the movie plays out, the way it’s all handled didn’t really work for me. There are some fun interactions here between the crew, some of the lines that both Data and Riker get do put a smile on my face. There’s also some very goofy bits of humor, where Picard briefly starts dancing to classical music. It’s just weird, it doesn’t work in the context of Star Trek. I don’t really remember the villain of the film, the only thing I remember is this scream that he lets out that is weird and kind of laughable. In general, there was some fun to be had here. It’s just not one of the more memorable films of the franchise.
9. Star Trek: Generations: From beginning to end, I thought this movie was filled with wasted potential. I think the whole plot revolving around a villain trying to get The Nexus Point only to lead to an interaction between Kirk and Picard felt too fanservicey. It’s fun to see the two captains interact, but they didn’t find the right plot to warrant it. If they found a different way to explore the villain’s motivation, they could have made the villain interesting. I think Malcolm McDowell is a solid actor and they could have made a great villain out of him. There’s also scenes that didn’t need to happen, mainly the destruction of the Enterprise just happens to pad out the run time. But it doesn’t tie into anything taking place. There is some nicely placed humor in here, especially what they do with Data and put a smile on my face. There’s some interactions between the crew that will put a smile on your face. It moves fast enough, I was never bored watching the movie. Overall, this is a frustrating movie. I think reworking the film could have been a solid movie.
NOTE: Every other movie on this list, I’d go positive on. The bottom five movies I will give a negative review to. The rest of these do range from a B- to an A.
8. Star Trek: Beyond: This has always been my least favorite of the reboot trilogy of films. It’s the one of that trilogy that I’ve rewatched the least amount of times. I don’t think this is a bad movie, like I said I would go positive on it. It’s just never been as memorable or exciting as the first two movies of the franchise. J.J. Abrams didn’t return to direct the film, I think you can see that. I know Abrams has burned a lot of Star Trek and Star Wars fans, but I think he made a distinct mark on the Star Trek movies. His movies had a certain energy and pacing to them, I don’t think Justin Lin has that same energy. It’s still a fun movie, it moves quick enough. There’s some exciting action sequences in here, the destruction of the Enterprise is very memorable. I like how this movie is more focused on the crew and not just Kirk and Spock. So characters like Checkov and Sulu are more present throughout the film. I love the little side quest that Spock and Bones are in, they get a lot of really funny moments. There’s still a whole lot of fun to be had here, I was never bored rewatching it. It’s just not a fantastic movie in my opinion.
7. Star Trek: First Contact: I thought this was a significant improvement over the past film and I think it has a much better story to offer. It’s a continuation of an episode from the tv show. I think that provides solid character development for the crew, mainly Picard. They do a lot to flesh him out and make him a more interesting character. As this is my entry into Picard and his crew, I’m glad they made this movie so it gives newer fans depth for the characters. It does the time travel stuff from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, this film handles the time travel stuff in a very different way. It doesn’t feel like a rehash of what came before. You also get some fun actors in here whether it’s James Cromwell, who does a really good job. He’s a lot of fun here and I like how he ties into the plot as a whole. I don’t really have specific reasons as to why this movie is not ranked higher up on the list. It didn’t evoke as big of emotions as some of the other films did. It’s not as fun as some of the other films. But still, this is a very solid movie. In my opinion, the best film from The Next Generation era is Star Trek.
6. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country: The final film starring Shatner, Nimoy, and friends. I think the movie actually does a really good job of closing out their journey. We see Sulu with a different job, he got a promotion. There’s a lot of dialogue between Kirk and Spock as they’re reflecting on getting older and if they are getting older if making them make certain choices. There’s also these interesting ideas that the movie is exploring and it’s very interesting to see. You even fully understand why Kirk would be so hesitant on helping the Klingon, because of what they did to his son. The plot of the movie feels like a really good plot for the final film with this set of characters. I think the twist in the third act was predictable, early on I was able to guess what the twist was going to be. I think they delayed the reveal a bit too long. Seeing other Star Trek rankings, I know that a lot of people rank higher. I think it’s a very good movie, there’s not very many specific reasons why I don’t like this movie as much as other people do.
5. Star Trek: Into Darkness: I know this isn’t a beloved film amongst hard core Star Trek fans. For me, that’s never been my experience with the film. But I think it’s a whole lot of fun, J.J. Abrams’ bag of tricks of creating a roller coaster ride of a movie is applied here. The movie starts off with a great sequence and it never really lets up until the credits roll. There’s a lot of action, comedy, and memorable moments to keep you entertained from beginning to end. The movie is jam packed with humor that puts a smile on my face. The cast is great, they all give great performances. This was my introduction to Benedict Cumberbatch and he’s great in here, he’s one of the best Star Trek villains. They also find ways to provide mystery and intrigue in the plot so the whole movie has a set of twists and turns. It’s constantly misleading the audience to what’s actually happening. It’s not a perfect film, I think there’s ways in which the pieces have to mash up just right in order for the plot to progress. Overall, I really like this movie and think it’s a lot of fun.
4. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home: This is one of the most fun and entertaining films on the list. It’s a fish out of water time travel story where Kirk and friends have to time travel to 1986 San Francisco from some whales. All throughout the movie you get some fantastic lines that are memorable and make you laugh out loud. The stuff with Spock learning when to use curse words was really funny. Or even the stuff with Spock trying to learn human nature and what humans mean when they say certain things. All of our characters get a funny line whether it’s Kirk saying “double dumbass to you” or Scotty trying to turn on a computer via voice command. You even have a romance here between Kirk and Gillian. Despite her only appearing in one movie, they do a really good job making this a relationship that you care about. It might not have the emotional depth as some of the other films, this is still a movie that I think this very enjoyable to watch.
3. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock: Going into this movie, I heard this is one of the more polarizing Star Trek movies. It has a lot of fans, but there’s also a fair amount of people that don’t care for it. I’m not sure where that dislike comes from with this movie, because I really liked it. This movie really shows how much the crew cares for one another and the lengths they’re willing to go. Kirk and his crew break the rules in hopes of rescuing Spock. There’s hope that maybe they can bring him back, those moments of them working so hard to rescue him is great to see. Sometimes those choices have consequences, so we get a couple of deaths here that are earned and you feel the emotion of them. Since our crew is together for the majority of the film, there’s some great banter in here. Some really funny moments between the entire crew that put a smile on your face. Overall, this is a really solid movie that is quite good.
2. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: A sequel that I think surpasses the first film by a landslide. There’s a lot about this movie that I really liked and I think makes it a very solid Star Trek movie. The big thing that stood out to me about this movie is how it explores themes and ideas of getting older and the legacy you leave. The show a lot of this through Kirk has he’s not a captain but an admiral, choices he made in the past coming back to haunt you. Because of that, it does a better job of making you care about the characters. These small conversations between Kirk and Spock have some weight and meaning to them. Bringing the Carol Marcus character as a person of Kirk’s past and that arc that takes Kirk on. The movie as a whole has more emotions in it then I was expecting it to. James Horner did the score for this film and once again it’s pretty fantastic. It helps make the movie what it is, it plays in the subtle moments and then cinematic moments. No matter when, it’s great and memorable.
1. Star Trek (2009): This might be an unpopular opinion for ranking this film at #1, but it’s my opinion. I think this is the Star Trek that best balances themes, character arcs, and entertainment. J.J. Abrams knows how to make roller coaster ride movies. It’s a movie that starts very fast paced from the beginning of the movie to the end of the movie. The movie is never boring, there’s always action or humor happening to keep you entertained. In the action sequences, Abrams is able to add conflict on top of conflict with it getting over the top and convoluted. He makes the action sequences exciting and thrilling. The opening sequence is maybe Abrams’ best directed sequence of his career. There’s also a nice steady stream of jokes and humor that put a smile on my face. I love Michael Giacchino’s score here, it’s fantastic and gets my pumped out. They find a way to give both Kirk and Spock different character arcs then what we’ve seen before, the arcs are emotional all along. When you put it all together, you get a movie that’s greatly directed, entertaining, funny, and emotional. This is my favorite of the Star Trek movies.
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