The plural of anecdote is (Commander) data, as they say. After looking at the most trusted and/or most used websites for movie reviews/information, I have compiled my findings to see how the Star Trek franchise performs. I tried not to give any specific rating or site particular merit over another, instead I looked at the numbers to establish a trend.
For most, ranking the Star Trek movies was easy. For several, it took a little work---12th and 13th place in particular. Where Nemesis outperformed the Motion Picture, it wasn't nearly as much as when the Motion Picture outperformed Nemesis, and a couple of the review scores were identical. Depending on what you consider a more accurate figure for your own personal tastes, 12 and 13 could be interchangable. Generations was a bit of a weird one, too.
At the top tier, Into Darkness, Wrath of Khan and First Contact looked to be highly competitve but Khan lost steam on the right side of the chart while still holding an edge over First Contact. Again, depending on which numbers are most relevant to you personally, these can shuffle a bit, though Into Darkness having the BEST Audience Approval Rating on Rotten Tomatoes is what ultimately tipped it into solidifying my conclusion.
Time will tell if Beyond is worthy of holding 2nd Place, but it's high Tomatometer and BEST IMDB score give it the slot for the time being.
Film Tomatometer/Rating Audience Approval/Rating (RT) Metacritic IMDB
1. Star Trek 95% (BEST) 8.2/10 (BEST) 91% (BEST) 4.1/5 82% (BEST) 8.0
2. Beyond 92% 7.2/10 TBD TBD TBD 8.6 (BEST)
3. Into Darkness 87% 7.5/10 90% 4.2/5 (BEST) 72% 7.8
5. Wrath of Khan 88% 8.0/10 90% 3.8/5 71% 7.7
6. First Contact 93% 7.4/10 89% 3.6/5 71% 7.6
7. Voyage Home 85% 6.9/10 80% 3.5/5 67% 7.3
8. Undiscovered C. 83% 6.8/10 83% 3.5/5 65% 7.2
9. Search for Spock 78% 6.5/10 61% 3.3/5 55% 6.6
10. Insurrection 55% 5.8/10 45% 3.1/5 64% 6.4
11. Generations 48% 5.5/10 57% 3.3/5 55% 6.6
12. Motion Picture 47% 5.7/10 42% 3.1/5 48% 6.4
13. Nemesis 37% 5.2/10 50% 3.1/5 51% 6.4
14. Final Frontier 21% 4.0/10 24% 2.8/5 43% 5.4
The Reboot Trilogy has performed the BEST among critics and audiences alike. Those who think these films are the worst, well, if cold, hard, data from the consensus won't convince you otherwise, I certainly won't be able to.
That being said, how would you rank these differently and why? Is there a particular site that you trust more than others?
Where do you think Beyond will end up on this chart and do you think it'll deserve to be there?