Review of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

Originally posted on MI6Forums May 20 2009

"How could you do this, Kirk? Spock trusted you -- with everything that was not of the body." "Erm -- wat?" "You let him appear in NuTrek!" "F*cker owed me twelve dollars." STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK Leonard Nimoy's directorial debut is uneven, to be sure. The script has wonderful dialogue and fantastic character moments -- but it's a largely predestrian A to B affair dependant on a lot of leaps of faith on the part of the audience. The model work by ILM produces some of the most beautiful shots I've ever seen in the field of visual effects -- but any set not reused from previous Trek movies looks like a cheaply thrown together mess. Nimoy masterfully directs subtle character interactions, and handles anything involving Vulcans with a well-expected fine touch -- but his action direction is dull and fails to excite. So its a mixed bag, to say the least. But do these factors detract from enjoying the film? Not really. Star Trek III is a fun film to watch -- and despite the deaths of David and the Enterprise, one still gets a feeling of rebirth from it all... as the end title says, the adventure continues and we feel we've moved to a point where from here we can go on to tell any story we want. One thing's for certain -- it's a great ending. In large part the movie has good performances -- Merritt Butrick makes me wish we'd gotten another movie out of David before his inevitable demise, and Christopher Lloyd is a good low-level villain as Kruge. He doesn't match Khan, but he knows well enough not to try. Robert Hooks creates a memorable character in Fleet Admiral Morrow and I wish that part could've been reprised. The original TOS cast are great in this flick. Shatner especially really carries this movie forward the whole way, and it's interesting seeing him without Nimoy to play off of. Mark Lenard reprises his role of Sarek with subtlety, authority, and grace. Gosh, did Ben Cross suck. Unfortunately, these good performances really make the one dud in the cast stand-out: Robin Curtis as Saavik. She's trying her damnedest, but she's no Kirstie Alley. Saavik goes from being an interesting character who we enjoy seeing grow and learn, to a dull wooden wall, fit only to give exposition. Too bad. This film mainly has two weaknesses for me: 1) it's a very linear, straightforward plot. We need Spock alive again, and this movie accomplishes that, but little else. 2) The Klingon enemy should've been more pronounced: Bennett and Nimoy were trying to make Genesis a nuclear allegory with the Klingons representing the Soviets again -- but instead we get a bunch of ugly, crass, punks. I think Trek III is really the beginning of the punk Klingon thing that really damaged that species for a long time. It's the beginning of the modern Klingon. Despite that, there are some touches to the Klingons that I do like -- references to the Federation Neutral Zone and calling the Enterprise a Federation Battle Cruiser among them. Despite revolving around Spock, this film belongs to Kirk. It's really his vehicle and Shatner's got great moments all throughout the film. However, one of the things I really like in this movie is that each member of the core crew gets a moment to shine (with the exception of Chekov, who got a lot of time in the previous picture). The stealing of the Enterprise is like a Mission: Impossible episode, which makes sense since Nimoy was on that show for two years. Hell, Uhura and Sulu get more in this movie than they did in the last two combined! The best element of the film is Kirk's sacrifices for Spock, how far he goes for his friend. Bong has spoken about this eloquently and at some length and I will not presume to do better here. It's weaknesses are rushed plotting and a strange pace that makes the film feel very segmented and episodic (We recover from TWOK - We steal the Enterprise - We fight some Klingons - We go to Vulcan). The movie is short on intelligent ideas or themes -- but is so strongly based in character and so necessarily based in plot that I forgive it. Saavik's scene where she scolds David on his arrogance suffices for me. This movie really captures the spirit of TOS, and just like in TWOK you can really tell Harve Bennett watched TOS and took notes. I love the ending with everyone on Vulcan and the TOS theme playing -- beautiful. It's a fun adventure that lets us recover from the wounds of Star Trek II and move forward to new journeys. Its faults can be excused as it was a directorial debut, rushed script, and largely plot driven in its necessities. 6/10 -- Why only 6/10 after a very positive review? I can't help but say that's what the movie feels like for me. It's light and disposable fun. Gets Spock back for us. But that's really all. 1. STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN 2. STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE 3. STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK 4. STAR TREK