Review: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
With the tragic
death of Spock (Leonard Nimoy) in the previous film, a pall seems to have been
cast over the Enterprise and its crew, who return to space-dock. For Dr. McCoy
(DeForest Kelley), however, his behaviour is even more disconcerting. He simply
isn’t acting like himself. In fact, it seems as if he has been possessed. A
visit from Spock’s father Sarek (Mark Lenard) indeed confirms that Spock had
probably mind-melded with McCoy before his death. The plan is to steal the
Enterprise (which has been decommissioned by Starfleet), fly out to the Genesis
planet (seen previously in “The Wrath of Khan”), and bring Spock’s soul
and his body together. Meanwhile, Klingons led by Commander Kruge (Christopher
Lloyd) provide a fly in the ointment, taking Saavik (Robin Curtis) and Kirk’s
son David (the late Merritt Buttrick) hostage and wanting to find out the
secret powers of the Genesis planet. The planet, however, has other ideas, as
it appears to be extremely unstable. And yet, Saavik and David have detected
life on the planet. Who or what could be living there? James Doohan (engineer
Mr. Scott), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Walter Koenig (Chekov), and George
Takei (Mr. Sulu) reprise their usual iconic roles. Dame Judith Anderson appears
briefly but memorably as a Vulcan high priestess.
Cosmo Kramer’s favourite
“Star Trek” film, and yes mine too. Forget the odd-even number thing,
this 1984 follow-up to everyone else’s favourite “Star Trek” movie,
marked the directorial debut of Spock. Even if you don’t agree with me that
this is the best of the films, surely you can’t deny that Leonard Nimoy proves
a much better director than did William Shatner for the universally yawned “Final
Frontier”. The “Star Trek” films made pre-“Next Generation”
were always on the low end of hi-tech FX, hell even “TNG” films don’t
have the A-grade FX of the current J.J. Abrams incarnations, but in this film
you surely can’t tell me that the FX aren’t a step above the first two films in
the series. In fact, I reckon this one’s the first truly cinematic “Star
Trek” film. The first one was woefully inadequate, and even “The Wrath
of Khan” had a lot of call-backs to the TV show. This one has a few, sure
(and some will consider it “Wrath of Khan Part II”, which isn’t exactly
unfair I suppose), but of all the “Trek” films except maybe “First
Contact”, this is the closest the series ever got to being
action-adventure. Some hardcore fans may consider that a bad thing, but as
someone far more “Star Wars” inclined than a Trekkie/Trekker/Pedantic
Nerd, I prefer the action/adventure aspects of “Star Trek” to its space exploration
side, as I’m more of a fan of cinema than I am of TV (I do love TV, mind you).
There have been action scenes on the various “Star Trek” TV shows, of
course, but nothing big-scale, this feels much bigger. So that’s probably the
thing that sets this one truly apart from at least the other original crew
films. The scene where Kirk and crew ‘steal’ the Enterprise, is particularly
exciting.
Personally I’ve
always preferred the “Next Generation” crew, but I have some affection
for the original crew, and this one gives my favourite among them, DeForest
Kelley’s cranky Dr. ‘Bones’ McCoy some of his biggest and best exposure, as his
mind appears to have been ‘melded’ with Spock’s. It’s easily the actor’s finest
hour as Bones finds himself possessed by the spirit of perhaps his least
favourite being in the entire galaxy, Spock. It’s equal parts ironically
amusing (amusingly ironic?) and genuinely affecting. In fact, the ‘death’ of
Spock in the previous film finds itself casting quite a heavy (but not dour)
shadow on the film, without getting dreary or dull. Even with a hambone actor
like William Shatner in the lead, it manages to be rather emotional (ironic
given Vulcans tend to suppress emotion). The thing with these actors is, that
they may not be great actors, but in these roles, James Doohan, George ‘Oh My!’
Takei, and yes William Shatner all work. Hell, even their voices sound perfect
for their characters, don’t you think? In most non-“Star Trek” roles,
Shatner can come across as a bit ridiculous (even though his best work to date
has been as Denny Crane on “Boston Legal”, before it got a bit too silly), but as Kirk he fits in
nicely. Of the other major cast members, James Doohan’s loveable Scotty is
probably the only one to stand out. I’m afraid Nichelle Nichols, George Takei,
and Walter Koenig don’t get a whole lot to work with here. I will say, though,
that Koenig and Canadian-born Doohan really do deserve credit for their
flawless foreign accents. I’ve heard them speak outside of this series, but had
I not, I would never have guessed that Doohan wasn’t Scottish or that Koenig
wasn’t Russian (Koenig is an American with Lithuanian ancestry).
In smaller roles,
TV veteran Mark Lenard is pretty good as Sarek, Spock’s father, however Robin
Curtis is completely wooden as Saavik, Kirstie Alley being vastly superior in
the role (Apparently Ms. Alley either didn’t want to be typecast or asked for
too much money, depending on who you believe. Kirstie was probably filming “Runaway”
around this time anyway. Gee, that was a wise decision, Kirstie!). Curtis is
appallingly stiff, and I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who feels this way.
As much as I’m a huge fan of the Klingons as an alien race, Christopher Lloyd
is merely OK here as the chief villain. He just doesn’t quite disappear into
the role, possibly because the makeup isn’t all that great in this film. He
also suffers from coming after Ricardo Montalban’s Khan, even if I’m not as
huge a fan of that performance as everyone else seems to be. Khan was an iconic
villain, Kruge is a somewhat enjoyable blowhard. His best moments are with
Kirk, when he is able to assert a little authority and aggression. I love
Klingons, but these ones are a tad cartoony, though they nonetheless get the
job done well enough. One must remember that the Klingons are basically an
alien representation of Mongols (the facial hair is a dead giveaway), or a
warrior race, who aren’t known for being intellectually gifted. They are pretty
one-dimensional by design, aside from Worf in “TNG”. For a film that is
mostly about, well the search for Spock, it’s OK that the Klingons aren’t great
(They’re not even in the final quarter of the film, and we don’t really miss
them). Besides, Lloyd’s Commander Kruge gets to strike a huge personal blow
against Kirk, leading to William Shatner’s best acting moment in the entire
series. Also, the Klingon Bird of Prey is still my favourite alien spaceship of
all-time, except maybe the ship with titties from “Battle Beyond the Stars”.
As much as I
earlier championed the film as being more action-adventure than the two
previous “Trek” films, I actually think most of the best material in the film is the Spock-Bones stuff, as well as the
whole idea of the Genesis planet, which is really fascinating. However, I’m
still glad that the film has the action-adventure material, to open things up
and take this series in a more cinematic direction, without taking itself in a
non-“Trek” direction where there’s no thought or conscience behind it
all. Unlike the first film, stuff actually happens in this one. However, points
off for without question the worst costume design of any “Star Trek”
film. I hate the boring and monochromatic uniforms on the short-lived TV series
“Enterprise” even more, but these costumes are just ghastly and gaudy.
What the hell were they thinking?
A nice balance
between thought and action, this is the best of the “Star Trek” films,
and although it’s best if you’ve seen the previous “Wrath of Khan”, you
don’t really need to have seen the TV series to appreciate this one. Shame
about Robin Curtis and those hideous costumes, because everything else works
splendidly here. Typically excellent James Horner (“Star Trek II: The Wrath
of Khan”, “Battle Beyond the Stars”, “Aliens”, “Braveheart”)
score is icing on the cake. The screenplay is by producer Harve Bennett (who
co-wrote the screenplay for the overrated “Star Trek IV: The One With the
Whales and Bad Comedy”), from a story by Bennett and Nimoy. I’m really not
sure why this one only gets mild appreciation from others, but then I hate the
universally loved “Star Trek IV”, so there’s that.
Rating: A-
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