Star Trek movie reviews

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

Note: This is NOT about the new Abrams movie.

OK, since I've started to re-watch the old Star Trek movies I decided to make reviews of them as well. Feel free to chime in on your take of these movies. Agree? Disagree? I'm up to number 3.

They can also be read on my website here.


Star Trek - The Motion Picture
Reviewed by Kevin Thomas Riley

I know that most fans describe Star Trek - The Motion Picture as boring and slow, but I rather like it. It has a special place in my heart and I remember it fondly. The main reason of course is that after the original series this was a completely new Trek, something we had all been eagerly waiting for. Some might have been disappointed but I think that a lot of that is hindsight, especially compared to the films that came afterwards.

Yes, it is slow and lacking in fast-paced action but it has a grand, epic scale that at least I felt captivated by. The whole V'Ger experience is in itself the sense of wonder in this motion picture. And the effects are outstanding; even if you consider that they were made in 1979. Of course Robert Wise's director's cut has improved on it, especially as we get a first real glimpse of how V'Ger looks like once all the surrounding clouds have dissipated.

It takes a while for things to get going, but I'm not sure it could have started much differently. We had to see how the old crew got back together. And of course to show off the look of the refitted USS Enterprise in one of the movie's most memorable sequences. To the non-fan it must have felt a bit odd devoting so much screen time to the flyover but I still feel awed along with Admiral Kirk. It's also my favourite exterior design of the ship, narrowingly nudging ahead of the original.

The message of the film - that we need both emotions and logic to become whole beings - might seem trite to some, but I think it fits really well with Star Trek. That it is the half Vulcan/half-human Mr. Spock who discovers this, after failing the Vulcan kolinahr ritual that is supposed to purge emotions, and his meld with the machine intelligence V'Ger, is only fitting. Coming back to Enterprise and his old friends has made Spock whole and after that he's a more balanced and relaxed person, without losing his special traits.

Sure, the acting and dialogue in some places was a little stilted, especially compared to both the camaraderie of the old series and the later movies, but it's all right in my book. Kirk's longing for command is well done, even if he has to step on poor Will Decker to get in the Captain's chair again.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the awesome soundtrack by Jerry Goldsmith. From the opening theme (which was later stolen for Star Trek - The Next Generation) to the Klingon battle theme and the scary alien-ness of the score while travelling inside V'Ger, it is probably my favourite Trek soundtrack. I remember listening to it a lot growing up.

All things considered I will give Star Trek - The Motion Picture a grade of 9 on my 10-graded scale.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan
Reviewed by Kevin Thomas Riley

Probably the best of the Star Trek films, The Wrath of Khan has it all. Great action, a great villain, great character moments and a heart-breaking finale we all know about. It's a totally different animal than the first movie and much more reminiscent of the original series. So it's only fitting that the villain of the piece is brought from the old episode Space Seed. This is classic Trek at its very best. No one can forget Khan as played by Ricardo Montalban. He fires on all cylinders but for some reason it works and never feels over the top. "Khaaaaaaan" as Kirk would say! It helps if you're familiar with the original episode but it can be enjoyed even without it.

The name of the film is a bit odd. I wish they'd thought of something that didn't sound so corny, like Vengeance or why not simply Genesis? But it shares this with all the "trilogy" Trek films (Star Trek II-IV).

Within all the action is a theme about death, sacrifice and rebirth, and how you finally must face that what you've escaped. This is perfectly presented in James T. Kirk, who as a cadet cheated his way out of the Kobayashi Maru test, not believing in a no-win scenario. Here it finally catches up with him. He cannot win without the sacrifice of his friend Spock. So while Khan is ultimately defeated, a new world is made and he finds a son he never knew he had, he loses Spock. This is a great and compelling story, and it features one of the best character death scenes I've ever seen. I still get a little teary-eyed whenever I watch it. I wish Trek had learned from this when they decided to kill off other characters, from Kirk himself in Generations to Trip in the so-called "finale" of Enterprise. After Spock's death it is almost a cheat to have him resurrected again in the next film.

The character interactions are overall better in this film. They're more relaxed and natural and you really feel that they've all been through life and death together, literally. The additions of Carol and David Marcus were OK, but I never really warmed up to Kirk's son. Kirstie Alley's Lt. Saavik was much better and aside from the eyebrows felt like a proper Vulcan (or half Vulcan/half-Romulan if we're to believe non-canon sources). A pity she wasn't in the subsequent films.

I liked the design and look of the film. The Starfleet uniforms introduced remains my favourite; they felt like proper uniforms and not like pyjamases. Generally speaking I appreciated director Nick Meyer giving the ship a more naval feel, which is again apparent in his The Undiscovered Country. While the interiors are mostly hold-overs from the first film, he manages to make them not feel so sleek and sterile.

The battle between the Enterprise and the Reliant in the Mutara nebula may not compare to the faster, more detailed and sometimes computer generated effects of later Treks, but it's still one of the best space battles I've seen on Star Trek. It perfectly (and deliberately) captures the old submarine movie feel.

James Horner's soundtrack also captures the essence of the movie, especially its battle scores which helps get the naval theme across.

I can give no other grade to Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan than a 10+. It doesn't get any better than this.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

Star Trek III - The Search for Spock
Reviewed by Kevin Thomas Riley

Most Trek fans have heard of the odd-even rule of the Star Trek movies. It says that the even numbered movies are the good ones, whereas the odd ones aren't so much. At any rate that "rule" ceased to apply with the last one, Nemesis, which wasn't very good (I'm not bringing Abrams Trek into this). With Star Trek - The Search for Spock that seems to hold true. It's certainly not a bad film, but compared to the others it just isn't as good as the good ones. And personally, for the reasons I stated above, I don't think The Motion Picture ranks among the "bad" ones.

It's difficult to put a finger on what exactly is lacking in this movie. It is in many ways a bookend to The Wrath of Khan. Spock died and is now resurrected. But it comes at a cost; Kirk loses his ship and his son, and is now, with his faithful crew, renegades against Starfleet for having hijacked the Enterprise and gone to a restricted area to retrieve Spock. It's also a counter-balance against the optimism (despite Spock's death) at the end of The Wrath of Khan, with a new world being born. Now we find out that there is a price to playing God and the Genesis planets destroys itself because David Marcus, much like his father, tried to cut corners while designing the Genesis device. David also pays with his life.

Another bookend is captured in that the phrase "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one" from The Wrath of Khan is here rendered by Kirk as "the need of the one (Spock) outweigh the needs of the many". It may not be logical, but it's human and gets across an age-old philosophical dilemma. On the surface the first version seems the right one, until you're put in the situation yourself. As Sarek said, "my logic falters where my son is concerned".

But somehow those themes weren't presented in such a compelling manner. For once the way Spock was brought back was all too convenient, even if foreshadowed in The Wrath of Khan (the writers and producers obviously wanted to keep their options open). It also cheapened Spock's excellent death and sacrifice. And speaking of deaths, David Marcus's death seemed more like an afterthought. Granted we had little investment in the character but the way it happened felt so random, knifed to death on a whim by a Klingon.

Robin Curtis's Saavik didn't help either. Vulcans aren't stoic stiffs and someone like director Leonard Nimoy ought to know this, since that's not how he plays Spock. But that's how he directed Curtis. Christopher Lloyd brought a little personality to Kruge that made him rise a bit above the generic Klingon villain, but he still seemed too one-sided and singular to make him very interesting. The rest of the Klingons were a forgettable and thuggish bunch. Mark Lenard's Sarek rose above them though. He's always been great and brings a lot of gravitas to the role of Spock's father.

What carried the movie was the crew, the friendship and camaraderie between the main characters. There is no question that they would all go along with Kirk in getting Spock back. They all had memorable lines (like "If my grandmother had wheels, she'd be a wagon", "That green-blooded son-of-a-bitch! It's his revenge for all those arguments he lost!" and "Don't call me tiny!") that still makes me chuckle.

The effects were also poorer. The studio set of Genesis looked rather fake and even the space shots didn't live up to the standards of the preceding movie. But it did give us the cool-looking Klingon Bird-of-Prey and the giant orbital Space Dock. And I liked to see more of Vulcan.

I'll give The Search for Spock a generous grade of 7- on my 10-graded scale.

[WarpGirl]

Well I always love your reviews even if I don't agree with everything in them. Most of the time my nit-picks are minimal though.

I have to say that I kind of disagree with you about ST1. Maybe this is just my six year old self coming out but I can never seem to like this movie. Now I wasn't even born when this movie was made and I'm sure my parents watched it more than once before I turned six, but six is the age I actually remember seeing this thing. Now granted a six year old can't understand this movie, but nineteen years later this twenty-five year old woman still has no idea what the heck it's about. The Deltan woman Ilea freaked me and my sister out for years and it still applies. I thought Kirk was a bit of a jerk (or as my six year old self said "Mommy he's mean!") to Decker, who I thought was a baby even at six. The ONLY thing I have ever loved about this movie is Scotty, Spock, and McCoy. But Scotty and Spock were always my favorites, and I had to stay way from McCoy because my sister claimed him as personal property.

ST2 Ahhhh I love this one! Just like you said it's about perfect. Unlike you I really HATED Kirstie Alley as Saavik. But then again I wasn't allowed to watch Khan for a bit, because we were too little, as a consquence I saw ST3 first. So I liked Robin Curtis. Kirsite Alley just struck me as one of those stuck up girls you despise in school. I loved David but that might have been pure puppy love. From the time I was born I have had a "type" when it comes to men. David fit. I DID NOT like his mother. Oh and for a girl afraid of spiders the "ear bugs" had me FREAKED. Other than that everything you mentioned is dead on perfect. Although I don't mind that Spock doesn't stay dead. Spock is a character to iconic to kill off.

ST3 My personal favorite. Why? Well I remember watching it and finally realizing "oh all of this is connected" What do you want I was seven? I love this one because it's the definitive work on Vulcans. Sarek is perfection, Spock is even perfect, although he has nearly no lines, and is played by several people. Even the Klingons are perfect for being what they are. The crew is great especially Scotty who is so underated. My only complaints they kill David, (hey this child wanted him to marry Saavik) and Shatner's reaction was really overdone even to a child. Other than that this movie rates as amazing simply because of the great Judith Anderson as T'Lar. As a classic movie buff it doesn't get much better.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

Well, I was eleven years old when I saw TMP at the movie theatre and liked it very much. And this has followed me through the years.

[WarpGirl]

Well I feel the same about "Search For Spock." Like I said I just don't understand the plot of TMP. But then again I'm on cold medicine right now and my brain is fried. Please don't trash the Whales. The whales was my introduction to TOS. Mama and daddy showed that to us first. TOS the series wasn't running at the time. So it's my semtimental TOS memory. I remember seeing it at 4.

[Linda]

KTR, your reviews always have something that I have not thought about yet, in the particular film or episode. They are refreshing and I usually agree with most of the points you make. I hope you finish your 3rd season of ENT reviews and also review the rest of the ST movies.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

Thank you kindly! I'll try and see at least one TOS movie each weekend, two if I'm lucky. As for the ENT reviews, we'll see. I got a little sidetracked with my re-watching of season 3 when I dove into the TOS movies.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

Star Trek IV - The Voyage Home
Reviewed by Kevin Thomas Riley

The Voyage Home is arguably the Star Trek film which has had the most mainstream appeal, and that's not surprising. It certainly is a very good film. But there are other genre films - and Trek films - that are equally good or even better, so what's so special about Star Trek IV? The answer is, in my view, that it exists in contemporary times and that makes it easier for the casual viewer to identify with. Most other science fiction outings set in outer space have the disadvantage of scaring off the mainstream into thinking that it either doesn't interest them or that it's too nerdy. It's a pity, really, since I tend to like the outer space stuff a lot more. But what can you do?

There's also another thing that sets The Voyage Home apart and that is its lighter tone, its humour. Sure, humour and lighter moments are seen through-out Star Trek, but not to the degree as in this film. That also makes it more accessible to the ordinary movie-goer. Sometimes I think that this movie is bordering very close to going overboard with the laughs, but it manages to stay on the right side before it would have devolved into an all-out comedy.

But make no mistake, I really like and enjoy the humour. I still laugh at the jokes and colourful metaphors even if I've seen them a gazillion times by now. One favourite is the punk on the bus (who was actually played by one of the movie's associate producers). Even Chekov's "nuclear wessels" doesn't get old. The Voyage Home is also set at the perfect time in terms of Spock. He's just come back to life and is adjusting to it, trying to remember things, people and relationships. That plays out perfectly with him and the rest being fishes out of the water in the 1980s. A more normal Spock with all those gags would've seemed too stupid.

There's not even any proper villain in this movie, unless you count humanity that will hunt the whales to extinction. The whale probe is just oblivious to the damage it is causing. Perhaps you could view the Norwegian (I guess having Canadian or Japanese whalers was too sensitive, even if that meant that the Norwegians were a long way from home) whale hunters as villainesque. But it is a mighty sight as the Bird-of-Prey decloaks right on top of the whaling ship.

Despite that I'm often weary about political messages being shoved down my throat in fiction (and Star Trek is no exception), I wasn't really bothered by the "save the whales" environmentalism here. Sure, it's politically correct but it's not presented so much in your face as to be annoying. It's also not a very controversial message, and delving deeper into such obviousness would have been irritating.

Thankfully they didn't dwell deeper into the mechanics of time travel either. But it was conveniently easy for them to do the slingshot around the sun routine. One wonders why they're not travelling back and forth in time willy-nilly in the 23rd century. And instead of tearing themselves apart with the temporal paradoxes, they make gags out of them, from Kirk's old glasses to Scotty's transparent aluminium.

I also liked the rather cute Gillian Taylor (played by Catherine Hicks), who had great chemistry with Kirk (especially) and Spock. She was resourceful and strong in her own right, and managed to stay on the right side of perkiness. And all she ever give to Kirk was a slight peck.

Leonard Rosenman's score was also appropriately light-hearted for this movie, even if he will not be remembered as much as the composing giants of Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner.

With The Voyage Home comes the end to the three-part story arc for the original characters. Now they have to face what they did in the previous movie, but since they saved the world (again) they're forgiven and given a new ship, not a freighter despite McCoy, ever the cynic, thinking the bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe, but a newly-christened Enterprise, the NCC-1701-A. The adventures can continue.

Summing up, I give The Voyage Home a grade of 9 on my 10-graded scale.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

Star Trek V - The Final Frontier
Reviewed by Kevin Thomas Riley

I almost don't know where to begin with this one, one of the worst, perhaps even the worst, of all the Star Trek films. The Final Frontier is pretty darn awful on almost every level and even my beloved original crew cannot save this mess. Some even want to de-canonize it and it's said that Gene Roddenberry himself considered it to be "apocryphal", especially the part about Spock having a crazy half-brother.

The story is supposed to be poignant, and what could be more poignant than going in search of God? But it all falls flat. It's supposed to be funny, but most of the humour falls flat too. The comedic moments were mostly cringe-worthy and felt forced, unlike in The Voyage Home were they felt natural. Sometimes it was even reduced to slap-stick, like when Scotty hit his head on a bulkhead. There were some good moments, like Scotty's "Dinna you know a jailbreak when you see one?" but those were too far in between. And the less said about Uhura's fan dance the better!

What's little that's worth salvaging comes not because but in spite of the film, and that is the previously established character interactions, notably between Kirk, Spock and McCoy, but even those have their embarrassing moments, like the "row, row, row your boat" sing-along. That ruined a perfectly good friendship bonding moment when they were camping out in Yosemite. But the movie nevertheless had some meaningful things to say about friendships. Kirk's line about knowing he'd die alone was moving as was the realization in the end that men like them do have families - their friends is their family.

The story is nonsensical, with Spock's long lost half-brother Sybok, who we've never heard of before or since, arrives to hijack the Enterprise in search of God. And he's one of those Vulcans who has embraced emotions, which would account for him laughing and spotting a beard. But apart from one scene when Spock refuses to pull the trigger, there really is no reason for having Sybok being Spock's brother. He has a strange power to take away people's fears, which for some inexplicable reason also makes them susceptible to do his will.

Sybok tries it out with Spock, but to no avail. Likewise with McCoy. I always thought Spock had an odd flashback scene of his birth. Sarek should never have that cold towards his half-human offspring and he wouldn't be considering he loved and married Amanda. McCoy though, had a better flashback scene where you could actually feel his pain for having mercy-killed his father. I also liked that Kirk refused, saying "I need my pain!" It's something that we carry with us and defines who we are.

The film takes much too long to get going, but finally we arrive at what of course turns into a great anti-climax. And how can it be otherwise. Could a build-up into meeting "God" turn out other than disappointing. Indeed, what does God need a starship for anyway? There's just no way to do this justice and that is something the script-writers should've realized from the get-go. So we get a less than satisfying confrontation between some being we know nothing about that's been trapped, unknown by whom, for a long time, and our heroes (plus Sybok). Yawn!

There are also Klingons, being led my some young hothead that looks like a Hell's Angels wannabe (or should that be a Gre'thor's Angels wannabe?) appearing in this movie, but they're pretty useless, except for providing the guns necessary to blast "God" to oblivion in the end.

Actor David Warner was criminally underused as an Earth ambassador here, but at least they made up for that in the next movie. Laurence Luckinbill was a mostly good as Sybok, but it didn't help that his character was who he was.

The special effects were terrible and didn't look finished, which isn't that far from the truth. Due to a Hollywood strike and that ILM was too busy they had to settle for another effects team that was rushed and inexperienced. Not that better effects could've helped this movie.

It's also something of a waste to have the excellent Jerry Goldsmith do the score. It's not good when you rather listen to the soundtrack than watch the movie.

In the end I cannot give The Final Frontier a higher grade than 3 on my 10-scale. And it's only the Kirk-Spock-McCoy friendship that saves it from getting a lower grade. William Shatner should have sat this one out and the studio shouldn't have decided to stroke his ego into making this, the worst of the original movies.

[WarpGirl]

Yey! You liked the wales. Most people don't, agree with everything. Actually this movie really got me into marine science as a child. Who knew outter space could make a child so enamored with Earth?

[Aquarius]

My two favorite movies featuring the original cast are TWOK and TVH. I think a lot of times TVH gets comparatively underrated because TWOK was "darker" and aging and loss were a recurring theme. However, I don't feel that the lack of "grit" in the fourth movie makes it any less "good" at all, that its lightness would make it in any way more lacking in substance.

TVH is about friendship, loyalty, and commitment--to said friends, and to the characters' duty as officers. The Kirk and Spock (and McCoy) friendship is one of the the things that has made the entire Star Trek franchise so sustainable for so many years, and even in the absence of tragedy, I feel this movie was every bit as good as TWOK. The planet was saved. The whales were saved. Spock was saved (yeah, he obviously lived because of the last film, but I'm referring to his "marbles" being saved and Spock becoming completely "Spock" again). And the friendship was tighter than ever, because of what they were willing to go through for each other. Spock was willing to die in TWOK. Kirk and the others were willing to flush their own careers to ensure that he lived and return the favor of sacrifice to him in TSFS. By TVH, it all comes together and everyone's sacrifices were rewarded, but even if they weren't, they still had the friendship and you could tell by looking into each face that this was more than enough, and THAT is a hell of a story!

[Alelou]

I thought they went for too many easy jokes, especially at the expense of Spock's characterization, too often in TVH -- but I also think it was the most generally accessible of all the movies, and probably the best intro to the positive nature of Trek. I have to confess, though, that I just didn't suspend my disbelief as nicely as I would have wished. To me I kept thinking, "And well, isn't this a nice, madcap, PC, generally accessible Trek movie for the masses?" I just didn't find it terribly compelling in terms of the characters. I couldn't sink into it. But it was definitely a fun flick.

I agree with KTR about the fifth movie, but who doesn't? If anything, I would have rated it lower.

[WarpGirl]

Well I think ST5 was the worst movie of course, but it did have some fine moments of acting. Also I probably would have loved Sybok IF he had been played by Sean Connery like it had been intended. He accepted the part, but Indana Jones took too long. But come on you CAN'T hate Sean Connery.

[Eian Flannagan]

I fall somewhere between Aquarius and Alelou on TVH. I could suspend my disbelief (because, let's face it, it's time travel) but it was a wee bit too corny. But it also had some truly awesome moments: Scotty and the transparent aluminum, McCoy at the hospital, Spock and Sarek at the end, etc. It was definitely a movie meant to be light and fun. They succeeded.

I, too, would have rated TFF lower if it hadn't been for Scotty. He was dang near the only dude worth watching in it. And you may not be able to hate Sean Connery, but I can sure hate a character. And I loathed Sybok. So not even Sean Connery wouldn't have saved it for me.