Movie Notes: Star Trek 3: The Search For Spock

May 8th, 2009

= 3 stars

Starring William Shatner, DeForest Kelley, Christopher Lloyd
Directed by Leonard Nimoy

Synopsis

Led by Admiral Kirk (William Shatner), the Enterprise returns to earth after a nearly fatal confrontation to learn of a chance to bring Captain Spock back to life. Meanwhile, Klingon commander Kruge (Christopher Lloyd) takes an interest in the Genesis project as an ultimate weapon.

The Good

• The return of Klingons as villains, and Sarek, Spock’s dad.
• Sulu and Uhura get to do a tad more, specifically, helping steal the Enterprise.
• Introduction of the Excelsior, a new starship that Sulu will eventually command (but you’ll have to wait for Star Trek VI).
• Destruction of the Enterprise.
• One emotional moment where Kirk falls backward, missing his captain’s chair.
• The final moment with a lone raised eyebrow is pretty cool.

The Bad

• Resurrecting Spock after such a respectful death feels a bit off when watching the films back to back. Still, it’s worth remembering that in the original television series, death was cheated in rather ridiculous ways — Spock’s blindness averted by a “third eyelid,” Spock thinking Kirk was dead, Spock’s brain, etc.
• Cheesy stuff begins creeping into the franchise: A Klingon dog, McCoy visiting a ridiculous Cantina-like bar, Scotty becoming more buffon-like, and chuckle-inducing terminology like “space doors.” The special effects are noticeably inferior to the first two movies (the warp indicator on the bridge of the Excelsior looks like something whipped up on an Apple II).
• Unnecessary rehashing of Star Trek 2: the intro repeats Spock’s death, the Klingons watch a tape of Kirk narrating the Genesis project, and Kirk scrubs a security tape to find the exact moment of Spock touching McCoy’s face saying “remember.”
• Saavik is played by a different actress.
• Christopher Lloyd as Klingon Commander Kruge ain’t Khan.
• No philosophical musings, save a weak reversal of the “needs of the many” line at film’s end.

Conclusion

While occasionally amusing, Star Trek 3 feels like a connect the dots exercise — point A being Spock’s death and point B bringing him back to life. It also seems oddly determined to undo the “damage” done by Star Trek 2, as if the movies had to return to a place where movies could run in a non-sequential order. Then there’s the plain fact that the whole ride isn’t very entertaining — an amazing lack of tension as the crew boldly voyages toward a foregone conclusion.

IMDB: Star Trek 3: The Search For Spock
Wikipedia: Star Trek 3: The Search For Spock
Rotten Tomatoes: Star Trek 3: The Search For Spock