With such an ambivalent title for the third movie (do you sense a little sarcasm there) that really doesn’t leave much to your imagination, you ponder how the crew of the Enterprise will manage to find and save Spock’s soul.

After two movies, one particularly bad and one profoundly good it was always going to be an interesting and difficult task when Leonard Nimoy takes the helm. I was a little surprised that ‘The Search for Spock’ started very slowly – this was one of the biggest faults of the first movie, and therefore the first 30 or so minutes they take to setup the plot seems a little too much. Ok so the first movie didn’t have any plot in the first 30 minutes, so at least this movie changed that – but I felt it could have been setup far more efficiently.

As the title suggests (and also assuming that you watched the very good ‘The Wrath of Khan’), the third movie concentrates on bringing back perhaps one of the most important characters of the series- whether they intentionally ended the second movie in the way they did to set up a third movie isn’t quite clear – but in my eyes it was a mistake that meant that a movie that really didn’t advance the series had to be made. While in some cases it works to have movies continue on, and have plot elements and characters continue to build at you watch multiple movies (The Matrix, Star Wars being good examples) it doesn’t seem to work well in this case – the movie is too arbitrary, and doesn’t really add anything to the previous movie – in fact it really sets out to destroy much of the previous movie’s accomplishments.

The first thing that is very evident in this movie is that the budget was low – the scenery, settings and effects are nowhere near the quality of the first two movies, and while Nimoy’s direction makes the best of this, it is a shame that such a good series is left in the doldrums due to a low budget. With a little more money, Nimoy could have hidden the lack of a decent plot with plentiful explosions and beautiful scenery.

The plot isn’t a complicated one, Spock has lost his soul – to re-join his body and soul, Kirk must retrieve the body from the Genesis project, and the soul from its ‘container’ – while to me it is obvious what or who this container is (even before the movie gets started) I won’t give it away….

Now to complicate matters, the Genesis planet is off limits and thus Captain (OK Admiral!) Kirk ignores the federation and sets out to retrieve the body…hmmm did I mention that he just happens to steal the Enterprise? OK so add a few Klingons and you essentially have the bones of the plot…and if anyone doesn’t know what is going to happen in the end then well you’re not a trekkie!!!

So, apart from a fairly standard plot that is unconvincing at best and very predictable, there is a lot that disappoints in this movie. There are some very well done parts that are heart pumping and exciting but these are hidden between long patches where plot explanations seem to take precedence. There is an attempt to bring out the old ‘fisty cuffs’ but this seemed to me to be more, ‘well its what Kirk always does’ rather than a significant and logical part of the plot.


After a much improved acting performance from the entire cast in Wrath of Khan, it was a little disappointing to see the cast step back into a ‘non charismatic’ role, losing a lot of the camaraderie and passion that seemed evident in Wrath of Khan. Christopher Lloyd was especially disappointing as the villain, and this perhaps is down to the fact that he is barely recognizable and therefore his main tool (his face) is not visible and therefore you lose a lot of his ‘skill’.

Star Trek III tries to build on the humanity and honor of Admiral Kirk and his crew – it tries to talk about self sacrifice and loyalty, but perhaps gives the wrong message as the Admiral essentially breaks the law to achieve his goals - while the Kirk I know and love has occasionally been very close to the line, it really didn’t seem like a legitimate Kirk move. While he is undoubtedly rebellious in nature, I am unsure if he would break the law in such an obvious way, and totally disregard orders for something that is so selfish – I can imagine him breaking the law, or disobeying orders for noble reasons, but these reasons are very personal in nature.

The movie does stick to Rodenberry’s principles by having a lot of social commentary, but this seemed more an add-on rather than a cohesive part of the plot. This is perhaps the problem, the movie is disjointed; it’s almost as if Nimoy kept on thinking ‘Oh yeah I forgot about that – let me add it’.

Overall it was a barely adequate movie, that only interests as the story is about a main character. The lack of quality effects, scenery etc detracts from the overall product, while the script fails to satisfy. It almost seemed that the cast was going through the motions, waiting for a better movie to come along. On a side note, I also find it a little implausible that all these ‘bad’ things only seem to happen to Kirk – while this is an attempt to justify his reckless actions, it just isn’t cohesive or true to the whole ‘star trek’ world.

If you’re a Trekkie then you will probably like this movie as it brings in a lot of ‘mystisism’ and adds a lot of character to Spock, but movie goers who are not enamored with the Star Trek series, will have another reason to bash the series.


Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: None of the Above
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12