This 6th installment in the franchise (the last with the full original TV cast) risks harming co-writer/director Nicholas Meyer's reputation as auteur of STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN. His script for this one, written with partner Denny Martin Flinn and based on an idea by Leonard Nimoy, is more than a little obvious and simplistic. In a way it seems almost a throwback to the original, relatively unsophisticated TV series; all the more surprising in contrast to the literacy and mature sensibilities of KHAN's scenario, originally written by Jack B. Sowards and supposedly vastly polished and improved by Meyer's doctoring.
What worked especially well in KHAN -- the larger than life villainy of Ricardo Montalban's title character, eloquently expressed in quotations from Melville, among others -- is here rather hammily echoed by Christopher Plummer as the Klingon General Chang. Unfortunately, his character's ferocity seems designed simply to fulfill the story's requirement of a baddie who can engage in a 'duel of wits' with Kirk, as in STII. But there's no backstory and no dramatic connection between the two warriors, and to be honest, Plummer's overwrought Shakespearean readings become old pretty fast.
The parallel between the collapse of the Soviet Union in our time, and that of the Klingon Empire in the 23rd century, could have been quite effective if dramatized with more subtlety and believability. But again and again the proceedings here are undermined by obviousness and by-the-numbers plotting. We get Kirk as an unrepentant Klingon-hater who must eventually see the error of his ways. We get the insufferably smug Enterprise officers (?) showing disgust at their Klingon guests' table manners. We get a clichéd prison camp of horrors. And we get the unintentional comedy of actors who memorize their script and never listen to their fellow actors, or the director, to come to a consensus on how to pronounce "Gorkon."
There are a few fine scenes, particularly a harrowing demonstration of the power of the Vulcan mindmeld as performed by Nimoy and Kim Cattrall, and a funny exchange between DeForest Kelley and Shatner which alludes to Kirk's conspicuous womanizing. But there are also some of the dumbest things you'll ever see in a Star Trek story. How about a starship crewman who doesn't wear shoes? Why? Because he has big clawed feet and can't find a single cobbler in the entire galaxy who can make a pair of boots for him! How about a shapeshifting creature who can not only transform her/its body into an exact replica of another person's, but manages to perfectly duplicate the clothes as well?! How about the spectacle of the Enterprise officers, having foiled an assassination attempt in the nick of time, being treated to a round of applause by a bunch of Federation diplomats? Yep, these are all just as stupid as they sound.
So which is it? Is Meyer a wizard or a hack? And is it "Gork'n" or "Gor-khan"?
What worked especially well in KHAN -- the larger than life villainy of Ricardo Montalban's title character, eloquently expressed in quotations from Melville, among others -- is here rather hammily echoed by Christopher Plummer as the Klingon General Chang. Unfortunately, his character's ferocity seems designed simply to fulfill the story's requirement of a baddie who can engage in a 'duel of wits' with Kirk, as in STII. But there's no backstory and no dramatic connection between the two warriors, and to be honest, Plummer's overwrought Shakespearean readings become old pretty fast.
The parallel between the collapse of the Soviet Union in our time, and that of the Klingon Empire in the 23rd century, could have been quite effective if dramatized with more subtlety and believability. But again and again the proceedings here are undermined by obviousness and by-the-numbers plotting. We get Kirk as an unrepentant Klingon-hater who must eventually see the error of his ways. We get the insufferably smug Enterprise officers (?) showing disgust at their Klingon guests' table manners. We get a clichéd prison camp of horrors. And we get the unintentional comedy of actors who memorize their script and never listen to their fellow actors, or the director, to come to a consensus on how to pronounce "Gorkon."
There are a few fine scenes, particularly a harrowing demonstration of the power of the Vulcan mindmeld as performed by Nimoy and Kim Cattrall, and a funny exchange between DeForest Kelley and Shatner which alludes to Kirk's conspicuous womanizing. But there are also some of the dumbest things you'll ever see in a Star Trek story. How about a starship crewman who doesn't wear shoes? Why? Because he has big clawed feet and can't find a single cobbler in the entire galaxy who can make a pair of boots for him! How about a shapeshifting creature who can not only transform her/its body into an exact replica of another person's, but manages to perfectly duplicate the clothes as well?! How about the spectacle of the Enterprise officers, having foiled an assassination attempt in the nick of time, being treated to a round of applause by a bunch of Federation diplomats? Yep, these are all just as stupid as they sound.
So which is it? Is Meyer a wizard or a hack? And is it "Gork'n" or "Gor-khan"?