| Overall Grade: |
B |
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| Story: |
B- |
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| Acting: |
B+ |
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| Direction: |
B+ |
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| Visuals: |
B+ |
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Compiles all that makes Star Trek fun.
by Yahoo! Movies User (movies profile)
Dec 13, 2003
1
of
1 people found this review helpful
After five movies, it was about time the filmmakers compiled together ALL the elements that made each of the quality Star Trek films successful. And as a result, we have Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, which is to my mind, the most enjoyable film of the original series (it's a notch above The Voyage Home but still a notch below The Next Generation's First Contact). This intergalactic thriller successfully grafts together an engrossing plot with timely issues, first-rate action, unforced humor, and superior special effects.
The Klingon moon of Praxis has just been destroyed through decades of overmining, leading to a serious depletion of oxygen, which they will exhaust in fifty years. Desperate, the Klingons decide to mount a peace treaty, and sent to escort Chancellor Gorkon is the Enterprise's Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), who's three months from retirement. Gorkon and his advisers come on board the Enterprise for dinner and all seems to go well, but once they return, they're fired upon, apparently by the Enterprise. As Kirk and McCoy (DeForrest Kelley) try to help the survivors, Gorkon dies, and they're arrested for his assassination. Meanwhile, Spock (Leonard Nimoy) tries to uncover the identities of the real killers before another assassination can take place.
People have often described The Undiscovered Country as "Agatha Christie in outer space." That's a fairly accurate statement, as much of the film's running time is devoted to the crew trying to figure out who fired upon the Klingon ship and who on board are the assassins. It's not exactly mind-blowing unpredictable material, but it is engrossing, and the screenwriters do go to extra lengths to keep plot holes to a bare minimum. The Undiscovered Country can also be enjoyed for the impeccable sense of camaraderie between the crew and for its terrific special effects, easily the best of the original series.
While I would hesitate to label this an action movie, director Nicholas Meyer does deliver a truly slam-bang climactic finale, easily one of the best space battles ever put to film (and this setpiece puts the ones in The Wrath of Khan to shame). The shot of the photon torpedo blowing through the Enterprise's hull from below is the money shot of the film. There are also other classic moments, such as Kirk fighting a shapeshifter who's taken his shape, Christopher Plummer's scenery chewing performance as General Chang, and watching Sulu take the helm as the captain of his own ship, the Excelsior. The Undiscovered Country was the original crew's last film, and it can be said they truly went out on a high note. |
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