Review 83 - Movie no.4The One with the Whales
The concluding part to the unofficial trilogy has rebirth as it's theme, from Spock being alive again, to the Whales being brought through time and the final shot of the new ship. It's very different in tone to the previous three films and anything else in the movie series as well, being more like a well done comedy episode from TOS, which I mean as praise.
The crew go back in time to 1986 to bring back Whales and save the planet. Much of the film is given over to how the seven crew members handle 80's situations and generally the humour is witty, subtle and evolves naturally. They are split into three groups which gives every one a chance to shine.
Kirk and Spock take most of the screen time and also Spocks personality gradually coming back to life as Kirk gently tries to get him to remember who he was. When his realisation finally comes as they discuss rescuing Chekov, it's a lovely scene and brings together threads from the previous two films. It's also nice to see Sarek again.
There are plenty of great set pieces, comedy and action, but a couple of stand outs are rescuing Chekov and getting the whales. I have fond memories of this film as it was the first star Trek film I has seen at the Cinema and I love the 80's setting and the poster.
The final scenes of Kirk being demoted to Captain and given command of a brand new Enterprise are perhaps unlikely, but I can forgive it that because I love the ending to cap the trilogy.
It's not a perfect film: The Save the Whales message can be quite unsubtle at times and the threat of the Klingons is never followed up satisfactorily (though that's not really this films fault). The tone is so different from normal Trek films, that it can sometimes jar, but thematically, this is a perfect ending to the Trilogy and is highly recommended.
5/5
Overall Star Trek Franchise Rating so far: 239/420
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