Review 84 - Movie no.5The One with Spock's Half-brother
Ah well, the run had to come to an end sometime. After 4 films that entertained and challenged, comes this flick, directed by Shatner himself.
It's not good, and there's lots of reasons why, but I don't think it's as bad as people say and it's not the worst of the series. It wastes a lot of set up and momentum from the 4th one and all the themes of growing old and your place in the universe are put to one side for an old school adventure that wouldn't be out of place in TOS.
The rest of the crew are largely sidelined and the humour is a lot more forced and outright slapstick at times (I'm thinking Scotty knocking himself unconscious). Also, Spock's brother, Sybok, who is actually a very good character, but it's asking a lot for Spock to "betray" Kirk to this guy who's never been mentioned before, especially after all Kirk has sacrificed for Spock.
The effects are the worst in any of the films, looking half finishes and sometimes embarrassingly bad. The Motion picture blows it out of the water and that was made over a decade before it.
It's not all bad though. The scenes when Sybok takes McCoy and Spock into their past is well written and the general story is exciting and fun to watch (as long as you ignore the plot holes and characters being written very strangely).
The ending is bad and Kirk battling a giant face that can be destroyed by a Klingon Laser is simply unsatisfying. If they had the money, it would have been different, but the film is what it is. I would still recommend a watch of this, though I suspect it's nostalgia and a fondness for the characters, but it seems a waste of a film, even if Shatner's directing is pretty good.
2/5
Overall Star Trek Franchise Rating so far: 241/425
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