Painting by Paul Heumann
There is so much of William Shatner’s ego in this film that
it’s nauseating. Not only did he write, direct and star in the
movie, he also puts his character up against God himself with
a simple riddle, “Why does God need a starship?” This proves
of course the whole surprise ending to this laughable yet
enjoyable addition to the Star Trek franchise. It was
surprisingly more enjoyable than the most recent
sequel/prequel/alternate timeline Star Trek film hilariously
titled Into Darkness by J. J. Abrams. In this recent Abrams
film not only does Star Trek cease to be Star Trek, but it
becomes a brand with simple ingredients. Call it Star Trek,
have the Enterprise and have sexy JC Penny models play the
characters. “It will make millions!”
Having said all that, I really enjoyed Abrams first Star Trek
film and I thought it was a brilliant approach to get more
people into Star Trek and to create a successful fun film. But
now with Into Darkness, the Trek universe has been damaged
beyond repair. Now Starfleet is a Military operation with
hidden motives and wars are brewing. It’s no longer about
brilliant minds gathering together to explore the universe and
learn to improve on our own species. Every scene is either
tension or tension leading to action, or a chase scene leading to
action. No longer are these characters in this universe using
their minds and diplomatic skills to solve problems but they
are using their fists and bare knuckles. Everything is in
constant chaos. I always felt that the Trek universe would be a
great place to live - they had computers that could make you
anything, and there was no money or major conflict. All the
problems were coming from outside planet Earth. This
universe has been turned into a Star Wars-influenced, warinflicted, chaotic pile of shit that I have no interest in
exploring. Yet this is supposed to be the new “hip” Star Trek
for a new generation. What new generation? Now it’s just
another average action film, nothing about it is charming or
memorable. How can anyone look up to this? Everything is so
sterile and clean looking; even the sweat and blood on the
characters looks intended.
Now back to the Trek V. In the beginning of the film we see a
bald man with a rifle. Suddenly in the distance we see a man
on a horse quickly approaching. The scene looks as if Shatner
had recently watched The Original Star Wars Trilogy and
David Lynch’s Dune and stole directly from both. But I have
to give this film more credit than Abrams’ Into Darkness. At
least everything had the “Trek” look and feel, plus there was
forced character development that was more “realistic”, and I
use that term lightly, compared to Chris Pine’s performance as
James T. Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Mr. Spock.
Now let’s discuss the character of Kirk. He’s rash, emotional,
violent, a loose cannon, not to mention racist. It makes no
sense that Kirk is actually a leader in the first place. Now don’t
get me wrong, I enjoy the character of Kirk in the right context
but how we are expected to believe that Kirk in Trek V can
outsmart a God-like being with supernatural powers that can
go beyond anything in their technology? He’s a 40 something
year old man (maybe older) running from a super being on its
home planet.
This film was obviously at the breaking point for fans and
nonfans alike. If you were a true fan you could accept this film
as just being the random bullshit one and just ignore it, but to a
nonfan this film probably featured everything that can go
wrong with a science-fiction film. Of course having said that,
there are moments in the film that actually sparked my interest.
In particular, the scene where Spock’s brother Sybok (played
by Laurence Luckinbill) uses the abilities of his mind to create
memories of Dr. McCoy and Spock to try and convince them
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