In Star Trek II, the Enterprise crew confronted Khan at a great expense. In Star Trek III, they confronted Klingons in a frantic bid to bring back Spock, at great expense. So naturally, in the fourth film of the classic Trek saga, with the Enterprise crew hanging around planet Vulcan in a captured Klingon Bird of Prey, they had to find their way back home. This film turns the voyage home into an adventure all on its own.
The film starts off pretty straight-faced, immediately tossing the Federation and Earth into peril to prompt the Enterprise crew to deal with it. The crew's solution - to travel back and time and save the whales - proves to be utterly ridiculous, but the film plays with so much tongue-in-cheek humor that it becomes a comedy classic. There are a few visually impressive moments, as the Klingon Bird of Prey skirts along Earth's oceans, but most of the fun in this film is the lighthearted fish-out-of-water comedy. What could be more hilarious than watching 24th century space explorers slumming around 20th century San Francisco, struggling against a seemingly-primitive society to solve high-tech problems? Some of the funniest and most endearing jokes include seeing Chekov roaming with with his Russian accent, asking where the "nuclear wessels" are. It's always a blast to watch Spock trying to get the hang of cursing, and ultimately using his nerve pinch on an annoying punk. And one of my favorite scenes is Scotty visiting an industrial plant, trying to use a 20th century computer by speaking to it.
The comedy makes the film entertaining throughout, but there's still enough problems and peril to make it roll evenly and effectively. It's a little derivative, but still a well-structured plot with quality characters. The film gets a little pushy with the whole "save the whales" theme, but it fits in the light and fluffy context of the overall picture.
The film looks good, with solid photography and editing. Acting is still great from the classic Trek cast: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, and the rest get even amounts of screen time to express their tongue-in-cheek humor with phenomenal results. Writing is quite witty. This production has some fine-looking sets, props, costumes, locales, and special effects. Music is really boisterous and happy-sounding, but strangely catchy.
4.5/5 (Entertainment: Very Good | Story: Good | Film: Very Good)
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