3 out of 5

Director: Nicholas Meyer

Episode VI always threw me for a loop.  It was the first ST flick I was cognizant of it upon release since I was watching Next Generation at the time, and I clearly recall an excitement to sitting down and watching it with my dad, who had followed the previous films.  But I couldn’t remember quite what happened.  Flash forward through several eras of Me, and I see the movie on several other occasions – TV, when revisiting the series – but I still… can never quite remember what happens.  I think there’s a disconnect in VI, where we trashed V (which I’ve come to like) and Meyer, of Khan fame, returned to the helm, so we give the film, ultimately, a ‘pass’ as being one of the better entries.  It starts out perfectly – almost a political thriller, the Klingon empire threatened into extinction thanks to a deadly explosion in their occupied space, The Federation – via some Spock-al negotiations – takes steps toward peace negotiations with the forever untrusted race.  I wasn’t aware of the Russian allusions at the time, but they’re purposeful, as are the frequent Shakespeare quotes to put us in the mood for some theatric betrayals.  Kirk and crew are escorts for the Klingon head of these negotiations, and things go wickedly wrong – with the Enterprise – Kirk – framed for murder.  This stuff is great – it works with the history of the characters and the series and, as he was capable of doing in Khan, Meyer shows an excellent sense of balance between tension and humor, scene-chewing dialogue and some quieter moments.  But the film takes a turn somewhere.  We proceed down a muddled murder mystery line which never quite feels as ‘twisty’ as it wants to be, its conclusion a bit too ‘explain it all to me’.  This lumps up against a prison escape for Kirk, which, while colorful, feels like an excuse to hem in some action and effects.  So too goes for the final confrontation… it’s just suddenly too many styles of movies that are far away from the more speculative sci-fi that started the movie.  The pieces are well done and are entertaining, but they do not knit together as a whole.  VI probably looks the best out of the original series, stepping into a more modern world of cinematography and sets where it doesn’t feel as claustrophobic as previous flicks, and it is as solid as one would hope for a followup from Meyer.  It was a good time to pass the torch, and at least things didn’t go out on a bad note, just not an amazing one either,