105. Star Trek III: The Search for SpockFORMULA: The Wrath of Khan + Spock's Brain + Return to Tomorrow + Amok Time
WHY WE LIKE IT: The Klingons finally done right. The destruction of the Enterprise is a big, big moment.
WHY WE DON'T: Dips a bit much into science fantasy. Uhura is left behind. And it IS kind of a cop-out to bring back Spock.
REVIEW: Following directly from The Wrath of Khan, The Search for Spock can't help but be part of something good. Yes, it lags at times, and the whole katra thing and the Genesis Planet evolving super-fast are more fantasy than science, but it feels like a big event movie, and it is. Does it cheapen the previous movie to resurrect Spock? You have to balance it with whether or not Star Trek is better with him than without him. I think most will agree that we're better with him.
The theme of the many sacrificing themselves for the one is at the heart of this picture, and I've always felt friendship was at the heart of the original series. It's both exciting and touching to see the crew give up their careers for a chance at saving Spock's soul. This time around, they all get to do a little something. DeForest Kelly manages to channel Spock in an eerie performance. Scotty sabotages the Excelsior. Sulu and Uhura get good moments in McCoy's escape attempt (she hasn't been this sassy since Mirror, Mirror, and I was really sorry to see her left behind on Earth). Chekov's the exception, basically just filling a seat, but he's largely useless in the films.
Saavik is now played by Robin Curtis, and while her characterization is fine, she's just not the same Saavik. She's much more Vulcan, for one thing. David Marcus returns only to meet his end, but he does so bravely, and I'm always flattened by Kirk's reaction to his son's death. He stumbles back and misses his chair, and it takes him a second to get himself back under control. Even as I type these words, I'm a little teary-eyed. And if the audience isn't quite that attached to David, it IS attached to the Enterprise, which is next to go. It's an awsome sequence as a self-destruct sequence is finally brought to term. Audacious.
No discussion of this movie would be complete without mentioning Kruge and the revamped Klingons. Though we'd seen them in The Motion Picture, they weren't very well fleshed out. The fright make-up is more subtle here (and better), and the Klingon language starts to get codified. And the bird-of-prey, wow. Much cooler than the Klingon cruiser. Christopher Lloyd brings a lot of gusto to his performance of Kruge, and I've always had a good time mimicking his delivery when quoting lines from the movie.
The Search for Spock is uneven however. Aside from the problems mentioned above, there's the cantina scene that's way too much like Star Wars' for comfort. And the other Starfleet captains are totally incompetent. Otherwise, there's enough humor to counterbalance the drama, and the film comes off as a good sequel to The Wrath of Khan.
LESSON: The hands of a surgeon weren't made for a nerve pinch.
REWATCHABILITY - High: You need to watch this one anyway, if you're going to watch the better films preceding and following it, but it stands on its own, with good performances, history-making events, and a memorable villain.
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