Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)

This is a great movie. It is better then the TV show. It is also better then the first 2 movie. This movie has a great story line. It also has great acting. Star Trek V the final frontier is better. Still this is a great movie. See it.

The needs of the franchise outweigh the needs of the movie. It's certainly logical. I just wish the movie left me more to think about.Shortly after the battle that resolved "Star Trek II," we join a largely vacated U. S. S. Enterprise heading home. Still mourning his friend and comrade Mr. Spock, Admiral Kirk (William Shatner) discovers Spock's sealed-off cabin occupied by "Bones" McCoy (DeForest Kelley), himself occupied by Spock's "katra," or spirit."Climb the steps of Mount Seleya," a tranced-out McCoy tells Kirk, kicking off a new journey for the Enterprise.No doubt the "Star Trek" production team, buoyed by the great success of their prior film but now stuck with a gaping, pointy- eared hole, saw its repair as job one. Bringing Spock back to life thus becomes the focus of the film, and the only thing that it gets right.A series of decent if lully setpieces that awkwardly cohere into a larger story, "Star Trek III" feels stuck in orbit from first to last. The funeral tone of mourning Spock, established in the opening moments, hangs over the rest of the film. Kirk broods about the "emptiness" he feels, about abandoning "the noblest part of myself" and "our dearest blood."Having spent decades unsuccessfully separating himself from his best-remembered part, director Leonard Nimoy could have told his old comrades it was no use. You don't just say goodbye to Spock and expect him to stay dead. Nimoy lets his film linger over the loss of our favorite Vulcan, at the expense of the tension and suspense that animated "Star Trek II."What Nimoy does do well is engage the other actors, at least the ones he worked with in the original series. Kelley is delightful as the keeper of the katra, struggling to reconcile his new persona as a logical Vulcan while retaining Bones' short temper. "It's his revenge for all those arguments he lost," McCoy fumes when Kirk explains what has happened to him.What did happen, anyway? The introduction of a mystical element to the Vulcan story, that Spock has what Kirk calls "an immortal soul," is at odds with "Star Trek's" materialistic approach to life, especially as it culminates in a religious ceremony conducted in English with a lot of "thou" and "thee." I can't say I bought it, but then again, it wasn't like I felt expected to. It's something to justify the reason we are here, getting Spock back.The rest of the film punctuates this by giving us little else to watch. There's some business about renegade Klingons trying to steal the secret of the prior film's Genesis project from the Federation, but the action here is strictly by the numbers. Christopher Lloyd spits every line as the head Klingon, pushing to dominate every scene he's in. Long sections of narrative deal with the collapse of the Genesis planet and its impact on a young Vulcan who may be Spock, a plot device which is neither believable nor compelling.What "Star Trek III" needed was something to pull us from the Spock story, a crisis/adventure to engage us long enough for Spock's return to take us by surprise, the same way his demise did in "Star Trek II." Unfortunately, "Star Trek III" doesn't find that hook, and the film becomes a minor slog with some funny character-driven moments, pleasant for fans but eminently forgettable.

Never seen the Stat Trek franchise and heard so many negative things about it I must say that I was again surprised by the outstanding effects that are still working today. Directed by Leonard Nimoy (Spock) himself I must say that he did a great job.The story starts exactly where part 2 ended so you must have seen part 2 to understand it all even as it starts with the last 5 minutes of that particular part. Where as part 2 (The Wrath Of Kahn) did had a lot of action here we do have more of a psychical story. There isn't that much action going on but when the enemy shows up it do works out fine. The effects of the dog is well done. Pure latex but still it works.Maybe the only negative thing is the fact that it is sometimes a bit too long on parts but not as boring as the original movie had. Worth seeing and even as I, not a Trekkie, I did like it even as I had my doubts about the acting of William Shatner (Kirk)Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 3/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

The unpleasant incident with Khans Wrath had cost the life of Mr. Spock...........or so it seemed. Admiral Kirk is informed by Spock's father Sarek that his son is being kept alive in the thoughts of one of the crew members. It now becomes necessary to search for Spock's body, so that flesh and soul can be rejoined on Vulcan. It turns out that Spock's spirit is residing within the mind of the Vulcan's longtime shipmate, Dr. McCoy. Finding the body is another matter, since the Enterprise has been consigned to the trash heap and thus is out of Kirk's jurisdiction......With a helpful 'previously on....' At the beginning of the film, ST:TSFS takes no time in getting straight to the main point of the narrative, find Spock, and maybe we can find ourselves along the way.There are a lot of metaphors in the film surrounding life, mortality, and finally death, but these never really hinder the pace of the story, and after the tense and dark second entry, it's a bit of a relief that this has a more light hearted, almost Schumacher touch to the sets and the colours of the film.Take Lloyds uber villain, as despicable as he is, he's almost pantomime with his performance and gait, and when we first meet him with his Henson Workshop pet, and that really eighties neon lighting, it takes the urgency away from his motivation.But Lloyd seems to be enjoying the fact he is playing a Klingon, and Nimoy as director just seems to let him do what he wants. Shatner is more Shatner in this, and he hams up the screen, especially in the hilarious final fight between him and Lloyd (I particularly loved the backflip).But it's all highly enjoyable, the sets are astonishing, and the film is full of vibrant colours that almost make the film feel a little like 'The Temple Of Doom' in the final act (which was out at the same time).But do yourself a favour, don't do what my father did and take me to see this without seeing the prior movie, you'll feel like you're watching totally incoherent.It's best watching II and III back to back.It works so much better...