Star Trek III: The Search For Spock
Star Trek III: The Search For Spock
Image From IMDB
Often the odd numbers in the Trek movie series are considered less favourable, and while I will agree that all the best Trek movies are even numbers, that doesn’t mean the odd numbers suck. Case in point, The Search For Spock.
The Search For Spock really was a difficult movie from the get go to get right, and I believe Leonard Nimoy actually done a great job with it. With Spock, McCoy, and Uhura, all pretty much out of the movie for the most part, half the original cast was missing, and that’s what everyone was there to see. Add to that the general down vibe aboard the Enterprise after Spock’s tragic death, on paper, the elements aren’t there to make a highly entertaining movie. So instead, they made something a little darker, and I applaud them for that.
The story revolves around the remaining crew of the Enterprise having to head back to Genesis, the planet they left at the end of Wrath of Khan. There, a group of Klingons are searching for the technology to recreate the Genesis project, while the body of Spock is undergoing changes of its own, the biggest being he’s not dead anymore… which I think you’ll all agree is a pretty big change.
It’s a story of grief and soul searching. New life coming at an extreme cost. The mental toll on Kirk in this film is like none other as the Captain not only has to deal with the death of his best friend, but the lost of his beloved ship and crew, and the danger his son is in. Kirk really is put through the wringer in this one, to the point where we can see him losing his fucking mind on screen and entering rage mode. It’s pretty amazing to watch, even if we feel incredibly bad for him. He’s so hyped by the end that we actually see him do a backflip, but he’s having such a bad day that he fluffs the landing.
Christopher Lloyd excels for me as the cruel Klingon commander, while Deforest Kelly gets to do a little something different as Bones has Spock in his head. Everyone’s on edge in this one, and they all play the tense atmosphere and grief well.
The standout scene other than the Kirk backflip is the space station chase as the Enterprise escapes the Federation’s orders with the new Excelsior in slow pursuit. Who would have thought a space chase at impulse speed could be so thrilling. It really has to be seen to be believe how fantastic a slow pace chase can be.
The Search For Spook isn’t Wrath of Khan, but it was never intended to be. It’s a darker entry in the series, dealing with the very real issue of grief. We see Kirk at his most vulnerable, and hot-headed. It probably isn’t the Trek you just throw on if you fancy some Star Trek, but if you remember it being a little dull, i’d suggest revisiting it. There’s actually a lot more going on than you remember.
