It took a good ten years to adapt Star Trek, one of the best and most famous sci-fi TV shows of all time, for the big screen. When they finally did, Star Trek: The Motion Picture premiered to showcase a big, bold, extravagant spectacle, and a story that promised to be the end-all be-all Trek adventure.
The problem is, watching this film has always been a weird experience. Despite the gorgeous model work and special effects, there really isn't much action to this, and the pacing overall is rather slow. Even at its smartest, the Star Trek series and all its future incarnations always had an adventurous spirit embedded with its stories; this movie strips away the adventure in favor of a strict and somewhat cold piece of hard sci-fi. There's little warmth, and certainly no real bang, to this picture.
That being said, it still has its merits. The interstellar odyssey through the V'Ger cloud could be seen as something wondrous and awe-inspiring. The biggest draw to this film will be its story, which showcases a very clever high-concept premise with strong overarching philosophical themes of existence, purpose, and the human spirit.
The plot holding these concepts up is a pretty standard affair, but is stretched rather thinly due to a number of lengthy scenes that could have easily been cut from the film. A lot of screen time is devoted to endless beauty shots of the Enterprise, there's a weird and silly scene where everybody's trapped in a wormhole for some odd reason, and there's a seemingly-pointless scene involving a transporter accident. What really throws me off, however, are the characters. The original cast is all here - Captain Kirk, Commander Spock, Dr. McCoy, Uhura, Checkov, Sulu, Scotty - but Spock is the only one of the lot who actually feels like a main character. In this movie, it's Decker and Ilia who take the center stage, and they go through a romantic spiel that borders on being sappy.
Photography and editing are generally good in this film. Acting is disappointingly dry from the classic Trek crew, possibly because they're not given much to do as they are in the sequels. Leonard Nimoy is easily the biggest standout here; William Shatner does the best he can to make Captain Kirk cool again, and DeForest Kelley throws out some occasionally crass and witty lines. As the true main character, Stephen Collins comes off as rather dull. Persis Khambatta might be the best and most interesting performance here. Writing is not bad, especially regarding the high-brow aspects of the film, but it lacks a certain personality overall. This production has some rather gaudy costumes, but most sets, props, and special effects are great. Music is great too.
In the same fashion as 2001: A Space Odyssey, I have to really be in the right mood to watch this film. Both 2001 and Star Trek: The Motion Picture are space operas with very big special effects and very big ideas, but aren't that big on character building. As a Trek film, this first feature can be a rather dry and bewildering experience, especially if you're looking to see the original Enterprise crew in action. As a piece of intelligent sci-fi, with a pair of entirely strange new characters in the lead, it can be an interesting and rewarding experience. Especially for the Director's Cut of this film, which is a little more evenly-paced, and features some smashing new special effects.
It's worth a look for interested sci-fi fans and most Star Trek fans.
3.5/5 (Entertainment: Average | Story: Pretty Good | Film: Good)
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