Really? Because I think it said next to nothing, because the film is so all over the place that what little action and lip service is paid to the nominal themes that it ends up saying or being about not much of anything. God images? Sure, throw a bunch of faces up but that's not commenting on much of anything other than different people imagine different things. Faith? What faith is addressed in the film? some guy comes in and uses Vulcan mind powers to mess with people's minds. Religious extremism, okay, except we never see this expressed in any narratively meaningful way.
We don't get to see Kirk face his "converted" followers. Heck, we don't even get a moment to see what these people now think except they're all blissed out. Where's the moment of confrontation where these people's loyalties are tested? Because either they don't know Kirk, Spock and Bones are in the brig or they don't care. Decades of service together and no one even winces at the idea of tossing their leader, the guy who's saved their skins and civilizations over and over?
This is the problem when you try too hard to make an allegory but you don't actually have anything of depth to say. This is at best high school level thematics.
Honestly, it's a shit script.
Except why would he? So he can turn his back on his responsibilities and loyalties like his crew? We don't see how this effects anyone else except for their blissouts, so there's no convincing narrative that anyone actually faced anything. Did Sybok fuck with their minds or did he honestly have some ability to reach people and help them overcome their pain? The film takes no side on this. McCoy and Spock just go, "I'm staying here,:" and Kirk gets to give a neener neener look at Sybok.
This movie is so surface you could wipe away the substance with a dustrag.
