In my opinion, STIII is a mixed bag.
On the one hand, it has a rare poetry and poignancy to it that almost allows it to kiss the greatness of TMP, at times, but as a complete artistic entity, it isn't remotely on the same level, and is actually a great deal weaker than some of the other entries in the ST canon. Yet there is still
something special to it. In some ways, I think Leonard Nimoy outdid Nicholas Meyer, especially in his handling of the trip to, and subsequent ritual on Vulcan. Similarly, he enlivens the film with the theft and destruction of the Enterprise, which is a true highlight of the "Genesis Trilogy", and moments that could rightly be described as William Shatner's all-time best acting (the look of commitment on his face before Kirk gives the order to go to warp in the former, and Kirk's entirely credible and gut-wrenching response to his son's death before the latter). The film also tries to give each character his or her moment to shine at spacedock, which puts it above
both former movies in this respect. I also really appreciate the dramatically heigtened sense of lighting and colour that Nimoy and DP Charles Correll bring to the picture. It's much more of a looker than TWOK. Finally, there is the pleasure of seeing Mark Lenard back as Sarek, who must be one of the most formidable actors in ST's history (and there have been a few). Then there is the heightened bond between Spock and McCoy (and Kirk and Spock, if it could be heightened more than it had already been, that is). As usual, DeForest Kelley delivers a performance full of grace, timing and wit, practically bringing his character's symbiosis with Spock full circle. How could this man take a line like, "I choose the danger," and make it sound so full of import? Oh, and ... "It's his revenge for all those arguments he lost!" They NEVER dropped the ball with McCoy. On the other...
Everything that's a credit to STIII is its downfall -- and more besides. For example, while the improved lighting brings more life and colour to the movie, it also feels overdone and, at times, totally absurd. Take this shot of Kruge's boarding party being blown to hell as the Enterprise carks it:
http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/tsfshd/tsfshd1263.jpg I must have missed Kirk's order to "Activate Disco Dome". Then there is Mark Lenard, who for all the excellence he brings to the picture is still, ultimately, saddled with exposition, which is made worse, in my estimation, by Nimoy choosing to focus on his wrinkled, sinuous lips during his mind-meld with Kirk, as well as a silly follow-up scene in which Nimoy recycles footage, complete with edits, from TWOK, as Kirk searches for clues to Spock's fate. A further problem is the new sets -- specifically, the set(s) for Genesis, as well as the Klingon and Excelsior interiors -- which look cheap in the extreme. In fact, the Klingon and Excelsior interiors are pretty obnoxious, ignoring the major aesthetic innovations of TMP and regressing ST to the comparitive infantilism of 1960's TV-bound TOS (or worse). Then there's Kruge, an implausible and undercooked antagonist, especially after Khan (who was also badly botched in the previous movie). Then again, I do love Christopher Lloyd. Kruge's speech about "the flag of the Federation [fluttering in the breeze]" is fantastically delivered. I crack up every time I hear that line. Terrific character actor. Lloyd does the best with a skimpy role. However, Nimoy can't avoid indulging himself, from a pointless scene involving Kruge's pet to a needlessly melodramatic scene where Kruge kills his lover. It feels like he was trying to add some meat onto a pretty thin bone.
Also, on a much deeper, almost spiritual level, the destruction of the Enterprise, while suitably violent and melancholic, leaves a bitter, nihilistic aftertaste. In TMP, the refitted Enterprise seemed to be the pinnacle of engineering, and was so new that it hadn't been fully tested, leading to some real and almost-real fatalities, before being properly balanced and brought into line. In other words, a formidable machine that, after a tricky pregnancy, was essentially born again. But in the very next movie, it had suddenly become a training vessel, nothing more, and in TSFS, we're told that Starfleet considers it old and useless, before it's stolen for one last hurrah and unapologetically blown up (and as a quick-fix solution at that). This is a mortal insult to Gene Roddenberry, Robert Wise and all the talented arts and crafts people that worked on the first film; a film that stressed the Enterprise's newness and its place in the pantheon, and strongly implied it would get more than its share of days in the sun. Really, this is a larger point than I can articulate in one post, much less one paragraph, but Harve Bennett and Nick Meyer drove a stake through ST's humanism, and its attedant features, which Nimoy followed through to its natural conclusion, rather than ameliorating or resisting, when he contrived to dispose of the ship's beauty, first in dialogue, then in actually having it destroyed. Had the Constitution-class Enterprise stayed dead, its destruction would at least have had resonance through any remaining sequels, instead of it being copied and pasted with a new filename, as if the old was lost but conveniently backed up (like Spock and his katra). While contrived to feel sadly beautiful, there's something cynical, if not actually vulgar, about III and IV's attitude to ST's leading lady.
After TMP, for me, the films are what they are -- relatively mediocre, half-hearted stabs at immortality. There is virtually none of TMP's grandeur or intelligence in any of the sequels, and certainly none of its care or precision. Equally depressingly, if not worse, is the way all the optimism and confidence in the human mission that TMP masterfully conveyed was so casually jettisoned in TWOK, never to be seen or heard from again, except in faint, pathetic burping noises from time to time (on the big screen, at least). If anything, Shatner's derided TFF comes the closest to TMP's heightened scope, but that's another story. It is an unutterable sin, and a tragedy of almost epic proportions, what happened to ST. And it's something that says so much about our present human condition, mired as it is in capitalism and ignorance. I say all this not to preach so much as to impugn my own opinion of STIII. I do not
hate the other films or anything like it (though I do come close with the last three ST movies, but once again, that's another story). I just try to see them for what I think they are. But they still have things to offer and I enjoy watching and discussing them, from time to time. If there is any consistent triumph of
all the movies (the TOS ones, at least), then it's the actors and the characters, which are worth returning to and remembering, when all is said and done. They lift the movies up, even if they are unable to redeem their excesses and their inadequacies. It sounds corny, but for all their faults, the TOS movies, and the human souls that inhabit the soulless spaces, will probably always have a piece of my heart.
