Star Trek III: The Search for Spock Review

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
1984

Well, now that you know who died in the last film… Spock’s body is laid to rest on the newly revived planet Genesis, and guess what. The device revives Spock, too. The problem is, his “katra” (the Vulcan soul) is missing. Meanwhile, a crazy Klingon commander named Kruge (played by the always delightfully over-the-top Christopher Lloyd) is after the Genesis Device. It’s kind of lame that they simply replaced Khan with another villain that had the exact same goal. Granted, most villains desire world domination, but to have two back-to-back baddies attempt to achieve it in an identical way just lazy. However, Kruge does establish himself as a worthy and original adversary. And this time, he and Kirk actually duke it out man to man -- er, man to Klingon -- in the middle of a planetary apocalypse! You’ve all seen climactic duels set against a volcanic backdrop before, but none ever this good. The theme was Life, forming a great yin yang with Khan. However, the film is full of minor disappointments that really add up. When we meet Kruge, he has a reptilian canine beside his throne. It’s a great “plant” but there’s no “payoff.” Hell, I wanted to see that dog sic some Federation balls! The film spoiled a golden opportunity for a twist ending by foolishly letting us in on the trick. I’m going to give it away because the film does, too: Kirk’s crew stages a phony surrender, tricking the Klingons into boarding the Enterprise just as it self-destructs. It was clever, but would have been brilliant if we didn’t discover the double-cross until the Klingons did. Moments like that made me realize both how good the film was and how much better it could have been. 4/5 stars.

Warp to my Star Trek IV: The Journey Home Review