Wiz DOES NOT RECOMMEND Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
Before I get to the review, I just want to say that it's interesting how Star Trek ping-pongs between different styles of stories and it still somehow feels right with the series itself.
In the past four, we've had artsy and contemplative (The Motion Picture), tense revenge film (Wrath of Khan), a more standard action drama (Search For Spock) and a parody of sorts (The Voyage Home) and somehow they seem to fit well with the overall feel of the series.
With The Final Frontier, Shatner's crack at directing, it's more of a cheesy 80s action comedy. There seems to be more banter and quips between all of the Enterprise crew which in turn leads to some fun character moments.
But this comes at a cost: special effects are, yet again, worse then they were in previous films. Whether it's a sign of how the effects were back then or not, they lack an impact and visual fidelity that both the first and second have, but three and four sidestepped the issue by not having so much of those elements in their films.
Not so with The Final Frontier: Stunts and special effects seem goofy and unnatural, especially when spliced with obvious green screen effects.
The action, otherwise, is passable: there are some decent shootouts and some okay fight scenes that could have been better.
But the film does an about-face when it comes to tone by the third act. This is due to the villain of the film Sybok, played by Laurence Luckinbill.
Through most of the film, Sybok is portrayed as a cult leader of sorts that brainwashes people to joining his cause.
But as the film moves forward, his "power" gets incredibly muddled in it's explanation. It's not clear whether it's a power he possesses or that he is just a good emotional manipulator, but somehow Bones, Kirk and Spock aren't affected because...reasons.
And then there is the end of the film. Let's just say that when the main villain is "God" (or someone like him), the discovery and what happens next needs to work in a profound or interesting way...and it does neither.
In honesty, The Final Frontier has a problem with both tone and consistency. This isn't something to fault William Shatner on in the director's chair.
No, this started in the script phase and either they should have made it a more spiritually focused journey or Lethal Weapon in space.
The half-and-half approach didn't work. Despite the film still being entertaining in spots, it's something I wouldn't recommend.
