Review of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) by Marshall L — 20 Mar 2015

This is one of those movies that I watch for the pleasure of reviewing a movie, which is to say, everyone either loves or hates this movie. It is not Hamlet, even though it asks existential questions. It is not The Grapes of Wrath, even though it chronicles characters on a long journey toward a desperate climax, and it is not The Hunt for Red October, even though it utilizes the tense atmosphere of people trapped in a vessel with an unstable power source.

What it is, is the purest distillation of what I go to the movies for. It is a unique experience, both because of its style and because of its substance. It has dated production design and grand scope.

It has minimal character development and a self destructive obsession with the apocalypse. Most of all, it reunites three characters we all would like to spend more time with, if only do we can say that we were there when____ happened.

This last bit is especially important because it is completely absent from the recent reboot. If j.J. Abrams can't create more urgency than because Kirk's father was in starfleet so he must therefore be a captain, he needs to find a new set of characters and a new audience to annoy.