Review of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) by Liam C — 12 Jun 2014

For a first attempt at a Star Trek movie I'd say this wasn't half bad. It captures the essence of what made the TV show a hit but definitely added a lot to make the jump to a movie necessary and not just feel like an elongated TV episode.

All the players are here and they give it their all and really do make what's happening on screen very engaging. However though, there is only one major thing that really qualifies for a negative in this is the very slack pace that this movie seems to have.

It didn't annoy at first because the first scene in which there is a long panning shot of something visually appealing is the Enterprise itself, so I could understand why they would want to showcase the ship in all its glory but after about 5 minutes I got the point and I just wanted it to move on and as soon as the scene finished, none of the characters reference it and then they just move on and it feels as if the scene was entirely pointless.

Then it just kept happening over and over again, granted it definitely adds to the dramatic and grand feel of the movie and the fact that the visual wonder that is this movie still holds up even in a modern age speaks to how well everything was crafted in this movie.

The colors are rich and appealing to look at, which does help considering how long the movie just holds on these shots of deep space, like I said it helps the grand feel of the movie and definitely makes the space that our characters are in very real and shows how small they are in the grand scheme of things; perhaps I am getting too deep into this for a Star Trek movie but that's the vibe I got from this.

I probably feel this way because it feels like this movie was very heavily inspired by 2001 but whatever they did or did not get inspired by, the amazing visuals help give this a 'movie only' feel that you could only experience in a movie.

I hear the directors cut is better but it will be some time before I get around to that and curiously it is shorter. I also find it funny how Kirk makes a big thing about how he knows the ins and outs of the ship and keeps screwing up, even if one of the scenes got really dark for no reason.

The music was also really good and memorable and its a shame that it didn't win any of the Oscars it was up for because everything in this movie still holds up really, really well. All in all though I did like the movie and there are more positives than negatives but one more sweep through the editing room to just trim some of the visually driven scenes wouldn't hurt.

When I found out this movie was 2 hours and 15 minutes I thought it was very strange though but for a first time adaptation of a beloved TV show, why not go all out?