Review of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) by Rabih H — 06 Jul 2013

Star Trek in all it's glory? Well no, not really. This film no doubt has some serious ups and downs. That is actually this film's biggest flaw; Consistency, or the lack thereof. You can't help but fight that continuous feeling that the movie is both good and bad simultaneously. Both good and bad in large doses.

Let's start with the good:

The visual effects are quite good for the late 70's. Actually even today some of them were dazzling. They actually make you think if today's effects lack that "hand made" quality that make these art-works of labour so beautiful. Todays effects are cool, realistic and modern, but are they beautiful. A question for another time.

The soundtrack is phenomenal. It actually drives the majority of the overly long montages (I'll get to that in a bit) making them bearable, if only just.

Now the not so good:

What the hell was with the acting? Even seasoned pros like Nemoy and Shattner are rigid and robot like. There is no emotion in this film. It feels like the step up to the silver screen was a little daunting for the cast. They look like they are trying so hard to be 'actors' (with a british accent).

The plot is downright terrible. It's so simple and derivative that it bores. And that's the last thing you want in a Star Trek movie. You want the same formula that worked in the series so well steped up a notch, not stretched out to almost 2 hours. That's exactly it, it looks like a episode that went on way too long.

Editing is a shamble. It spends sometimes full minutes on random effects and montages of the ship from practically the same angle. Some shots of the ship are at least 15 seconds long. This is a film not an art piece.

Oh yeah, the ending was simply garbage... Only watch if you're a die hard Star Trek fan.