Star Trek V: The Final Frontier - Review

After the 1-2-3 knock-outs of The Wrath of Khan, The Search For Spock, and The Voyage Home (typically dubbed the "Star Trek Trilogy"), the Star Trek series seemed to be on fire. Studios loved the box-office revenue, Trekkies were never happier, and the franchise was even starting find an audience outside of the typical nerd demographic. Since hiring Leonard Nimoy as director worked so successfully for parts III & IV, Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner, was chosen to take the directorial duties for the fifth film. So to no surprise, expectations ran high for a fifth entry. In 1989, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier was released in theaters... and the disappointment began.

Star Trek IV ended with a trial for Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) for breaking a number of Starfleet laws, despite saving Earth from an alien probe and an angry Klingon. As "punishment" for his actions, he was demoted to the rank of Captain and was assigned once again to the newly reconstructed USS Enterprise-A with his familiar crew. Kirk could not have been happier, as he never enjoyed his rank as Admiral but rather found true happiness as Captain of his beloved ship. The film opens with Kirk, McCoy (DeForest Kelley), and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) enjoying a relaxing shore leave in Yosemite. Their vacation is cut short, however, when Starfleet orders them to answer a rescue call on Planet Nimbus III, where three dignitaries (a Klingon, Romulan, and Human) are being held hostage by a renegade Vulcan named Sybok (Laurence Luckinbill). As they rush to complete their mission, they learn more about this mysterious Sybok, such as that he has the ability to take away one's emotional pain, has obtained a large number of devoted followers, and may even know the location of God himself. With time as a factor and a potentially dangerous radical leader, the Enterprise crew must act fast before something truly terrible happens.

I'm really conflicted when it comes to Star Trek V, because once again I feel like there was some effort put into the film... unfortunately, little of it works. This entry is often deemed the worst film in the whole franchise... and I mostly have to agree. It tries to tell a legitimate story, isn't nearly as tediously paced as the first film, and has a few moments of decent character interaction. Unfortunately it has a very lackluster script with go nowhere scenes, uninteresting characters, under-developed ideas, and abysmal humor. Yeah, you know how the lighthearted comedy in the fourth film worked so well, that's not the case here. It tries to be a very action packed entry as well, but Shatner's ability to direct action (plus the actors and camerawork) just falls flat. It's hard to pinpoint exactly what went wrong here, because honestly there's a lot that doesn't work.

As I mentioned, the story has some interesting moments and ideas that, if fleshed out better, could have been lead to something interesting. The first film analyzed scientific discovery, the second looked at death and human nature, the third was about the value of life, and the fourth examined societal communication. This film tackled a subject that could have easily figured into the Star Trek universe... religion. Now, I'm going to get into what my religious beliefs may or may not be. I'm not ashamed or afraid to disclose such things, but I don't want to start a flame war or give the impression that I'm coming down on this film because it may or may not conflict with some of my beliefs. Ultimately, I'm a pretty open minded person to all forms of faith (or lack thereof). There have been compelling arguments made on all sides, and when it all comes down, I don't care what a story or film may be trying to get across... as long as it makes an important and thought-provoking statement backed up by intelligent, thought-out, and developed opinions. If a film just proselytizes or condemns something based simply on a narrow-minded thought process... that annoys me. Star Trek V, without spoiling anything, has two or three interesting scenes but ultimately comes down on religion without backing up it's themes particularly well. Nothing about it was offensive or anything like that, just more disappointing because it ultimately states that those who follow religion are blind and that religion itself is bad. If these ideas could have fleshed out a bit better, that might have been interesting, but ultimately they're a letdown.

Religious allegories aside, the script is just kind of a mess. As mentioned, the film was directed (and co-written for that matter) by Shatner, so the film heavily revolves around Kirk. He generally takes center stage in most of the action scenes, gets the most prevalent character development, and generally makes this film a big celebration for all things Shatner. Without spoiling anything, there's even this big reveal pertaining to Spock and Sybok that, in theory, should have been huge Earth-shattering conflict that mainly just gets mentioned and set aside... interesting choice there William. It tries to throw in a few decent jokes here and there, but most just fall flat. Some of the jokes just make their characters look like buffoons while others are just plain stupid or unfunny. There are long stretches of scenes that go absolutely nowhere, the worst of which is a campfire sing-a-long that just seems out of place and adds unnecessary minutes to the runtime. I also have to mention finale, which was being hyped up as this big epic face-off but in reality just becomes an underwhelming mesh of uninteresting special effects and dull action. Yeah, on that note, the action isn't anything special to behold. Shatner makes a reasonable effort to hold himself in the fight scenes, especially considering that he was no spring chicken, but it comes across as kind of awkward. It doesn't help that the effects are a barrage of lame visuals and obvious mechanics, complete with wires showing and machines casting revealing shadows. It's either slow, boring, just plain stupid... and that's never a good combination.

Since the last two films overcame some of their flaws by the solid performances of it's familiar cast, you would hope the same could be said here. Sadly, even these actors weren't game this time around. It was long rumored that there was some tension between the actors and Shatner since the beginning of the series run, and maybe that figured in here. I don't know the exact reasons, but everyone was a bit off this time and looked like they were just going through the motions without putting in much effort this time. Laurence Luckinbill is probably the main offender, as he was pretty over-the-top and got pretty grating after a while. There were only a couple of decent scenes that managed to elevate the film, even if only a bit. I liked some of the character interactions between the three main characters, as that was typical the primary dramatic thrust of these stories. The one true standout moment is a scene between Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Sybok, when the latter offers to take take away their pain and have them join his movement. That's the only standout scene where we get some real introspective into the characters, as we see their into the psyche, troubles, and what drives them. Kirk, the only who refuses, ultimately states that it's our pain that makes us human and that without it, we are nothing. That is a very strong and potent statement, that if developed more, could have made for a compelling and dramatic film. Too bad it wasn't.

It's easy to see why Star Trek V: The Final Frontier is typically called the worst Star Trek movie. It might be a bit more "watch-able" than the first film, mainly since the pacing isn't as tedious, but there's very little recommend here. It's not totally without any merit, but it's a letdown and low-point for the series. Fortunately, the original cast would get one more chance for a send-off, and at the very least, we can be thankful that this wasn't the true final frontier.

My Score: 1.5 out of 5!