Sunday 8 January 2012

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

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Year:1979
Country of origin:USA
Director:Robert Wise
Genre:Trek is back
Starring:William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, George Takei, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols
Rating:4/5
IMDB link:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079945/
Tagline:The human adventure is just beginning
Favourite line:"Enterprise, what we got back didn't live long... fortunately."

A mysterious, powerful and highly destructive object is on a collision course with Earth.
As luck would have it, Starfleet have spent the last eighteen months refitting the Enterprise, battered and scarred after the initial five year mission.
The original crew are gathered together again, and Kirk, now an Admiral, resumes command, with Spock returning from Vulcan where he has failed to attain 'Kohlinar', the complete mastery of his emotions. Once the crew head off to intercept the phenomenon before it reaches Earth, it doesn't take long for them to realise that this is more than just another evil alien, this is a living machine, with a sense of purpose and reason.
And buried in the heart of the machine is a secret of awe inspiring importance, as mankind's own need to explore comes back to bite us on the arse.

The plot is more complex than the films that would follow, but the real triumph here is the visuals. Robert Wise serves up scene after scene of genuine beauty; starscapes, nebula, the innards of Vger, and even the hangar decks of the Enterprise are shot with an attention to detail that has rarely been rivalled in sci-fi cinema. It is almost as if the makers wanted to show just what could be done with the format given the budget, and in that they were utterly succesful.
It's bloated though, and only the most patient will not feel irritated at times - the first shot of The Enterprise being a case in point, which drags on for the best part of four minutes, with no dialogue at all, simply shots of Kirk and Scotty gawping at the ship in breathless wonder.
It also takes itself far too seriously, and could have done with a slight injection of humour to liven things up.
Those niggles aside, however, this is a fine reintroduction for the crew of that most famous of ships.

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