Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

This movie has it all, it has drama, action, special effects you name it. It also has a nice resolving conclusion to the Kirk era of Star Trek, the possibility of peace among Klingons and Humans.

On the technical side the directing is beautifully and masterfully done by Nicholas Meyer. Well edited movie. The director took careful consideration to keep you in suspense, for example, hiding the villain in the background of the light, things like that. The special effects, though not remarkable, as in The Wrath of Khan's in-your-face effects, the effects in this movie generally are good, the battle sequences in this movie are just as good as The Wrath of Khan one.

Again a nice motif is the scripts placement of Shakespeare quotes into the villain, just like Khan in Star Trek II. Speaking of the villain, Chang, here you see excellent acting thanks to the actor Christopher Plummer.

There are a lot of in-line jokes, which adds to that atmosphere of closeness between the characters. Sulu's transfer to a new ship, the Excelsior is sought here. The set construction and pieces are great. The new enterprise bridge looks more military like. The presidential office (may note it is a redone Ten Forward from St, the next generation), the peace talk location, etc.

The end of the movie has a sad feeling towards it, a teary farewell to the crew of the Enterprise, and a clear passing of the torch to the new crew.

A great movie that you must see,

Rating: 9/10

Fmovies: Now this was a movie. The best case scenario for the orginial crew to leave the movie scene, making peace with the Klingons and Sulu finally becoming a Captain. Everything was great in this movie. It had humor, adventure, mystery and just about anything else you could possibly want. The best behind #2.

I think that STVI is the greatest Trek film ever. The reason I think it is better then ST:FC is because First Contact was on such a large scale; save all of humanity from oblivion. Well, that's nice and all, but STVI was a part of Trek history. Peace with the Klingons, who would have guessed it. Peace with the Russians, who would have guessed it. Which brings me to my next point, it parallaled current world situations (which is why I bring up the USSR). It's a brilliant movie that will last the test of time.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country fmovies. Star Trek Movies are far more miss than hit, with only 3 excellent, 1 good and the rest rubbish (although NEMESIS may be slightly above rubbish level). Anyway, this movie was meant to contrast 60s style leadership and ethics with those of the 80s. Borrowing from the modern leadership styles and political correctness portrayed in the Next Generation series, "The Undiscovered Country" explores (in typical Hollywood sci-fi fashion) how our present day society has progressed toward multiculturalism. It explores how committed, loyal patriots can be burdened with their old prejudices after the world/universe has changed around them. The personal struggles of Kirk and the Chancellor's daughter, and even the violently opposed logical conclusions of two Vulcans in the same circumstances (but with differing priorities) are all clearly missed by most viewers. Of course, as with James Bond movies, Jim Kirk and his crew must save the day (and also nicely throw in some minor Star Trek future history trivia with the Khitomer massacre etc). An excellent story line, excellent themes, carefully produced and directed, this is a science fiction classic on par with Alien, Blade Runner and, yes, much better than any of the Star Wars movies.

This is a taut political thriller that rivals Dune for impact, if not for complexity. The issues explored here are both timely and universal. Somehow, this mixes the Star Trek mythos with commentary on the Cold War, race relations and military down-sizing. It is indescribable how cool this movie is.

You don't have to be Einstein to figure out the Klingon Empire represented the Soviet Union in the original series and films so it's fitting Kirk's old foes should re-appear and give the crew it's final adventure at a time when similar questions raised in the film faced the old Soviet Empire.

This is the best of the film series for several reasons. The timeliness of the film's release with real-world events. (Funny how Col. West had a contingency plan for terrorism along the Federation's border. Made me wish we had one prior to 9-11) The issue of how people can be frightened of drastic change (what a very Clinton-esque message) mirroring Kirk and crew's emotional baggage helps propel the plot forward and makes it believable.

A great tense score and tight editing (sorry, no overlong speeches and theorizing) combined with terrific performances from Christopher Plummer and the best yet from the original ensemble kept me glued to my seat the whole time. Additional characters are actually relevant, unlike Saavik, the Marcuses, et al., and although I should have seen it coming I was surprised how far-reaching the conspiracy to kill Gorkon actually was, even including a Vulcan! Fun cameos from Michael Dorn, Christian Slater and Iman lighten the mood. Her presence finally makes McCoy quip to Kirk "What is it with you, anyway?" which is something that should have been said years ago. Must be the girdle. The Klingon attack scene at the end is great unrelenting action and was better than Khan's attack on the Enterprise in Part II (see my comments on that film to get an idea).

"The Undiscovered Country" is essentially a mystery in space with political overtones and it's great fun watching Spock and Valeris unravel the mystery piece by piece. Valeris (Kim Cattrall)is given more to do than Saavik ever was. The only nit-picking comments I have is just why couldn't the assassins just throw the boots out the window? If an explosion in space wasn't monitored until the shockwave hit the Excelsior, how would the Enterprise find the boots? Would the NCC-1701 just shift gears into reverse?

A lot has been made about the clock errors. To me, it's not terribly important since it's just background and your attention should not be there anyway. It was a bad idea to include such a prop though.

The only wasted role belongs to Scotty but he had his moment of greatness in "The Voyage Home" during the transparent aluminum scenes. He also delivers the corniest line of the film during dinner with the Klingons: "Maybe we are looking at something of that future here!" Well, duh!

Everything that made Star Trek great is in this film: action, great one-liners from McCoy and Chekhov, the peace message, the Klingons, Spock's logic skills, literary quotes and celebrity cameos makes "The Undiscovered Country" a worthy send-off to perhaps the most celebrated ensemble cast in entertainment history. Even if you're not a Trek-fan, you would enjoy this picture and is well worth the rental/purchase.