Good movie but grossly overrated

As Good As It Gets

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

I actually think this is the best of the Star Trek movies. Why? At first I couldn't pinpoint it myself, but I found myself re-watching it the most of all the Treks. I may be of a strange type, as I also like TMP a lot, but I finally found out what I like so much about it, and this is nothing new for all the fans of the film: It's a simple whodunnit you can enjoy also if you're not a Trekkie. Even if you don't know the backstories of Kirk & co., you can savour the thriller aspect of it. And on top of that the screenplay is simply a good one. The story moves along and events unfold at the right pace and there is no cringe-worthy dialogue as far as the eye can see. Actually, the opposite is true: I think Spock's line "What we require now is a feat of linguistic legerdemain and a degree of intrepidity before the Captain and Dr. McCoy freeze to death" is SO GREAT that I memorized it and use it on my job in variations when someone is slow. With this movie, Nicholas Meyer has proven (again) that he really knows what he's doing as a writer/director. And on a Star Trek film, this is not - nor has it ever been - a simple feat.

Star Trek : The Undiscovered CountryThe politics helps create a strong energy among the characters in here but unfortunately it isn't as convoluted or thought-provoking as the writers think and neither does it offer anything creative on any other bits of the feature, after the curtain drops, the audience feels cheated with a feeling of been-here-done-that routine. It doesn't even live up to its sci-fi genre but is more mythical and typical revenge based on melodrama, that implants a misconception of the writers which gets them to take their fanatics for granted. Nicholas Meyer is definitely an improvement on terms of the execution of franchise but frankly that's not saying a lot considering what we have been offered over the years. The performance is quite effective in here since the actors were revisiting their roles for the last time, they did invest their heart into it which is clearly visible. It is short on technical aspects like visual effects, sound department, make-up design, editing and cinematography. Star Trek : The Undiscovered Country feels already discovered and gotten over it, for the writers spend way too much time on weaving an emotional conflict for being under enormous amount of pressure in order to offer a better farewell for the beloved characters.

Up to this point in the Star Trek movie series, each film harkened back to a specific aspect of the Star Trek: Original Series television show. "Wrath of Khan" was an action/adventure story, "Search For Spock" pulled at the heartstrings, "Voyage Home" was a comedic romp, and "Final Frontier" was a philosophical endeavor (albeit a failure). In "The Undiscovered Country", however, the Star Trek writers/producers focused on an area that had also been a solid part of the original TV series: politics.Without delving too deeply into plot details, this film uses the Federation/Klingon relationship to almost exactly parallel the U.S/U.S.S.R relationship. This symbiosis is successful in two ways: First, the similarities are not cheesy (like in Rocky IV, which went way over the top in depicting the U.S./Russia relationship). Second, the reason that the similarities do not stray into silliness is the acting of William Shatner as Captain Kirk. Throughout the earlier movies, Kirk's relationship with the Klingons went from mistrust to out and out hatred, as they were involved in the death of his son. Thus, in this film Kirk must also comes to terms with his prejudice, or risk being labelled a "dinosaur" and considered past his prime.If you were disenfranchised by the sub-par Star Trek V, this movie represents a step forward again. It dwells too much on already-covered themes to truly be great but it is watchable and enjoyable.

This was a really good film, in my honest opinion I think it was one of the best perhaps just behind Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan. At the same time it was sad, because after 34 years on our small and big screens this saw the retirement of the original cast. I think the story line really did justice to the history in oh so many ways. We see the Federation finally making peace with the Klingons and we also get to see Mr Sulu finally getting the captaincy of his very own ship. It was nice also to see the director of Wrath of Khan Nicholas Meyer directing this one. Good job paramount. Of course not everybody wants change and Christopher Plumber plays a good part as General Chang, a Klingon who does not want peace in our time. Really recommend watching this film.