Movie Review: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) co-written and directed by Nicholas Meyer

A massive explosion on a Klingon moon destroys the moon and poisons the Klingon homeworld's atmosphere. The official response from Klingon High Command is that there was an incident and they need no help. Two months later, secret negotiations with the United Federation of Planets are advancing thanks to Spock (Leonard Nimoy). The UFP invites Chancellor Gorkon (David Warner) to Earth to work on a peace treaty, which would mean disbanding the military assets along the Klingon-Federation border. Kirk (William Shatner) is opposed to any peace treaty but Spock has nominated Kirk and the Enterprise as the escort through Federation space for Gorkon's ship. When the two ships meet up, Kirk invites Gorkon and his staff to a diplomatic dinner. The dinner is extremely awkward (leading to lots of funny moments--funny for the viewers, not either crew) and no tension is relieved. After the Klingons return to their vessel, two photon torpedoes are shot at them, disabling their gravity. Two Federation crewmen beam aboard and kill Gorkon. The Klingons automatically accuse Kirk, who surrenders his vessel and beams aboard with McCoy. They are arrested and sent to a penal colony while Spock leads an investigation to find out what really happened.

The movie was the "final mission" for the original Enterprise crew and it is a great send off. The plot centers on an interesting mystery that flows from the tense political situation. Both sides have their warmongering zealots. Kirk starts off in that camp and slowly (and sometimes painfully) moves over to the side of peace. The story is a thinly-veiled metaphor of the end of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. The tone does not get too dark--they throw in plenty of jokes and have a running gag about Klingons quoting Shakespeare in the "original Klingon." Christopher Plummer plays the bad Klingon and, even though his character isn't that deep, he delivers his lines with gusto, in English or in Klingon. The story does get slow at a few points and the characters make a few too many references to literature, like the too-many-Easter-eggs in the recent Star Wars films. The flaws are fairly minor and easily outweighed by the good. The idea that all rational beings should count as human is both a timely and an eternal truth.

Recommended, especially to fans of the original Star Trek crew.