Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

Written by CinemaSerf on June 5, 2023

To be fair, this film does pick up quite plausibly from the television series. The characterisations are roughly the same, if somewhat older - and that does help give it some cohesion; but the opening scene goes on interminably. The premiss is stretched to breaking point and riddled with metaphors and pseudo-philosophical clichés; and there is precious little action. Persis Khambatta who plays "Ilia" - the conduit between the all powerful alien power and our gang of intrepid adventurers - is almost robotic and sterile; as is the general plot of the film. It seems lost between an adventure film and one with a deeper message to convey; as such it delivers well on neither front. Luckily, there were more, better, films to follow - but this one is best forgotten.