This time, there has been a promotion for Sulu (George Takei), now Captain of the USS Excelsior starship, who discovers that a Klingon moon was destroyed in some mining accident. The moon is Praxis, home planet of the Klingons, and a peace settlement is offered by the very same race that killed Kirk's son a few sequels back ("The Wrath of Khan," for those who keep notes). Starfleet, a space force organized by the United Federation of Planets, wants this peace accord but Kirk is not having it. It turns out our good old Captain (always smooth played by William Shatner) is racist towards Klingons, seeing them all as disgusting with no distinction in their appearance (a bit heavy-handed there but, hey, remember that pop movies have always had political agendas). Nevertheless, there is a dinner between Klingons and the Enterprise where even Hitler's name is mentioned, along with various Shakespearean quotes (they are strewn throughout the whole movie). Once the Klingons depart to their ship, a missile is fired from the Enterprise but nobody knows who fired the shot. So much for peace and now the Klingon General Chang (Christopher Plummer) has declared war, especially after the Klingon Chancellor (David Warner, who appeared in Sequel Number Five) has been assassinated by two uniformed and masked assailants (did they beam on board the Klingon ship from the Enterprise?)
Much of "Star Trek VI" has well-balanced moments of humor (the Enterprise crew trying to speak Klingon is uproarious) and detailed action (limited to the attack on the Klingons at the beginning and the spectacular and suspenseful finale), and a dramatic scene between logical Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and a high-ranking Vulcan, Valeris (Kim Cattrall), that is powerful stuff that will knock your socks off. Plummer does a stellar job of showing his intellectual prowess masked with malicious intentions. As for the rest of the cast, well, they perform their roles with grace and nuance as you might expect including Shatner, Nimoy, Takei, etc. Considering this is their last outing together, it is all displayed with real affection for the iconic characters and the universe that, at that time, started almost 30 years earlier.
I did not react well to "Star Trek VI" thirty years back maybe because it was seemingly leisurely paced and I was simplistically sick of Klingons. To my surprise, this pleasurable sequel has much to recommend it with a good solid story, some stunning visuals (I love the hard-bitten wintry feel of the prison planet Rura Penthe) and a lovely and fitting send-off to the finest Enterprise crew ever. Also remarkable is how it shows that despite the differences between cultures, peace can be obtained. Only in a world we have not gone to before.
