Star Trek V: The Final Frontier is the franchise's most troubled production and its most creatively unsuccessful picture, a work of ambition and almost complete execution failure that represents the low point of the original cast's cinematic run. William Shatner's directorial debut is not without its pleasures. The central friendship between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy is as compelling as ever, and the opening camping sequences have a lightness and an affection that suggests the more enjoyable film it might have been. But the central premise, in which a renegade Vulcan leads the Enterprise to the centre of the galaxy in search of God, is handled with a narrative incoherence and a technical inadequacy that makes it the franchise's most significant creative failure.
At a Glance
Director: William Shatner
Runtime: 107 minutes
Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Lawrence Luckinbill, David Warner
Release: 1989
Critics Rating: ★½ (1.5/5 stars, the franchise's low point)
Audience Rating: ★★ (2/5 stars, disappointing)
Review Breakdown
Plot
Sybok, a renegade Vulcan who has rejected logic in favour of emotion, hijacks the Enterprise and takes it to the centre of the galaxy, where he believes God is imprisoned behind the Great Barrier. The entity they find there is not God but a malevolent being that has been using Sybok to obtain a starship. The God at the centre of the galaxy is the franchise's most significant narrative disappointment, a concept of extraordinary potential resolved with such haste and such technical inadequacy that it generates not awe but bewilderment.
Characters
The central friendship between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy is the greatest asset. The camping sequences that open the picture are its most purely enjoyable passages, demonstrating the depth and the affection of the characters' relationships with a naturalness and a conviction that the more spectacular elements consistently interrupt. Lawrence Luckinbill's Sybok is a character of considerable potential who is given insufficient development to make his philosophical position feel compelling. Shatner, Nimoy, and Kelley are as engaging as ever in their scenes together, and the picture's most enjoyable passages are those in which the central friendship is most directly expressed.
Tone
Shatner attempts to balance the franchise's comic register with a more philosophically ambitious approach, and the result is a picture of considerable tonal confusion. The comedy sequences sit uneasily with the more serious philosophical concerns, and the transitions between the two registers are handled with a clumsiness that makes both feel less effective than they might have been.
Meaning / Themes
The central question, what does God need with a starship, is the franchise's most provocative philosophical challenge, a challenge to the concept of divine omnipotence that Kirk delivers with a directness and a conviction that makes it the picture's most effective moment. The tragedy is that the film has not done the work required to make the question feel earned.
Direction
Shatner's direction is the franchise's weakest, a work of ambition and limited craft. The camping sequences demonstrate a command of intimate character scenes. Jerry Goldsmith's score is the most consistently impressive element, a majestic and atmospheric work that gives the material a grandeur the visual execution does not always deserve.
Cultural Reception
The Final Frontier received poor reviews on its release and was the franchise's weakest commercial performer to that point, grossing approximately $63 million worldwide against a production budget of $30 million. Critics condemned the narrative incoherence, the technical inadequacy of the special effects, and the gap between the ambitions and the execution, and it is now regarded as the franchise's most significant creative failure, a picture whose central premise deserved considerably better than the production it received.
Who Should Watch
Star Trek fans will find it essential viewing as a franchise entry, approached with the lowest possible expectations. Those who are not committed franchise fans should watch The Wrath of Khan, The Voyage Home, and The Undiscovered Country instead.
Final Verdict: The franchise's most troubled production and its most creatively unsuccessful picture. The central friendship remains as compelling as ever, and the camping sequences are the most purely enjoyable passages. But the God at the centre of the galaxy is the franchise's most significant narrative disappointment, and the gap between the ambitions and the execution is considerable. A film that wanted to ask the biggest possible questions. It lacked the craft to ask them well.
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