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Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home Movie Review

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is a 1986 science fiction film directed by Leonard Nimoy and starring William Shatner among others. It’s a unique departure for the series.

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“Everybody remember where we parked“

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Captain Kirk and his crew have to travel back in time to reverse the disastrous effects caused by an unknown space probe on planet Earth. The space probe is sending a whale signal to the humpback whales that are now extinct, but back in the eighties they use their help to fix the situation. Needless to say, this movie was widely different from all the previous entries in the Star Trek series by focusing less extensively on action and VFX.

This experiment mostly worked. There were some pacing issues throughout as the movie is far from truly engaging, especially in the clunky second act, but for the most part it’s fun and very charming. As a big biology fan, I found this storyline focusing on the importance and intelligence of whales beautiful. The show was ahead of its time in fully realizing the vast potential of whales and the saving of their species led to a wonderful ecological message.

What also worked here was the change in setting and time period. This is the rare ST movie to actually be set in the past and on Earth, and a city no less. San Francisco was wonderfully utilized here and the movie was very well shot. The humor was pretty good. Yes, it led to a sillier tone than usual, but that fish out of water element definitely led to a very enjoyable watch.

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Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home also has better acting from Shatner than his disastrous turn in the predecessor. He’s very good here and his dynamic with the newly introduced female character on Earth was quite charming. Nimoy was also quite funny and there is this one sequence where the personalities of Spock and McCoy clashed in a very amusing fashion. The VFX were reduced and the SF elements were lacking this time around, but the calmer tone made for a meditative, intriguing experience.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is definitely clunky in its second act, slowly paced and lacking in true SF elements, but this is a different take on the usual ST formula that proved to be quite effective for the most part. The ecological message was beautiful, the character dynamics are excellent and the humor is charming. The change in period and setting made for a unique watch.

My Rating – 4