I often bother people in line at the post office about the complexities and nuances of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. “Won’t any of you listen to reason!” I scream as I’m being dragged out by security. I’ve always said that Star Trek II is the best screenplay in science fiction history.
But after rewatching Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, I’ve reached a startling conclusion: maybe we’ve had it all wrong. Sure Harve Bennett’s screenplay for the third film isn’t as strong as it is in the second. It’s not that it’s bad per se. It’s just too economical. Case in point is the phenomenal “stealing the Enterprise” scene. That sequence is saved by the acting, Leonard Nimoy’s direction, and James Horner’s score. And it’s really a simple scene of the main characters backing up the Enterprise out of space dock and being lightly perused by another ship. If it were written today, it would be far more complex. But what III does better than II is in its staging. Nimoy directs the film like it’s a stage play. When news reaches Kirk that his son has been killed, it is quietly the most tragic moment in Star Trek history. Of course, Nimoy is careful to not let it outshine Spock’s death in II, but the doesn’t minimize how much it stings. Kirk is able to quickly recover because he had a job to do, but you can see that pain linger. And this pain is only made more tragic by the destruction of the Enterprise moments later. In short, in just a matter of a few minutes, Kirk lost his ship and son to save his friend. While the film is about “the search for Spock”, it’s really a character study of Admiral James T. Kirk. Nimoy’s direction expertly balances out the scope that a big screen science fiction film requires and the little moments that make us bond with the characters. So while III might have a relatively weak script, it might be the best directed movie in the Trek franchise. And as I result, I say it’s the best Star Trek movie.
It’s just a shame that Nimoy didn’t direct more pictures 😔
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