Kidnykid's Full Review: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
This is indeed a fitting end to the original cast's efforts.
The premise of THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY is that Capt. Kirk has been sent on a peace mission, escorting a Klingon vessel to Earth so that the Klingon ambassador (David Warner) and his daughter (Rosana DeSoto) might participate in a peace conference. (As Capt. Spock mentions at the beginning of this film, the Enterprise was chosen as the escort ship at the behest of his father, Vulcan Ambassador Sarek (Mark Lenard).) The Klingon crew is invited to dinner on board the Enterprise, at which dinner is served Romulan ale, at the suggestion of Lt. Valeris (SEX AND THE CITY's Kim Cattrall), a Saavik clone and Spock protege. Both Valeris' role and the role of the Romulan ale must remain somewhat confidential; I don't want to ruin the fun of watching this film.
Suffice it to say that a few minutes after everyone has gone home to nurse hangovers induced by the Romulan ale, it looks to all observers as if the Enterprise has sent a photon torpedo flying toward the Klingon vessel. It also won't be giving much of the plot away to say that Kirk and Dr. McCoy (the late DeForest Kelley) get arrested for the murder of Gorkon, the Klingon ambassador, and that they are eventually arrested and sent to someplace which bears a striking resemblance to Siberia after what is referred to as a "(censored) show trial." (In fact, the prison camp to which they are sentenced is referred to as the Gulag Rura Penthe.) It also isn't giving away much of the plot to reveal that they escape, and that they are assisted in defeating the Klingons by Capt. Hikaru Sulu (George Takei) of the USS Excelsior.
Although I understand that the late Gene Roddenberry did not like this film at all due to its militaristic plot points, I don't see any other way this film could have been written. There will always be humans like the Klingon Gen. Chang in our midst, trying to spoil our fun as well as make our lives miserable in the name of peace and freedom. (During the dinner sequence, there is some tension over Chang's seeming desire to sound like a Klingon version of Hitler.)
In fact, Christopher Plummer's performance as Gen. Chang is one of the best reasons to see this film. He is excellent at chewing up the scenery, and that is all that is really necessary in a Star Trek film at this point in the series. Kim Cattrall's Valeris is also interesting - you have no idea what she is up to until at least midway through the film, and if you catch on at that point, it's because you are a very astute viewer (or you've seen the film a number of times already). If you haven't seen the film at all, I'd advise you to pay particular attention to her early dialog - her orders to two of the ensigns to get to work, for example, or her suggestion that perhaps a little Romulan ale might make the evening go more smoothly.
My sole criticism is that some of the performances of some of the bit players (most notably Rosana DeSoto as Gorkon's daughter Azetbur) are slightly wooden. It is a good thing, in retrospect, that these bit players did not come back to star in Generations or any other ST film, for this reason.
In STAR TREK VI - THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY the cold war between the Federation and the Klingons thaws out when the leader of the crumbling alien empir...More at Family Video
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