Up to this point in the Star Trek movie series, each film harkened back to a specific aspect of the Star Trek: Original Series television show. "Wrath of Khan" was an action/adventure story, "Search For Spock" pulled at the heartstrings, "Voyage Home" was a comedic romp, and "Final Frontier" was a philosophical endeavor (albeit a failure). In "The Undiscovered Country", however, the Star Trek writers/producers focused on an area that had also been a solid part of the original TV series: politics.
Without delving too deeply into plot details, this film uses the Federation/Klingon relationship to almost exactly parallel the U.S/U.S.S.R relationship. This symbiosis is successful in two ways: First, the similarities are not cheesy (like in Rocky IV, which went way over the top in depicting the U.S./Russia relationship). Second, the reason that the similarities do not stray into silliness is the acting of William Shatner as Captain Kirk. Throughout the earlier movies, Kirk's relationship with the Klingons went from mistrust to out and out hatred, as they were involved in the death of his son. Thus, in this film Kirk must also comes to terms with his prejudice, or risk being labelled a "dinosaur" and considered past his prime.
If you were disenfranchised by the sub-par Star Trek V, this movie represents a step forward again. It dwells too much on already-covered themes to truly be great but it is watchable and enjoyable.
Without delving too deeply into plot details, this film uses the Federation/Klingon relationship to almost exactly parallel the U.S/U.S.S.R relationship. This symbiosis is successful in two ways: First, the similarities are not cheesy (like in Rocky IV, which went way over the top in depicting the U.S./Russia relationship). Second, the reason that the similarities do not stray into silliness is the acting of William Shatner as Captain Kirk. Throughout the earlier movies, Kirk's relationship with the Klingons went from mistrust to out and out hatred, as they were involved in the death of his son. Thus, in this film Kirk must also comes to terms with his prejudice, or risk being labelled a "dinosaur" and considered past his prime.
If you were disenfranchised by the sub-par Star Trek V, this movie represents a step forward again. It dwells too much on already-covered themes to truly be great but it is watchable and enjoyable.