Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
Directed by Leonard Nimoy
When a huge alien probe enters the galaxy and begins to vaporize Earth's oceans, Kirk and his crew must travel back in time in order to bring back whales and save the planet.
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What critics compared Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home to
In the same way Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home looked to the sea for salvation so too does this film, but instead of a humpback whale it rests on the shoulders of Aquaman to stop a covert and corrupt operation to destroy the land so the ocean can reign supreme.
Elements teased but the script but not developed in subsequent drafts of the screenplay, include a missed opportunity for the world’s second great ecological blockbuster (after Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home) and the original prospect of a treasure hunt with a fictional city’s antiquity as a backdrop.
In its mixture of lighthearted adventure and more thoughtful cosmic reflection, Project Hail Mary most resembles the original Star Trek films, especially the lighter The Voyage Home.
Mad pigeon attacks, the best use of whales since Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , and not one, but five green-timer countdown sequences--each go a long way towards blunting the essential tastelessness of a disaster movie in a historical epoch where actual disasters are grim reality and constant possibility.
While the film may borrow heavily from previous even-numbered Star Trek films (the twisty plot of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, the relentless action and pace of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and the friendly humor of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home), it also establishes its own identity.
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Not since Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home has any Star Trek movie of any generation put in such an earnest effort to give each member of the cast a meaningful contribution to the plot, and it doesn't actually work: the Uhura/Sulu leg of the story is absolutely given short shrift, with Sulu barely even registering for the first three-quarters of the movie (the ballyhooed "he's gay now" scene barely even causes a flicker, and would practically count as subtext if one doesn't go looking for it), and Uhura coming across as a generic "strong female character = can punch things" figure, though at least it's better than "Spock's nagging girlfriend", like she was in the last two movies.