The first 45 minutes of this film are outstanding.  The fact that consequences from actions of a previous movie are seen is an unheralded breakthrough in moviemaking.  The pain and guilt that Kirk feels is  appropriate.  The best part of the film is when the crew steals the  Enterprise.  Frankly, you could make an entire movie out of just such a  topic.  James Horner's music (he also did Star Trek II) to this entire  sequence of events is outstanding and it really generates a lot of  excitement and tension as the crew desparately try and get the ship out of  space dock.  Once in space, though, the film starts to meander downwards.  The depiction of the Klingons doesn't invite too much fear out of you and  the dumb looking Klingon muppet-dog-pet, which elicits more chuckles than  ominousness, does not help matters at all.  The whole segment of the film  surrounding the Genesis planet isn't executed very well and the planetary  special effects are not very good, as the whole look and feel only confirms  that everything is taking place on a sound stage.  Indeed, except for  exterior shots of ships and associated explosions in space (including the  well-executed Enterprise desctruction sequence), the effects for the film  leave much to be desired (just look at the on-board computer screens for  the Excelsior.  Ugh, those graphics look like they came from an Atari 2600  game system).  The Vulcan mythos is executed much better in Star Trek IV,  with this film only giving you a few interesting insights.  The film could  have been a lot better, but it's still watchable, almost exclusively for  the first half, though, with things coming apart in the second half of the  film.
The first 45 minutes of this film are outstanding. The fact that consequences from actions of a previous movie are seen is an unheralded breakthrough in moviemaking. The pain and guilt that Kirk feels is  appropriate. The best part of the film is when the crew steals the  Enterprise. Frankly, you could make an entire movie out of just such a  topic. James Horner's music (he also did Star Trek II) to this entire  sequence of events is outstanding and it really generates a lot of  excitement and tension as the crew desparately try and get the ship out of  space dock. Once in space, though, the film starts to meander downwards. The depiction of the Klingons doesn't invite too much fear out of you and  the dumb looking Klingon muppet-dog-pet, which elicits more chuckles than  ominousness, does not help matters at all. The whole segment of the film  surrounding the Genesis planet isn't executed very well and the planetary  special effects are not very good, as the whole look and feel only confirms  that everything is taking place on a sound stage. Indeed, except for  exterior shots of ships and associated explosions in space (including the  well-executed Enterprise desctruction sequence), the effects for the film  leave much to be desired (just look at the on-board computer screens for  the Excelsior. Ugh, those graphics look like they came from an Atari 2600  game system). The Vulcan mythos is executed much better in Star Trek IV,  with this film only giving you a few interesting insights. The film could  have been a lot better, but it's still watchable, almost exclusively for  the first half, though, with things coming apart in the second half of the  film.