While consistent with the message, the sheer improbability of this particular pair of whales, in this particular film, encountering a whaling ship at this particular moment broke the fourth wall for me even as a child. At least it felt more integrated with the story than other films with less cinematic resources.
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The fourth act of this film is by far the shortest. Barely the last 20 minutes of the film, we return to the 23rd century and hope to release our whales. While it's easy to think of this only as an action sequence, it does resolve an important plot since the end of Star Trek 2.
Earlier in the film, McCoy questioned Spock's capabilities to Kirk, and even asked for his confidence in our favorite Vulcan. Kirk didn't answer, but his silence spoke volumes.
It's here the final resolution comes, and quickly enough you'd miss it if you weren't paying attention. During the time warp sequence, Kirk orders control to Spock's command to fire the breaking thrusters. This is a risky maneuver on which all their lives depend. Not only has Spock become more himself throughout the film, it's this moment in which the crew's hope in his restoration was finally achieved.
The film, however, isn't quite resolving things. After all, the acts of the characters in Star Trek 3 all require resolution. I appreciate that the film goes to lengths to close this out as well. Other films would handwave it away in an off-screen exoneration.
As the third film in a cycle, however, it'd be a letdown not to give the audience much needed closure here as well. We want to know that more than the world being saved, our characters come out on top too.
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