Review of 'For the Love of Spock'
“For the Love of Spock” is a documentary by Leonard Nimoy's (Spock from the original Star Trek series) son, Adam, who tells us it is his effort to understand his late father. A large number of famous and familiar contributors tell of their experiences with Nimoy over the years including all of the cast of Star Trek as well as archival material from those who are no longer with us. Adam also uses a number of personal home videos and pictures to tell the story of his father which most will never have seen before. The film tells the story of Leonard's childhood, his time in the military then his time in the theatre that would eventually lead to his work on television and Star Trek which would change his life, and his family's life, forever. The film also covers the reaction to Leonard's tragic death including those from the new Star Trek series who were able to work with him before he died (including input from Zachary Quinto who plays Spock in these new films).
I did want to love this film and certainly found many of the anecdotes quite interesting and amusing as a fan but as a film goer “For the Love of Spock” is all a bit confused and muddled as it touches only briefly on a subject before quickly jumping to something else. The input from various famous people is interesting but often is from those with little, if any tie to either the actor or Star Trek itself - Merely someone saying “I really liked Spock”. Yes, OK, but not adding anything substantial to the film.
It was also disappointing that there is little mention of the extensive lengths that Leonard went to in order to protect the integrity of his character and the reason why the original Star Trek films developed the way they did: For example, on the directing of Star Trek 2 “For the Love of Spock” goes little beyond saying that Leonard asked to direct and was allowed to do so, however, this was really not as straightforward as this (to get the real story, read Nimoy's own biography “I am Spock” or even William Shatner's Star Trek Memories).
There was an opportunity to really show the integrity and passion of Leonard here that was sadly missed. So, along with the confusing narrative, a bit of a disappointment.
Rating: “A bit better than average”
Review Date: 2019-08-01
Directed by: Adam Nimoy
Studio: 455 Films
Year: 2016
Length: 111 minutes
Genre: Documentary
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4572820/