Data is on a remote planet as part of an covert exploration mission when he malfunctions, attacks his colleagues and exposes the mission to the small group of natives on the planet. The Enterprise is called in to help capture him and, when they do, they find that he was protecting the inhabitants for some reason. Picard investigates and uncovers a plot between members of the Federation and the aging Son'a's to move the Ba'Ku off the planet and harvest it's age defying effects for themselves.
While it is 100% fact that the odd numbered Star Trek films are not as good as the even numbers, this film will not help to dispel the theory. While not the worst Star Trek film, it does have plenty of problems that stops it being better than it should be. The main weakness is the plot which, at the start, is morally difficult. I mean why wouldn't it make sense to move the Ba'ku and allow them to share the power of the planet with many millions of others and not just keep 500 alive forever? This is nicely forgotten when the film decides it needs a bad guy and gives things over to the Son'a a good move in terms of creating a more action packed climax but a poor move in terms of plot logic. The action is so-so allowing for battles in space and on the planet, but it is not as dramatic as I hoped with the planet based stuff taking away from the film and not being as dramatic as it could have been.
The script does allow some witty moments but too often the dialogue is a bit ponderous, and there are no great lines or really memorable spells of dialogue or interaction. The romance between Picard and Anij is a bit of a distraction, as is the stuff between Riker and Troy points of the film feel a bit more like a space soap/romance rather than sci-fi as I think of it.
The cast are average. Most have the odd good line or scene but really the majority of the group do not have much to do. Stewart has the lion's share of the film, despite the romance slowing things down. Frakes has some good scenes but is a far second, seeming happy to direct. Abraham does an OK baddie and the rest of the Enterprise cast basically do what they are accustom to doing weekly and they don't really rise to the film occasion.
Overall this is an average film and keeps the trend of `even good, odd not so good' Star Trek films going nicely. The holes in the plot are a bit of a pain no matter how hard I tried to ignore them it would have been nice if the debate hadn't been side tracked by a more traditional plot.
