Star Trek: Nemesis

Now there has been great debate raging about this particular movie. It's hard to have perspective when there is no measure, so with that said I can say safely without a shadow of doubt in my mind that Star Trek II: Wrath of Kahn is the greatest of the Star Trek Movies ever made, period. There has never been a movie prior or post this movie that has engaged, excited or enthralled a Treker. If you want to know why exactly, read my review on it.

Now during this era of Star Trek movies they never muddled with the plot killer dimension, time, except one, Star Trek IV: Return Home. All of the other movies where, how would 'Q' put it, linear. Honestly, anything that has a plot where someone goes back into time and tries to change it or prevents its change, well lets say, it kills the plot by putting a plot hole the size of a…black hole.

I was never a real fan of the time travel as a script concept simply because if it was possible at all, everybody and anybody would eventually try to go back in time and change things to a more favorable outcome for themselves. Basically if you were able to go back in time, wouldn't you pick the winning lottery ticket numbers? So if you can do that why can't I? The next thing you know, you've got a million winning tickets. Star Trek: Nemesis, gets one gold star for having a plot that does not change time on a clock.

In fact it's pretty good. There are flaws and incongruities especially in regards to the Generations episodes and there is no justification for some of the oversights, but the movie shines where it should. A real attempt was made to develop the villains character Shinzon of Remus, Picard's clone. He isn't just a villain, he is a Picard, an alternate version.

So what's new? Picard embodies the perfect Starfleet officer. But take that uniform off and replace it with tattered clothes and remove that individual form his starship and place him in the deep recesses of a sunless world mined by slaves, tortured by Romulans and …you get the picture.

What I think people missed in this movie was the big question, are Picard and the clone so different. Shinzon even asks Picard that in the movie. Could Picard have changed or convinced the clone had he had more time? Could the original Picard in a similar situation become evil? Either way, it is the human element and conflict within each of the Picard's and is what will intrigue an audience and is what I especially liked about this movie.

The special effects are good and really enhance a situation not nearly explored enough in Star Trek, the tactics of starship combat. This and only a few other instances has there been such an emphasis on strategy and tactics in starship combat.

Jean-Luc Picard ( Patrick Stewart) and his clone Shinzon of Remus (Tom Hardy) are both at the top of their game and fluently exercise their Shakespearean acting talents. Especially Hardy, who convinces us that he is Picard's clone, and then convinces us he's nothing like Picard. The Enterprise crew is at their best and Stuart Baird's direction gave Nemesis a movie like feeling rather than TV mini-movie feeling.

In closing, who wants to be an ensign when you can be a captain? In the end Trekers have to realize that Star Trek and its stories are about its captain. It is the captain who gets to say those cool lines like: 'Energize', and 'Fire', 'Divert Warp Power' 'Meet me in my ready room' and Picard's trademark lines 'Make it so!'.

A must see for Sci-Fi buffs and open-minded Trekers.

It has always been easy to level criticism at Star Trek films, for either being too slow, to action-packed, too Trekkie, not Trekkie enough, or whatever. The fact of the matter is, is that none of them are classics, except for the people who know and love the characters in them: namely, Trekkies.

It has been said that Stuart Baird was brought on board to try and open up Trek to a wider audience, but that simply insults the viewers Trek already has. Voyager tried, and failed, and Enterprise is rapidly going the same route.

The better Trek films are those that revolve around the character-dynamics, and seeing those people work as a team. In those films, such as Wrath of Khan, The Undiscovered Country, or First Contact, the comradeship of the protagonists is evident.

Not so in Nemesis, which is ironic, especially considering the entire film is purportedly about such relationships. None of the characters have been drastically altered, as many might suggest, but there is very little interaction between them, there's no moment where the viewer would think "only Picard/Data/whoever" would get them out of this situation. It's all a bit [for lack of a better word] bleh. There's no adventure, something that has been missing from Trek since First Contact.

Shinzon is a powerful character, a wonderful character, but sorely underused. It's almost as if he's never really serious about what he's doing, and as such, never seems to pose much of a threat. This is emphasized through the cliched dramatic countdown timer sequence (used excessively in Trek, but here lacks substance, especially since it is entirely and utterly pointless).

Nemesis starts off well, full of hope and joy, and the prospect of Troi and Riker's wedding, and the viewer too, is led into a false sense of hope at the prospect of the film. But Stuart Baird lets us down harshly. He was the wrong director for the job: the script (if you listen to the dialogue, watch the cut scenes, etc) is not an action script, but a character-driven one, with a few action elements.

Baird has turned that on its head, and produced an action film, with very little character involvement.

As a plus point, it must be noted that Goldsmith has outdone himself - the music (although in parts evidently synthesized rather than orchestrated) is a delight. Buy the CD, and forget the film.

This is a more dark times star trek movie, but it's a good movie that aged well. The only thing that is regrettable is that the movie was supposed to be almost an hour longer. So they cut huge scenes out of the original feature. I know it would have been a very long movie but it would make a lot more sense to most people. You should all watch the deleted scenes.

I'm conflicted in my opinion of the final adventure of the Next Generation crew. I can see why a lot the fan community slam the film but I can't help but find some positive aspects in the movie. I agree that it's a good thing NEMESIS was the final film in the series, as the filmmakers appear to have given up recapturing the essence of the series years before and were more interested in putting out blockbuster hopefuls. The film opens with the marriage of Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes) to Counselor Troi (Marina Sirtis), but the festivities are soon put on hold when the Enterprise-E locates a prototype android identical to Data scattered in pieces on a nearby planet. As the android (dubbed B-4) is reassembled, the Enterprise is dispatched to Romulus where the Remans have risen up against the Romulans and their leader apparently seeks to find peace with the Federation. The Remans are led by a clone of Captain Picard named Shinzon (Tom Hardy), originally bred as a weapon against Starfleet but eventually relegated to the dilithium mines of Remus. Picard struggles with the feeling that a portion of his identity was stolen as the Enterprise is discovers that Shinzon's intentions are not those of peace, but of destruction.

As has been the case with all of the Next Generation movies (with the exception of INSURRECTION), this film is visually beautiful. The CGI effects are at their peak and the production design of Herman Zimmerman continues to blow me away. I loved the design of the Remans: part Romulan, part vampire. It was some of the best makeup design in the series since the Borg were redesigned for FIRST CONTACT. The filmmakers have even learned from their mistakes of the last film and used a cinematographer who gave the film a wonderful cinematic feel, as opposed to the flat television lighting they'd regressed to before. Nothing about the film's visual style disappoints, but the same can't be said for the story. Most of the earlier films retained the depth of the series, but NEMESIS really is nothing more than a flashy action pic. For proof, you need to look no further than the entire last half of the film. There is some weak subtext to the story but the entire second hour is drawn out battle leading to the climactic confrontation between Picard and Shinzon about the enemy ship.

As seems to be the norm with all of the Next Generation movies, Picard and Data are the focal points here. The other crew members are usually given plenty of their own to do, but not here. A lot of the crew members are underused and I'm sure they weren't happy about being background players in their final feature film. Patrick Stewart is certainly the strongest member of the cast and carries most of the movie, and Brent Spiner is great as usual as Data (and B-4). I wish I had more positive things to say about Tom Hardy as Shinzon. He's a fantastic actor and has the skills to go face-to-face with Patrick Stewart (for those who doubt me, watch his screen test for the film). I just couldn't help but feel his character was too young and that really robbed me of any sense of danger from him. Had he been a bit more aged and worn, I might see him as a threat to Picard.

I suppose the film is a fun action flick, but it's just a weak STAR TREK film. It's shallow story can't be saved by it's impressive effects, but I wish the crew had been given one more chance to do it right before calling it quits. It's an entertaining two hours but aside from a bittersweet ending there's nothing entirely memorable about it. Fans of the franchise will be polarized in their views on the film and non-fans might be able to stomach it as an action-packed sci-fi romp. One thing's for certain: it's not the best time spent with the crew of the Enterprise.

This apparently final flick of the TNG crew went unnoticed in the theaters, and I don't think Paramount invested heavily in either the movie itself or its promotion. Despite the many scathing reviews I found some quality in the movie. Many of what have been interpreted as ripoffs of previous scripts were deliberate nods to the series' high points, and if it wasn't clear enough the many cameo appearances should have given the hypercritical some pause. Many of the sets and scenes were well done, and Tom Hardy and bad guys did good. The weakest part of the movie is that there should have been more sense of the crews' closeness, principally through better dialog. Even Data doesn't have many good lines. It just doesn't have much of an edge to it. Even if they didn't get a huge budget for it better character interaction could have made this a much more memorable movie. Certainly not the worst Star Trek, its too bad that it couldn't have been a better movie to end the series.