Star Trek.

A young James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and Mr. Spock (Zachary Quinto)
clash repeatedly during their first mission together.

Original Air Date: May 8, 2009. Written by: Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman. Directed by: J. J. Abrams. Produced by: J. J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof.


THE PLOT:

2233: The USS Kelvin investigates a lightning storm in space. They expect to find an odd astronomical phenomenon. Instead, a singularity opens, and the Narada emerges - a massive Romulan ship from the distant future, under the command of the vengeful Nero (Eric Bana). The Narada opens fire, shredding the Kelvin and ultimately leaving its first officer, George Kirk (Chris Hemsworth), in charge.

Kirk is able to evacuate the Kelvin, including his pregnant wife. But with autopilot systems out, there is only one way to make sure his people survive: He stays on the bridge and rams the Narada, sacrificing himself to disable the enemy ship. As Capt. Pike (Bruce Greenwood) will later observe, George Kirk "was captain of a starship for twelve minutes (and) saved eight hundred lives."

2258: George Kirk's rebellious son, James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) is on the cusp of graduating from Starfleet Academy - or possibly of getting kicked out, after he hacks into the simulator to change the conditions of the no-win Kobayashi Maru test. It's while his fate is being decided that Starfleet receives a distress call from Vulcan, home of Kirk's newest nemesis, Spock (Zachary Quinto), Pike's half-human First Officer on the starship Enterprise.

When Kirk learns that a lightning storm in space has occurred near Vulcan, he realizes that this is no natural disaster. The Narada has returned and is luring Starfleet into a trap, one that will forever change the fate of the entire galaxy...

A ship of cadets: The young crew of the USS Enterprise.

CHARACTERS:

Kirk: I largely enjoy the 2009 Star Trek, but my enjoyment has one stumbling block: Its characterization of James T. Kirk. The Kirk of TOS and the movies could be arrogant, certainly, but he was also an often contemplative figure who understood the relationship between actions and consequences. This Kirk probably couldn't spell "contemplative." He flouts regulations, often on little more than a whim, and he faces approximately zero lasting consequences. This would be fine if only he showed some internal growth by the end, but that never happens. Chris Pine has plenty of screen presence, and he does well with what he's given... but the Kirk he's given to play seems like he'd be the jock villain of a mid-'80s teen comedy.

Spock: The script is actually far more centered around Spock than Kirk. Spock does receive a character arc, coming to terms with being a child of two worlds, and Zachary Quinto's very good performance evokes Leonard Nimoy's original without descending into mimicry. Spock is shown to be close to his human mother (Winona Ryder), with his shock decision to reject the offer to join the Vulcan Academy a direct result of her being labeled a "disadvantage" that he was forced to overcome. Quinto injects just the right amount of restrained scorn as he rejects the Academy's offer and tells the officials to "live long and prosper."

Dr. McCoy: Karl Urban channels DeForest Kelly in both voice and mannerisms, making his McCoy instantly recognizable to long-time viewers. He is a reluctant enlistee, joining Starfleet in the wake of a messy divorce. He immediately befriends Kirk, and he spends the next three years acting as an anchor for his young friend's recklessness. After Nero's attack, Spock informs him that he's now the chief medical officer. McCoy, already standing in the midst of wounded, snarls back to tell him something he doesn't know.

Uhura: Has been elevated from one of many members of TOS's ensemble to a semi-lead role. Zoe Saldana's Uhura is more assertive than her TOS counterpart, but the change works. This is partly because even 1960s Uhura had a core of steel, and partly because Zoe Saldana does an excellent job of balancing the assertiveness with a sense of compassion and humor. I enjoy the way she responds to Kirk's early attempts at flirtation. She never encourages his not-quite advances (which also never go too far)... but she seems more amused than annoyed, which helps to keep Kirk's antics just the right side of tolerable.

Capt. Pike: The ever-reliable Bruce Greenwood invests Pike with a sense of wisdom gained through experience. Pike wrote his thesis on George Kirk's brief but heroic tenure as captain of the Kelvin, and he is astonished to encounter his hero's grown son as a townie getting into a pointless bar brawl. He challenges the young Kirk to enter Starfleet, and he eventually puts Kirk directly below Spock in the Enterprise command structure. We see that he's a good captain through his actions. When Kirk bursts onto the bridge warning about a trap, Pike listens and confirms his data, and he is able to evade Nero's trap as a result.

Sarek: Just as Pike is Kirk's mentor figure for this film, Sarek is Spock's. An early scene, in which a young Spock has had an emotional outburst to a Vulcan bully, is followed by Sarek counseling his son on the benefits of an existence governed by logic: "Logic offers a serenity humans seldom experience. The control of feelings, so that they do not control you." Ben Cross, as good an actor as he is, simply cannot match the balance of stoicism and likability as brilliantly as the late Mark Lenard, but he does invest an inherent dignity that shows a man worthy of respect.

Nero: The villain of the piece is... well, present. There's nothing wrong with Eric Bana's performance, and Nero is visually imposing. But he's driven by hate for Spock, a hate that seems thinly motivated at best. Not helping the character is that key scenes were relegated to the cutting room floor. Or that his prime antagonism is with Spock, but his big final fight is against Kirk, a man he really doesn't care about. He's ultimately more of a plot device for resetting continuity than a proper character.

"Spock Prime": One of the film's masterstrokes is bringing in Leonard Nimoy to play the Spock from the original continuity. Nimoy's role is small, little more than a cameo, and much of his material amounts to an expositional infodump. But after decades of playing Spock on television and in movies, Nimoy has an innate understanding of the character. As brief as his time is, it's enough for Spock's resourcefulness, intelligence, and dry humor to come through, and his appearance is the movie's highlight.

Enterprise Crew: The film focuses heavily on Kirk and Spock, with McCoy and Uhura as each lead's primary support. The other regulars are in the background, though it's to the script's credit that each character gets something to do. All are noticeably amped up compared to their TOS counterparts, from Simon Pegg's Scotty (outright played for laughs) to Anton Yelchin's eager and frenetic Chekov. I actually liked John Cho's Sulu the best of the three, simply because he isn't scurrying all over the place like an overeager chipmunk. All three find at least one or two good moments to show that they can work in these roles... but in this film alone, none of them is completely "there" yet.

The original Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) delivers vital exposition
...and reassures fans that yes, this is "real" Star Trek.

CINEMATIC JUNK FOOD - BUT GOOD JUNK FOOD:

I'm aware that I've already leveled some criticisms in the "Characters" section alone, and I will be doing more of that. So I want to take a moment to make one thing clear:

I think Star Trek (2009) is a good movie.

It is not a great one. Star Trek II and Star Trek: First Contact are also "Star Trek as action movie," and both feel more tense and substantial, not to mention better plotted. However, this is still an above-average summer action movie. It's made with considerable technical polish, and it maintains enough momentum that while you'll probably notice some iffy plotting and questionable character motivations, odds are that you won't care until after the ride is done.

Given the state of Star Trek after the failure of Nemesis and the cancellation of Enterprise, this was probably the only way Star Trek could have come back at that time: as popular, fast-paced mass entertainment. Is it cinematic junk food? Sure - but it's well-served junk food, engineered to satisfy as long as that's what you're in the mood for.

I'd like more from Star Trek as a rule, but I'm not going to argue that this film is anything other than highly watchable. It hits enough of the right beats to feel "right" for the franchise, and I recall leaving the theater in 2009 with a grin on my face, even as my brain started picking bits of it apart.

The Narada appears, dwarfing the USS Kelvin.

NUTS-AND-BOLTS:

"Nero's very presence has altered the flow of history... Whatever our lives might have been, if the time continuum was disrupted, our destinies have changed."
-Spock (Zachary Quinto) explains the nature of the new film series.

In addition to being a fun ride, this movie has one brilliantly clever conceit. I am no fan of screenwriters Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman, but I have to give them credit for understanding the audience. Had they penned a simple reboot of classic Star Trek, fans might have rebelled. Instead, they found a way to make a film that was simultaneously a sequel and a prequel, as well as a reboot, allowing fans to boost its popular success and champion it as the triumphant return of Star Trek.

Much of the nuts-and-bolts construction is effective. The film opens at the exact point that Nero's ship arrives, complete with the visual of the massive Narada dwarfing the Kelvin in an ominous precursor to that first attack. The film doesn't worry about confusing the audience, given viewers just as much information as the characters have. Meanwhile, several beats in this sequence foreshadow similar moments later in the movie.

The incident with the Kelvin doesn't appear to do much to the timeline. Like a pebble thrown into a lake, there are ripples, but all the characters still end up exactly where they're supposed to be and doing the things they're meant to do. Kirk even cheats on the same test. At this point, it seems as if this alternative timeline is really just making for a slightly altered prequel.

Then, at the midpoint, Nero returns to the story - and this time, he's not tossing a pebble but instead catapulting in a boulder. The script doesn't shy away from following this to its logical conclusion, with the end result upending established continuity in a way that can't be handwaved away.

All of this is executed with absolute confidence. The movie whips along from one scene to the next, never slowing down, never seeming to worry much about minor details. It trusts that as long as it keeps its momentum going, the audience will follow - and for the most part, that trust isn't misplaced.

But it's in the details that I find the film stumbles a bit. There are a number of moments that I think could have been improved without sacrificing the pace or the fun factor.

Kirk and Dr. McCoy (Karl Urban) get their first look at the USS Enterprise.

ISSUES:

"The test itself is a cheat. You programmed it to be unwinnable... I don't believe in no-win scenarios!"
-Kirk defends himself to Starfleet Academy.

I've already expressed my impatience with this movie's characterization of Kirk. One of the key scenes that cemented him as "Not My Kirk" is the Kobayashi Maru test. In Star Trek II, where Kirk's cheating on the test was introduced as backstory, the impression given was that he adjsuted the program to make it possible to win.

This movie portrays that incident. However, it does so in a way that just underlines his arrogance. He doesn't change the impossible into the difficult to show that he's capable... He programs in a video game cheat code that allows him to succeed with no effort at all. It says all the wrong things about the character at the exact point in the movie that we ideally should identify with him the most.

As I mentioned earlier, the script is centered far more around Spock than Kirk. Spock is the one who gets an actual character arc. Spock is the one the villain is fixated on. Most of the film's truly memorable moments belong not to Kirk, but to Spock. And yet the movie insists on making Kirk its primary hero - right down to him getting the final, face-to-face confrontation with Nero, when it would have been more dramatically satisfying for it to have been Spock.

Then there's the way "Spock Prime" enters the film. It's a great scene on its own, even with the expositional infodump. But as portrayed, it only occurs because of one whopper of a coincidence. Kirk just happens to be marooned on the same planet where Leonard Nimoy's Spock is, and the two just happen to be close enough in location on an entire planet for them to meet by pure chance. The momentum kept me from really thinking about it on first viewing - but it sticks out as a jaw-dropping bit of happenstance on rewatch.

This is also pretty easily fixable. Spock is resourceful. His infodump could reveal that instead of being captured by Nero and dumped onto this planet, he instead escaped in one of the Narada's shuttles and, in the wake of Mid-Film Events, followed the Enterprise. A couple of extra lines of dialogue would transform the least believable part of the movie into something that actually makes sense.

Oh, and while I'm nit-picking: The Narada appears to have been constructed in such a way as to ensure that crew members will regularly plummet to their deaths. We see the Romulan crew literally hopping from one platform to another. Apparently, catwalks and guardrails are for wimps and losers. I'm picturing one of those "X Days Since Last Fatal Accident" signs on one of the ship's walls.

Finally, while I generally don't get into "male gaze" discussions (heck, I'm male, and I'll admit to enjoying a bit of gazing), this film is too blatant about it. Kirk is with his latest conquest, who urges him to hide under the bed when her roommate comes home. Her roommate? Uhura, who drops some important plot information for Kirk to overhear. So far, no problem. Except that she proceeds to undress while Kirk leers, practically before she has time to take a breath, all for the benefit of the viewer. This wouldn't be out of place as a setup for a porno scene, and it actually takes me out of the story for a moment - and this isn't the only example of such a moment!

A pre-Starfleet Kirk looks at the USS Enterprise, still under construction.

OVERALL:

Star Trek (2009) succeeds at being an above-average action movie, and it captures enough of the atmosphere of 1960s Star Trek that I can't help but like it. It also does an admirable job of resetting continuity while at the same time still building on what's come before. It's Star Trek as action movie, with yet another vengeful villain, but it works on its own terms.

Star Trek's return to prominence as a franchise started here. And while I have my issues with the movie, I still have to admit that it does its job well, holding up as an engaging action picture today. I might wish that I didn't have to switch my brain off to enjoy it - but I do, at least, find it enjoyable.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

Previous Movie: Star Trek - Nemesis
Next Movie: Star Trek into Darkness (not yet reviewed)

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Thoughts on the TNG Movies.

Over the course of its seven-year run, Star Trek: The Next Generation grew into a highly respected mainstream hit. Picard and Data became iconic figures, much as Kirk and Spock had been, and in many circles TNG was actually viewed as superior to TOS. Which made it inevitable that when TNG finally left the airwaves, its crew would boldly go where their predecessor had gone before: to the bigscreen.

The result, unfortunately, was a lot more uneven than the films featuring the original crew...

POTENTIAL UNFILLED: GENERATIONS

"Two Captains, One Destiny!"

So proclaimed the tag-line for Generations, making one thing very clear: The marketing department had a much better idea what movie audiences wanted to see than the filmmakers did. Watch any contemporary trailer for the movie, and you'll get the strong impression that the film puts Captains Picard and Kirk on roughly equal footing.

But that's not what we got. Instead, we have the big-screen equivalent of a two-part TNG episode, featuring a special guest appearance by William Shatner. Judged on that basis, it's not bad; I've watched it multiple times, and I've enjoyed every viewing. But it's not the movie it could have been, and it's bluntly not the movie it should have been.

My biggest complaint is how the climax handles the two captains: Kirk's death isn't nearly as big a moment as it should be, and Picard is diminished by being unable to deal with Villain of the Week Soran (Malcolm McDowell), despite having regularly handled more formidable adversaries on television. Better if the climax had split them up, with Picard confronting Soran on the planet while Kirk takes the lead in the spacebound action. Kirk could have given his life saving the ship and its crew, while Picard could have proved himself a worthy hero to TOS fans who came only to see Kirk's last hurrah.

I'll emphasize that the movie is enjoyable on its own terms. The regulars feel fully in-character, and the script does a good job juggling the overly-large ensemble. This would continue to be a strength of the TNG films. Sadly, however, the script's failure to reach its full potential would continue to be a weakness plaguing all of the remaining movies, with only one exception...


A HINT OF WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN: FIRST CONTACT

The Next Generation enjoyed one unqualified bigscreen success: Star Trek: First Contact. The Best of Both Worlds had made the Borg an iconic Trek villain, so making a Borg movie was likely a no-brainer for the production team. The choice to incorporate time travel into the plot could have overcomplicated things - but writers Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore use the concept well, going not into our past but instead exploring the "future history" of the franchise. The Borg conflict is set against the backdrop of humanity's first contact with the Vulcans, with the Borg's goal to stop that from happening. An "A" plot/"B" plot structure is smartly employed, with the two strands complementing each other while allowing most of the ensemble at least one spotlight moment.

Jonathan Frakes had previously distinguished himself as a strong Trek director on television, and he helms this picture with confidence and enormous visual style. This is one movie that never feels like anything less than a major motion picture. The film has plenty of action and suspense, as well as a strong core of emotion thanks to Picard's history with the Borg. Patrick Stewart is particularly good here, and the scene in which he rages against the seeming inevitability of losing his ship to the Borg is startling in its intensity.

Critics and audiences responded. Of the ten original Trek films, this was the highest grossing (though Star Trek: The Motion Picture would actually outgross it if adjusted for inflation), and reviews were extremely positive. Many critics spotlighted the performances of the cast, Stewart in particular, and there was a general sense that the TNG films had the potential to outshine their TOS predecessors. For a shining moment, the franchise appeared to be at its absolute height.

A moment that didn't last, as the series - and the franchise in general - stumbled with the very next film...


"JUST ANOTHER EPISODE": INSURRECTION

Star Trek: Insurrection isn't a bad film; it's just not a particularly good film. It's well-intentioned, attempting to explore questions of morality vs. pragmatism in a story that draws parallels with the historical treatment of Native Americans (a pet topic of writer Michael Piller's, as can be seen in many of his episodes).

For half the film, it just about works. There's enough action to maintain viewer interest, and each set piece provides new revelations about what's happening on the planet. But once the crew knows the full story and Picard confronts stuffy Admiral Dougherty (Anthony Zerbe), it crumbles. Dougherty isn't allowed to lay out the pragmatic argument for his actions with a force to match Picard's moral arguments. Instead, every statement he makes is a weak straw man to make Picard's position appear unassailable. The story also wimps out on the premise of its title - TheEnterprise crew are never in direct conflict with Starfleet, but only with the blandly villainous So'na, the latex-covered alien baddies of the week.

The second half descends into a plodding chase, and the film feels more and more like an overextended television episode as it goes. There's even a prolonged sequence in the venerable Star Trek cave set, and a subplot with Data befriending a local moppet. With its one-sided treatment of a potentially interesting moral debate, an action movie format ineffectively superimposed on a story that should have been treated as a drama, and all conflict with Starfleet resolved in a single conversation that occurs offscreen (!), this ends up being the least effective of the TNG films, and my second least-favorite Trek movie overall.


END OF AN ERA: NEMESIS

It was four years before another Trek film hit the bigscreen. I think that was a mistake. Sure, Insurrection had misfired, but it was far from a flop; and any long-running film series is going to have a few unsuccessful entries. The studio and production staff should have simply learned their lessons and gotten to work developing the next one.

Instead, all the reliable old hands were removed from the writing and production, with fresh blood brought in. In contrast to many, I actually think writer John Logan was a good choice to pen Star Trek: Nemesis; while some lapses in character continuity make clear that he needed a bit more direction, his basic story is sound and generally well-structured. Unfortunately, director Stuart Baird was a poor fit for Star Trek. Baird's direction in character and dialogue-driven scenes is particularly flat, and he imposes a nonsensical early action scene: The now-infamous "dune buggy chase," a set piece that doesn't fit with the film and only serves to slow down the story before it has a chance to kick into gear.

For all of its faults, however, I have to admit that I enjoy Nemesis. After the horrible opening, the film finally comes together with the introduction of Tom Hardy's Shinzon. Hardy may not evoke Patrick Stewart but he still gives a good performance, and the scenes between him and Stewart are the best of the movie. I do wish more had been made of the Picard/Shinzon parallels, and I actively fault the direction for not underlining that aspect of the script more effectively. But the actors are good, and Baird's direction does come to life in the action-heavy second half, with the sense of the Enterprise being outmatched and desperate very well-evoked.

With a stronger director and better script supervision, this might have ended the TNG movies on a strong note. I still think it provides a better ending than its reputation suggests, and find it significantly more enjoyable than Insurrection.

It was an utter box office disaster, however, and a significant contributor to Trek's freefall in the early 2000s.


LIKE A TV REUNION MOVIE: FINAL CONCLUSIONS

The TNG films were an uneven batch at best. There's only one outright success in the bunch, and the final two films were both severely flawed and unsuccessful at the box office. If Star Trek: The Next Generation brought the franchise to its highest mainstream visibility in years, then the movies (and the declining performance of the later Trek television series) saw it move from mainstream success back into being a niche product. Instead of a graceful exit, such as the TOS cast received by literally signing off at the end of The Undiscovered Country, the TNG cast more or less limped off the screen in a poorly-received final outing.

The TOS films had greatly expanded on the characterization of the original regulars, making the movies essential to the franchise lore. By contrast, the TNG films just felt like "extra innings" with a crew that had already been thoroughly explored on the small screen. Much like a TV reunion movie, it was fun to spend a little more time with well-loved characters, and the films were never less than watchable... But with one notable exception, the movies felt entirely expendable.

The era of Trek that had begun in 1987 had come to a fairly ignominious end. Once Enterprise limped off television screens in 2004, the franchise would only return in a very different form.

But that is another story...


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Star Trek: Nemesis.

Enterprise faces a stronger, faster predator...

THE PLOT

The Enterprise is en route to Betazed to celebrate Riker's long-overdue wedding to Deanna Troi. But the ship is diverted by a positronic signal that leads them to B4 (Brent Spiner), a much simpler prototype of Data. Immediately after retrieving B4, Picard receives a message from Starfleet, sending him to Romulus to meet with the new Praetor - the mysterious Shinzon (Tom Hardy), a Reman who distinguished himself in the Dominion War.

Picard is shocked when he meets the new Praetor. Shinzon is actually human - More than that, he's a clone of Picard himself, developed by one Romulan regime to replace Picard to infiltrate Starfleet. When that regime was toppled, the plan was abandoned and the young Shinzon was exiled to a labor camp to die, only to flourish with the aid of his Viceroy (Ron Perlman).

Shinzon claims to want peace between the Romulans and the Federation, and Picard badly wants to believe him. However, Geordi and Data soon find evidence that his ship is fitted with a weapon capable of destroying an entire planet, and that he planted B4 as a trap to gain access to the Enterprise's data banks. Now Picard's ship is all that stands in the way of Earth's destruction - and Picard is faced with the prospect not just of outmaneuvering an enemy, but of outwitting a younger, stronger version of himself!

A toast to absent friends.

CHARACTERS

Capt. Picard: Meeting Shinzon causes him to reflect on his youth. He talks with Dr. Crusher about the arrogant, impulsive young man he was, and in his conversations with Shinzon he urges the young man to aspire to more than what he is. Though some reviewers find the Picard/Shinzon scenes drag, I actually wish more was made of them. The notion that Shinzon and Picard are mirrors for each other, and that each can see in the other the potential for good or evil had their circumstances been different - That is an idea with real dramatic potential, and the too-few conversations between Patrick Stewart and Tom Hardy are in my opinion the movie's best scenes.

Riker: Has finally taken two major steps that he has resisted for far too long. He has accepted a promotion to captain, and after this mission will assume his own command. He has also finally married Counsellor Troi. A misstep of this film is that it doesn't focus on either. If Riker is leaving the Enterprise for his own command, we should see him demonstrating his command abilities. But when Picard transports over to Shinzon's ship, Riker is well away from the bridge, engaging in a fistfight with the Viceroy. When his new wife is psychically assaulted by Shinzon, Riker is little more than a spectator (We don't even observe him getting particularly upset!). As such, and despite him receiving a fair amount of screen time, this is actually Riker's weakest showing of the TNG movies.

Data: Is really the second lead of the film. When Shinzon kidnaps Picard around the midpoint, Data is the one who stages a rescue, something that's effectively repeated at the end of the film when Data sacrifices himself to destroy Shinzon's weapon. Brent Spiner is good as ever, and the Picard/Data interplay is very enjoyable in their scenes together... Though it should be said that there is nothing new here for Data, which is why I have so little to say about his characterization.

Troi: Shinzon is instantly fascinated with her, distracted enough at his first meeting with the Enterprise crew to muse about wanting to touch her hair. She is probably the first human woman he's ever seen, so his reactions do make sense - Though, as with the Picard/Shinzon dynamic, I wish more had been made of this. Shinzon and the Viceroy effectively mind-rape her in one of the most misjudged plot turns - Which does at least allow her a moment of revenge near the end, when she reverses that mental connection to give the Enterprise a brief tactical advantage. Credit to Marina Sirtis, who conveys Troi's mingled anger and satisfaction at turning the tables on her attackers to good effect.

Admiral Janeway: The "cameo of the week" is Kate Mulgrew's Janeway, now an admiral sending Picard out on assignments... Which yes, means that a man who has saved the Federation multiple times over is now outranked by a woman whose greatest accomplishment was managing to eventually find her way home after getting lost in space. I'm not a Janeway hater as a rule... But the difference in accomplishment between these two officers makes it utterly ridiculous that she should ever be in a position to give Picard orders!

Villain of the Week: Shinzon was created to be a replacement for Picard, and his artificially-accelerated growth has left him in need of a complete transfusion from Picard in order to stay alive. For Shinzon to live, his original must die. He is fiercely loyal to the Remans, who kept him alive after the Romulans exiled him to die. Similarly, he despises the Romulans, turning one ally (Dina Meyer) against him by his scorn of her. He insists to Picard that he's a dark mirror for the captain, but he's the one who seems most disturbed at the glimpse of what he might have been. He's in the superior position in the battle - But when he holographically projects himself to demand surrender, he's the one backing away when Picard urges him to be more than he is.

Shinzon (Tom Hardy), in his element.

THOUGHTS

My reviews of the Star Trek movies have been more or less in line with general fan consensus. I found The Wrath of Khan to be the best of the series, and The Final Frontier to be the worst. I labeled First Contact the best of the TNGmovies. I liked Generations well enough, but thought it could have been much better, and I found Insurrection to be underwhelming. None of these are opinions greatly out of step with the norm.

Nemesis is the exception. While I agree this is a flawed film, one that could have been much better, I not only don't think it's bad - I quite enjoy it!


THE GOOD

"I'll show you my true nature, our nature. And as Earth dies, remember that I will always, forever be Shinzon of Remus, and my voice shall echo through time long after yours has faded to a dim memory!"
-Shinzon's final rejection of Picard

I've already mentioned how much I enjoy the scenes between Picard and Shinzon. The villain tries to rattle Picard by presenting himself as a mirror, and Picard is disturbed at the thought that he might have made Shinzon's choices in the same situation. However, while Picard is never tempted by Shinzon's darkness, Shinzon seems as if he might have been tempted by the genuine trust and friendship Picard offers. He laments that it's "too late" for him to make another choice, and circumstances do have him boxed in: His position as Praetor hinges on Romulan military support for a strike against the Federation, and his illness demands Picard's death. Remove either of these factors, and it doesn't seem impossible that Shinzon might have accepted the hand Picard offers him.

The choice of Stuart Baird as director, on the strength of his helming of the engaging Executive Decision, was largely a misjudgment. Baird's direction of dialogue-driven scenes is static, with nothing injecting energy save for the actors themselves. Still, it should be acknowledged that he's good with the action. Once the movie shifts focus to the space battle and the Enterprise begins taking serious damage, there's a sense of urgency that was entirely lacking in the action moments in Generations or Insurrection.

I also enjoyed some of the atmosphere. The scene in which Shinzon is revealed has the Enterprise crew walking into a darkness as literal as it is metaphorical. When Shinzon appears, he is the sole source of light, until he finally allows the light level to be raised. His ship hovers before the Enterprise like a shark preparing to devour a much smaller fish. Then there is the main battle, with the enemy ship a blur, constantly cloaking and decloaking, faster and stronger than anything else on this field of battle. All of this works, and makes for a much more suspenseful piece than might have been the case.

Data is bemused at finding a prototype of himself.

A FAILURE TO ASPIRE

The B-4 is physically identical to me, although his neural pathways are not as advanced. But even if they were, he would not be me... I aspire, sir, to be better than I am. B-4 does not, nor does Shinzon."
-Data, on what separates him and Picard from their counterparts.

The irony about this quote is how well it describes the film's own shortcomings. Nemesis works as an action movie... But it doesn't aspire to be anything more than an action movie.

Part of that is Stuart Baird's direction. A stronger director would have pushed the ideas of identity and dualism (Picard/Shinzon, Data/B4), mirroring these ideas with the visual realization of scenes and choosing moments to cut between scenes to emphasize this aspect. Baird simply presents the scenes as written - Not a disastrous approach for the scenes that work, but not one that brings out more than (or even as much as) is on the page.

Then there are flat-out directorial misjudgments, most evident in the movie's infamous "dune buggy" chase.

Baird has actually bragged about this scene, taking full credit for transforming the recovery of B4 into an action sequence, so I have no problem assigning him full blame. It apparently never occurred to him that the scene made no sense, an action moment shoehorned into the early part of the movie for no reason other than to have one. But for some convenient Technobabble, the Enterprise crew could have and should have simply beamed B4 up from orbit and been on their way. This would have taken far less screen time and moved us quickly on to the main plot. Expanding this into a set piece slows down the start of the story and makes the movie feel aimless before it gets a chance to truly begin... The exact opposite of what an action set piece is meant to do!

(I'll add that I find the B4 subplot generally unnecessary, a distraction the movie would have been better off without - But again, a stronger director better able to parallel Data/B4 with Picard/Shinzon might have made something of it.)

Still, if Nemesis doesn't strive to be anything more than a Trek action picture, I do find that it works pretty well on that basis. Once the film gets past the idiotic dune buggy scene and into the story proper, most of what's there works. The potential exists for more - But that doesn't make bad what's actually there.

Star Trek's stupidest scene this side of the Uhura fan dance.

OVERALL

I can't pretend Nemesis isn't flawed. At the same time, I'm not going to pretend that I didn't enjoy it. The battle that dominates the movie's second half is genuinely tense, with the Enterprise feeling truly outclassed throughout the combat. Star Trek Into Darkness, whose climax showed how too much action played too over-the-top can become boring, the handling of the conflict here feels right - enough to create a sense of urgency and hopelessness without becoming too much.

I'm not going to claim that this is a misunderstood classic due for re-evaluation; most of the charges levied at this picture have merit, and there are a few (some continuity points, for example) that I haven't touched on simply because I don't particularly care about them.

But for all its faults, it's a film I enjoy and I'm not about to pretend otherwise. Certainly a flawed picture - but very far, in my opinion, from the all-out disaster it's often made out to be.


Overall Rating: 6/10.

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Star Trek: Insurrection.

The Enterprise crew violates orders for the sake of conscience.

THE PLOT

Picard receives a transmission from Admiral Dougherty (Anthony Zerbe). The admiral is in an isolated region of space known as "The Briar Patch," home to exactly one inhabited world - Inhabited by a single village of approximately 600 people known as the Ba'ku. They have a primitive, agrarian culture, which Starfleet is observing from a "duck blind," a cloaked observation post. Data has been temporarily reassigned to assist - but Dougherty tells Picard that he has gone berserk, disabling the duck blind and holding the various scientists and officials hostage in the Ba'ku village.

Picard is able to draw Data out and disable him - but analysis shows that he malfunctioned only after sustaining gunfire from the So'na, Dougherty's allies, who are led by the amoral Ru'afo (F. Murray Abraham). After repairing Data, the Enterprise crew investigates further - and discovers a cloaked vessel inside which is an exact recreation of the Ba'ku village. Dougherty and Ru'afo planned to mass beam all of the Ba'ku into the cloaked ship and relocate them - a plan thwarted only by Data's interference!

Dougherty does not deny Picard's accusations. The planet has a rejuvenating effect on all of its inhabitants, which can be shared with the entire Federation using a So'na device that will greatly enhance the effect - but which will also leave the planet uninhabitable. He tells Picard that the Federation Council has authorized the Ba'ku's removal, and orders the captain to depart immediately. When Picard refuses, violating orders to try to lead the Ba'ku to safety, Dougherty is shocked, and the villainous Ru'afo is pushed to increasingly harsh and desperate action!

Picard experiences a moment of perfection.

CHARACTERS

Capt. Picard: Is outraged when he learns of Dougherty's plans, dismissing the admiral's point about 600 lives against the entire Federation by storming, "How many people does it take, admiral, before it becomes wrong? A thousand? Fifty thousand? A million?" He sends Riker to plead the Ba'ku's case with the Federation council, noting that "It's too easy to turn a blind eye to the suffering of a people you don't know," and trusting in his first officer to put enough of a face to the Ba'ku to change the council's mind.

Riker: When the So'na attempt to intercept the Enterprise, Riker uses the clouds of volatile materials pervading the Briar Patch to his advantage, using his ship to detonate the various gasses. A "B" plot shows the planet's effect on Riker, as his amorous feelings for Troi are rekindled. After their relationship re-starts, he worries that those feelings may disappear once they leave the Briar Patch. Worf is the one to reassure him: "Your feelings about her have not changed since the day I met you, Commander. This place just let them out for a little fresh air."

Data: One of Michael Piller's earlier (frankly more interesting) story pitches was modeled after Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, with Picard forced to hunt down a rogue Data. That story was rejected, but the idea of Data going rogue was retained as a hook for this story, with his apparent malfunction bringing Picard and the Enterprise to this planet to uncover its secrets. Outside of that, Data's role is much less here than in other TNG movies, largely relegated to a subplot in which he bonds with a Ba'ku child.

Worf: Brought back to the Enterprise by... Well, we don't really know because the movie doesn't care. As he explains his presence on the ship, foreground conversations completely drown him out, because we all know he's really there to be a popular part of the ensemble. He does get a good supporting role again, working with Picard to disable Data in the first half of the movie, and vigorously defending the Ba'ku villagers from attack in the second half.

Pompous Space Bureaucrat of the Week: Dougherty (Anthony Zerbe)'s belief in making sacrifices for the greater good is made weaker than Picard's belief that there is a clear line between right and wrong. This is in part because Dougherty is so weak-willed. Every time there is any unpleasantness, he has to be convinced all over again by the silken-voiced Ru'afo. The ever-reliable Zerbe manages to infuse enough dignity to keep Dougherty from feeling like a stick figure, but he's clearly just there to mark time until the true villain takes over...

Villain of the Week: Ru'afo is a one-note villain, motivated by spite and hate. F. Murray Abraham, a fine actor, clearly notices the lack of nuance - because he goes straight for the ham, right down to crying "No!" as he blows up at the end.

Picard vs. Dougherty: An imbalanced debate.

THOUGHT VERSUS ACTION

Star Trek: Insurrection has a premise for a character drama tinged with the kind of ethical debate that Star Trek does so well. We have the regulars effectively discovering the Fountain of Youth, with Picard rejuvenated, Geordi regaining his eyesight, and Worf undergoing a second Klingon puberty. At the same time, Picard is put into conflict with his superiors over what amounts to a debate over the well-being of a single village versus that of an entire civilization.

Unfortunately, this is forced into an action movie mold. The story wants to explore the argument over the welfare of 600 Ba'ku versus the entire Federation... But it also wants to get to the next set piece, so the debate boils down to Picard vs. the untrustworthy Dougherty. Every one of Dougherty's arguments are straw men designed to be shredded under the weight of The Picard Sledgehammer.

There's a moment in which Picard tries to satisfy both the Ba'ku and the So'na. He observes that there is plenty of room on the planet for both the Ba'ku and the So'na, and proposes allowing the So'na to occupy a different region. This is brushed aside by Dougherty, who says that it would take a decade for the So'na to experience any benefit. The script might as well be begging us to forget the planet curing Geordi's blindness in a single day!

A more interesting path was open here. What if Rua'fo had accepted this proposal, revealing that he really did just want to save his people? What if it had been Dougherty who pushed the situation into open conflict? It would have been internally plausible - In the face of Dominion War losses, the admiral just isn't willing to let go of such a strong advantage for the Federation. Then Picard would have been left to lead a genuine insurrection against Starfleet forces, rather than simply battling evil latex-faced baddies.

But that would have been less safe. And - much like Star Trek: Voyager, which was around the midpoint of its run at this time, Insurrection's biggest sin is that it wants to play as safe as it possibly can.

The Ba'ku village comes under attack.

QUESTIONS, ANSWERS, AND COMPLICATIONS: THE FIRST HALF

For all the movie's faults, the first half works remarkably well. Mysteries are raised and their solutions lead to more mysteries, until we get to the revelation of the cloaked ship. That leads to the film's primary conflict. It's fast enough to maintain interest, particularly as it becomes clear that much more is going on than was initially evident. Since the investigation involves spending time in and around the Ba'ku village, there is plenty of opportunity to explore the rejuvenating effects of the planet and to introduce Picard's attraction to the attractive Anij (Donna Murphy) without slowing the pace.

Writer Michael Piller neatly folds the Dominion War into his story. At the start of the film, Picard is on a diplomatic mission to bring a new race into the Federation. He and the others comment on how fast this is happening, with this species having only barely achieved warp flight, and it's acknowledged that their government is trying to make up for the losses to the Borg and Dominion by bringing in allies as quickly as they can get them.

Ru'afo, in F. Murray Abraham's best scene, delivers a stinging assessment of the Federation's current state - One that carries more than a hint of truth:

"Federation support, Federation procedures, Federation rules! Look in the mirror, Admiral. The Federation is old. In the past twenty-four months, they've been challenged by every major power in the Quadrant: the Borg, the Cardassians, the Dominion. They all smell the scent of death on the Federation. That's why you've embraced our offer, because it will give your dear Federation new life..."

Picard has an explosive confrontation with Ru'afo.

GOING FOR THE SET PIECE: THE SECOND HALF

Ironically, it's as the movie becomes purely an Action Film that it starts to feel both small and slow. There are only so many ways to watch Picard, Data, and Worf lead the Ba'ku toward the mountains around So'na attacks before that starts feeling repetitive, and an extended stay in the ever-familiar Star Trek cave set reinforces the small-screen feel that pervades the entire movie. With any pretense of genuine moral dilemma stripped away, all that remains is relatively mild action, with our heroes facing villains who are too one-dimensional to be interesting and too bland to be threatening.

It ends as Riker returns to announce that the Federation Council has rescinded its orders to relocate the Ba'ku. Riker must have made a stirring presentation, with some strong moral arguments about what Starfleet and the Federation are meant to stand for. A pity that happened offscreen. Ah, well - doubtless that would have been much less interesting than watching Patrick Stewart and F. Murray Abraham chase each other around an orbital doomsday weapon.

Geordi watches the sunrise.

OVERALL

Star Trek: Insurrection opened well at the box office, showing that the enthusiasm from First Contact was still there. It fell fast, though, as word of mouth spread that it was basically just a TNG episode stretched out to feature length.

As I've indicated, I think the real problem lies in the mismatch between concept and execution. In many ways, it's a retread of the Star Trek V situation. That film was damaged in part by trying to force a serious concept into a comedy mold, an ill-conceived attempt to replicate the success of the comedic Star Trek IV. Here, a contemplative moral drama is forced into an action movie mold to try to match the success of First Contact.

This film isn't as bad as Star Trek V. Writer Michael Piller works hard to strike a balance between what the film should be and what it's forced to be. For roughly half the movie, he succeeds better than should have been possible. But the second half becomes increasingly simplistic, until what's left is just another mediocre action movie, made all the more disappointing by how much potential was there for something more.


Overall Rating: 4/10.

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