Star Trek: Nemesis (Widescreen)

There are possible spoilers below, so beware.

The film starts pleasantly enough, with Riker's wedding to Troi after showing trouble in the midst of the Romulan government. Wesley Crusher is finally given his due screen appearance. He is as gorgeous as always. I know that they cut out an entire 45 minute segment featuring him, which I was unhappy to hear.

Next, the Trek crew finds scans indicating posotronic activity on a planet, so they go to investigate, finding parts to an android almost identical to Data. They land on a desert planet and Picard acts completely unlike his character. The reserved French captain is now a high testosterone mini-dimensional fun lovin' bad cop kind of guy roving through the desert in a Jeep/Hummer-esque vehichle. I can't quite grasp how Data could locate this new android if only the brain is posotronic, which has been hammered into our heads since the series began. But forget all the rules made so far. To quote the Fantasticks, this movie "defies logic and achieves ignorance!" In the desert the crew meets nasty creatures that look like copies of Max Shreck's 1922 Nosferatu. Of course the vehichles are equipped with laser cannons and such and much F/X money was spent making loud booms.

After this lame adventure, the new android is put together. It is Data's mentally disabled brother. Blah blah blah. We already did this. It would have been much more interesting to do exploration with the Lor character. Hmm.. imagine doing battle with Lor. At least THAT would be a match for the Trek crew. Anyway, the new android is called B4. How tacky. A very uninteresting subplot altogether.

The "story" continues, if you can call it that. We learn the Romulan senate has a new praetor, Shinzon. Jean Luc gets an awesome cameo from Janeway. Next, the Enterprise-E visits Romulus, and of course war breaks out, blah blah blah.

**end of obvious spoilers you already figured out from the preview**

The villain, Shinzon is underdeveloped. The story is too. It felt like echoes of Wrath of Khan were bubbling here. This is the first Star Trek I've seen that was simply a lame battle scenario. Half of the movie was spent at war. It felt felt the Matrix Revolutions to me. Pointless one dimensional buildup and buildup, huge battles, but absolutely no pleasure or satifaction in any of it.

Star Trek has been great because each episode/movie dealt with a moral dilemma choice, well built characters and intriguing situations. This movie has none of that. It's just a big battle. If you like explosions and loud sound effects, this movie is for you. If not, beware. Characters are altered for no reason whatsoever. There is no real emotional buildup, just constant fighting, so the climax is boring and uninteresting. It feels like this is the end of Trek, which truly saddens me. It feels like Star Trek is trying to reinvent itself. It was fine before, people! That's why there is still a fan base! Even the music felt similar to the hokey music from the first season of TNG - even with those crappy 80s synth sounds. I cannot say enough: avoid this movie.

1/5

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This movie blatantly defies the even-odd rule of Trek movies, therefore requiring the rule to be modified. I suggest the following:

"While even-numbered Star Trek movies are inevitably better than odd-numbered ones, every fifth movie is terrible, regardless of numbering."

Anyway, this movie has very few redeeming qualities. The special effects are very good, though they obviously can't be the driving force behind a movie (this must've been what Berman was going for). I've read that Paramount dropped ILM for this movie; and if so, another thing it has in common with Star Trek V. Though in that case, the result was awful effects detracting even more from an awful movie. In 'Nemesis', the effects were the only thing that kept me awake.

The actors seem bored, and I honestly can't blame them. You'll be bored to, if you have the courage to sit through the disgrace in the first place. If they'd wanted to kill off Data, they should've done it in 'First Contact', where his death would've had more meaning (saving humanity from the Borg as opposed to a perverted, dying megalomaniac with the brains of a peanut). Overall, this movie is a terrible entry into the 'Star Trek' series, and I hope never to see it again.

If Paramount decides to do another one (which I very much doubt, given how much this one bombed), they should attempt to recapture the spirit of the previous Trek movies. Nemesis seems as if it was made in a desperate attempt to appeal to an almost non-existant mainstream audience. Unfortunately, due to the stigma attached to the 'Star Trek' franchise, this audience simply doesn't exist. If Nemesis had been made as a generic sci-fi/action movie, it may have done better. But attaching the ST name to a movie ensures you attract very few people other than fans of the series.

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I respect Gene Roddenberrys vision and I know that he would frown on this movie. No doubt. The TNG movies have done nothing but rip off the original cast movies by repackaging and recycling old ideas and presenting them as new. THIS MOVIE is a perfect example. This movie is just a remake of ST II The Wrath of Khan...bottom line. Don't waste your money. Spend your money on the original. Borrow this movie from a friend or something but don't buy into this recycled, unoriginal, broken down, TNG series.

TNG has never been original. They used some of the old cast for Generations because they had no clue how to be original. They stole the Time travel idea from ST IV for First Contact and now they have remade ST II. Don't buy into it. You will only encourage the suits in Hollywood to make more unoriginal junk like this.

However, judging by the box office receipts on this movie, alot of people stayed away, so that is encouraging! And I have to thank the TNG Cast for failing so miserably with their movies because this means they have ruined it for the Voyager cast. So hopefully we won't have to sit through any Voyager movies thanks to the destruction laid out by TNG! Who knows what Original cast plot lines Voyager would have stolen?

I do like Brent Spiner and Patric Stewart...when they are not making ST movies or tv episodes.

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