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star trek: nemesis

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From IMDb:

After a joyous wedding between William Riker and Deanna Troi, Captain Picard and the Enterprise crew stumble upon a positronic signature which results in a prototype version of the android Data. Then the Enterprise is invited to Romulus to negotiate a peace treaty with the Romulans by their new leader, Praetor Shinzon. However, Shinzon is revealed to be a clone of Picard who was raised on Remus, a slave planet to the Romulans. Later on, Picard discovers that this peace treaty was nothing more than a set-up on account of the fact that Shinzon needs Picard in order to survive. But little do the Enterprise crew know that Shinzon also plans to do away with the Federation by unleashing a weapon that could destroy a whole planet.

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I had been putting off watching this after the disappointment of Insurrection but this is so much better. The bulk of the story focuses on mainly Picard but also Data. I really enjoyed the parallels between Picard/Shinzon and Data/B4 especially the differences in how each pair felt about the other, how Data called B4 his brother while the human pairing of Picard and Shinzon were on a destructive path.

It’s very obvious that there has been a change of direction and production from Insurrection and this is so much for the better. Nemesis feels like a movie. The scenes flow together well, the story is engaging, battle scenes are dramatic and well designed with good graphics.

Tom Hardy makes a great anti hero and his acting is great as always. Having Hardy, Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner dominate the majority of the storyline results in a standard of acting not usually seen from Star Trek and totally overcomes the failings of Insurrection.

As with all Star Trek adventures the ending is predictably positive but not to the normal extent and I loved the very final scene of Picard and B4 that leaves us with a sense of hope for the future.

The story and the ending however, do depend on two scenes that are quite clumsily inserted into the flow. The first is the ability of the Remun Viceroy to connect with Deana Troi and the second is the mini transponder in Data’s arm. Both scenes make no sense in their current storylines and are only there to help with later scenes. This clumsiness is the only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars.

This is the last installment in the Next Generation series of films and a fitting end. Looking forward to seeing the story continue now with the new TV series “Picard”.

star trek: insurrection

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From IMDb:

While on a mission to observe the peaceful Ba’ku race, Lieutenant Commander Data suddenly behaves as if having to fear for his existence. The immortal Ba’ku, whose planet offers regenerative radiation, and therefore incredible lifespans, live in harmony with nature and reject advanced technology. Their planet and their culture is secretly researched by the Federation associated with an alien race called the Son’a. But the Son’a intend to abduct the Ba’ku in order to take the planet for themselves and for the Starfleet officials who all would like to regenerate their bodies. But they did not think of the loyalty of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-E to the Prime Directive.

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟

Very disappointing 😔

With all the fuss about the new season “Picard” I wanted to watch this film and “Nemesis” to get fully up to date with the Star Trek story. I’d somehow managed to miss these two and was looking forward to a follow up to the very enjoyable “First Contact“.

It’s not great though. For such a great Star Trek cast and a really good storyline the scripting and acting is as wooden as it gets and it’s the Star Trek characters that really let it down. The relationship between Picard and Anij is particularly badly delivered by a usually excellent Patrick Stewart while the romantic scenes between Riker and Troi were like something from a 50s amateur drama. Add in poorly delivered action scenes both on the planet and in space and you really wonder why someone didn’t ask Director Jonathan Frakes just what he was thinking!

The one saving grace of this film and what gave it 3 stars in my opinion versus 2 is the bad guy race, the Son’a. Their behaviour, back story and hate driven actions are really well written. F. Murray Abraham is easily the outstanding actor portraying the villain excellently as always.

This is a film worth watching just to get the full Next Generation back story but better for a wet Sunday afternoon with little else to do. I really hope “Nemesis” is better!