Star Trek: Nemesis Reviews

[Beast]

I just returned from a matinee showing of the latest Star Trek film. I have to say, with as much dread as I had for this film after reading the spoilers about it, I was worried for nothing. The film is one of my Favorite Trek films now, and I'm sure the more I see it, I will appreciate it on the same level as the best Classic Trek films. Beware that I do discuss spoilers.

My biggest worry was, it seemed like they had thrown almost every movie into a blender and hit puree. Like the villians looking like Hellraiser knock-offs. The A-Teamish action scenes in the desert with the Dune Buggy. The head bad guy being a clone of Picard. Even the Data prototype story seemed dreadful. But I am actually pleased with the film.

The Shinzon/Picard story arc is well done. I was impressed with the script and the dialoge for this film. It more then makes up for the terrible Star Trek: Insurrection. The Data storyline I was more worried about. The idea that they planned to kill Data off, was worrysome. I'm glad to announce that unlike Kirk's death in Generations, Data sacrifices himself with a higher purpose.

Very well done, almost had me a bit weepy. Plus the inclusion of B-4 (Before) leaves a chance for Brent Spiner to build the charecter up again from the start, should he continue with the series. Thankfully they changed the charecters name from the awful hokey B-9 (Benign) from the script. And Data/B-4 doesn't sing "Greensleeves", it's now "Blue Skies".

The only complaint I have for the film, is that again Picard and Data become the main cast members. Riker, Troi, Dr. Crusher, Worf, and Geordi become bit parts, overshadowed by the larger parts and plots for Picard and Data. But it works in this case, and I am proud to announce that again there is proof that even numbered Trek films, don't suck.

MTFBWY and HH!!

Jar Jar Binks

[wedgeA]

JJB,

Considering how venomous you were toward the script, you review really raises my anticipation to see this. In watching TNG films, I have realized that 1) Picard and Data will always the focus of these films, I wonder why they even bother to bring back Crusher and LaForge; and

2) while I have liked the TNG films except for Insurrection, they will always be nothing more than extended TV episodes. I feel that Berman plays it too safe with the franchise, where the Kirk and Co. films took chances. That being said, I thought that First Contact and Generations (yes, I liked it) were pretty good on that scale.

I will catch Nemesis tonight, and chime in later. My anticipation grows...

[Beast]

Yeah, I even re-read my comments when I got back home. And I still agree with them, the early script and numerous spoilers I read made the film sound like utter garbage. It was amazing to see, that a movie I dreaded seeing turned out so well. Gives me hope for other movies.

And here I was worried, that I would be faced with a film that was on the level of the train wreck called Star Trek V. While the extreme focus on Picard and Data does get old, atleast Riker and Troi got some time to grow in this one. To bad that Dr. Crusher, Worf, and Geordi are little more then background charecters.

MTFBWY and HH!!

Jar Jar Binks

[Tycho]

Oooh, I have a lot of points to chime in.

First, I did not dislike the movie, however, I am not bursting with excitement all over either.

1) I want to see the movie again though - probably tomorrow, definitely ASAP.

2. I feel like it's forgettable in some ways, like it was not in full color of everything that was Star Trek.

Parts of what I'm going to say next will ring praise, parts will sharply criticize.

The Reman revolution was a worthy cause. Shinzon is as Picard would have been under those circumstances. It was a great topic and a great cause.

Seeing any resemblance to their Vulcan ancestry was nearly impossible with the Remans. They did a great job with makeup, but went almost too far considering the ancestral heritage of the Remans.

The starship battle was the best of ANY of the Star Trek films! I never in my life thought Picard would ram the Enterprise into the enemy, and the whole way that played out was awesome!

I'd hoped to see the Starfleet reinforcement ships arrive to start an even larger engagement, but the Romulans coming in on Picard's side was a nice surprise, and the battle was intense enough, they almost didn't need to make another Dominion War out of this.

Oh - nice nods to the continuity, especially the after-effects of the Dominion Wars!

B-4 was done because Brent Spiner (who helped WRITE THE STORY for this film) had decided Data had become too human and he wanted to character-act as an Android again. I'm sure B-4 will be in the next movie and Brent will play him, but he'll be able to bring back all those child-like discovery moments again - just as Data was in the earliest seasons.

That B-4 was going to download security stuff from the Enterprise was obvious. When Data, posing as him frees Picard - it was a nice surprise. I like it when the plot gets predictable, the heroes act more intelligent than the audience! Nice move.

The flying the Romulan fightercraft through the halls of the ship thing was unexpected and fun. It ties in with the off-roading thing that marked the "A-Team" feel of this film - also all the Remans and Worf shooting and never hitting anything. All they needed would have been Barclay piloting that sleek landing ship along with a chick in a mini-skirt that would immediately run up and kiss Data once they got back aboard But the jumping the jeep into the ship was cool! The audience in the theater I saw it in all went YAaaaaaayyy!

Some opportunities for passion were lost. A simple scene would have helped so much: Deanna and Will just married, their honey moon a hailstorm of disruptor bolts - when Will turns to go below decks to fight the Reman boarding party, Deanna and he should have had one of those "if this should be the last time I look upon you moments..." I think they did that with Geordi and Data though.

That was awesome how Picard was surprised by Data's last minute rescue that beamed him out!

Shinzon pulling his impaled body along his killing shaft to get that close to Picard was both the most extreme perversity and one of the boldest, images Star Trek has ever provided. Kahn did not go so far! Plus it was very original for Trek: most villains 'blow-up': Kahn, Krugge (fell in lava - then the planet blew up), Cybok was electrocuted into oblivion, Chang, Lursa and B'Tor, Dr. Soran, and Rau'Awlful all blew up. The Borg Queen was melted and Shinzon impaled - only not on what you first thought he'd get stuck on (the spikes around the ultimate weapon controls). True - Shinzon's body blew up - but he was already dead by then.

Beverly had more to say in this movie than she played a part in Insurrection. Her scenes with the Captain were really good actually. She took the part Deanna usually has with the Captain in the ready room. Deanna's nightmare and her use in helping them target the ship with her telepathic connections to the Viceroy were a great use of her character.

The audience cheered in my theater when Riker started kicking some butt.

Worf is typically well used in all the movies. This time they gave him a little rest. Afterall, he's been in more Star Trek hours than any other character, ever.

I liked the dark tone to the movie, but the colors made it pale in a negative sort of way. And did anybody think the location shooting they did for the off-roading seemed a little too bright? Besides, how could the Remans find that situation tolerable? No wonder they were such bad shots - well besides that they were probably ordered to fake the attack.

Oh - there's probably so much more to say.

Did anyone get a good appreciation of the orchestra music? I missed that, but didn't pick up on a theme like First Contact or Insurrection had, specifically tailored to this film.

Birds of Prey fans: Dina Meyer did a bang-up good job in this one, didn't she. Somehow, even with that haircut, she managed to make a very sensual and attractive Romulan.

[Beast]

Tycho, the people in the dune buggies were the race that lived on the planet, not the remans. Remember, we get a good look at them when the shuttle craft flies away with our heroes. They have brown scaley skin. That would have destroyed the reveal that the Reman's were bad guys, had it been their race chasing them. By the way, you may want to re-read your own post. You never really criticize.

MTFBWY and HH!!

Jar Jar Binks

[Tycho]

Then I might like this movie more than I thought I did as I left the theater, numb and in a little shock.

I knew Data would die - that's not it. I knew some spoilers, but tried to stay away from most of them.

So the movie was completely fresh to me. That's very different than going into AOTC with the dialoge practically memorized before the movie premiers, he-he-he.

I knew the plot and dialogue of TPM, too - and that one shocked me a bit too much - in some bad ways until I got used to it and put together the ideas behind it (and started thinking about how it would fit in with what must come to get us to Episode 3).

With AOTC, it was perfect, and everything was exactly as I expected it right from the get-go. I walked out getting an even better taste for exactly what I expected.

With Nemesis, I didn't know what to expect and everything sort of shocked me. In a really great movie, I think you walk out saying "Wow! That was incredible!" like when I first saw Independence Day, The Matrix, or Terminator 2 - or First Contact and Insurrection (which I liked a lot). This one will take some getting used to. But I think it is a good film the more I dwell on it.

Gotta go. I'm going to go watch all the other ones!

[Jayspawn]

I caught the late show this evening. My first impressions. I really liked the film. I'm more of an Original Series fan, but this was a good one. Probably my favorite of the Next Gen films. Other mental notes I have...

- I thought the Picard/Shinzon relationship was well played.

- This was Brent Spiner's better Trek movie. Others are good. This was his best I think. I loved Data's last line "Goodbye." It was the way I always thought Data would die. When Data suprised Picard at the last minute and beamed him over- fantastic! It got me a little emotional.

- I'm glad that Riker and Troi got married. About time! I noticed how they would hold hands when they were sitting or standing together. Great acting by Frakes and Sirtis.

- Crusher, Worf and LaForge have never been main characters, not even in the show. But they are the cast that we like and look forward to see. ex: Sulu, Uhura, Scotty or Checkov. They are not the main cast like Kirk, Spock or Bones but we love them just the same. I liked Worf, LaForge and Crucher's roles in this movie. I thought they had a good amount of screen time and they each played their part.

- I think the relationship between Picard and Riker had a nice fairwell. Just as officers and friends.

- I have to admit that I cringed a little when Picard rammed the Enterprise into the Romulan ship. One starship smashing into another, makes me think of something that Kirk would do.

- Dena Meyer did a great job.

- The 2 different types of Romulans threw me off. They seemed more like 2 seperate species than in any way similar.

- The space fight with the Romulan ships and the Enterprise was the best of any Trek movie.

- As Tycho pointed out, the film's musical score was great! I loved the opening anthem. There were other noticable moments in the film where it really stuck out.

- Guinan and Wesley Crusher's cameos were good. I'm all about contuinity- especially within TV and movies.

- The scene where Picard is looking at a picture of himself as a Starfleet cadet- wearing the uniform seen in "The Motion Picture" Once again, great continuity.

And finally....

- While I think this is the last of the "Next Gen" films, I thought it was nicely wraped up. It kind of leaves space for another film but with Data, Troi and Riker gone...Hmm. I would have liked it if the film ended with the signitures of the cast as seen in "Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country."

- "Generations" was a great film!

AND!!!!!

Now I have to go buy that new Data figure by Art Asylum!

[wedgeA]

I must say despite all my reservations, I loved the film, definately my favorite of the TNG films. Much of what I loved has been stated, but I want to add a couple of points.

First off, my biggest quibble with the film is that the "violation" of Troi should have been a bit more intense, especially since it set up a great Riker-Viceroy faceoff. However, I understand that they did want an R rating.

A couple of things that I enjoyed were Picard's mid-life crisis, especially with the Argo buggy. Yeah yeah, Prime Directive I know, but the last movie was about that and I didn't like it. I also thought the fact that Picard froze after killing Shinzon was a pretty gutsy move. I am not sure if I agree with, but fans will be arguing that one for awhile, and I like that they had the guts to pull it off. Finally, after reading the script, I thought that the whole B-4 singing would be pure cheese but it was done very well. Spiner played that with the perfect subtlety and it was a very emotional closing.

[Beast]

Yeah, that popped into my head also. "Wait, the prime directive says to avoid contact with pre-warp civilizations". So they end up flying down a big shuttle, and then to leave even more evidence that there is life out there in the universe, they proceed to drive like maniacs all over the planet in a shiney silver dune buggy and leave tire track evidence everywhere?

MTFBWY and HH!!

Jar Jar Binks

[Tycho]

LOL - about the dune buggy comments.

Data has had a lot of good movie moments though. I'm not sure if this one was his best - but definitely played as his most subtle.

He was both really funny, and 'malfunctioned' as well as coped with new emotions well in Generations. Right down to crying over finding his cat.

In First Contact, he took on the Borg Queen personally - and he did even more than Picard did to save the Enterprise and make sure the Borg were stopped for good! (at least in the Alpha Quadrant).

In Insurrection, I love the imagery of Data swimming with the fish and running around as a floating head - when the rest of his body was actually cloaked. His scout ship piloting was pretty awesome - especially that nerve-wracking spinning dive with Picard and Worf's runabout still attached to his ship. Playing with the child was kind of fun in that one, too. Overall, his role was a lot less important in Insurrection.

In Nemesis, it is Data's curiousity and vulnerability that lure them into the trap, so that much was obvious. But after 3 encounters with Lore, Data's evil twin brother from the TV series, weren't they ready to give up on any of Dr. Soong's other work not trying to destroy the universe once they were put back together themselves? With all the fan references, I'm surprised the incidents with Lore were never brought up. Meanwhile, Brent's performance as B-4 (or when Data pretends to be B-4 - when he innocently asks Shinzon "Go where?" - funny) was very cool. But until the end, I'm not sure this was Data's story. He was cool during all the gun fighting when he was trying to get Picard out of there before he became a personal blood bank for Shinzon. But when Data couldn't open the blast doors to the hanger bay, why didn't he just use his Android strength to rip them open like he'd done to so many doors throughout the TV series. He has 8 times the strength of a human, Reman, or Romulan!

Anyway, his decisions to protect Picard and his actions, like positioning himself when Shinzon drew the knife (why wasn't Worf the first one clued in on that?) and of course Data's end, were all very well written and acted. Brent did a great job!

I just don't know if that topped the time he took the Borg Queen out with the words "Resistance is Futile!" That was classic!

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Meanwhile, Worf....

Worf is a main TNG character, much more than Crusher or LaForge are used. He is also the Star Trek character more developed than any, considering the 10 years worth of TV seasons he's starred in, the 2 mates he's joined with and lost (K'Elehr and Jadzia Dax), and the 2 Captains he's served under.

Why he is no longer serving Chancellor Martok as Ambassador to the Federation from the Klingon Empire wasn't addressed. And if he went back to Starfleet, why did he go back to serve on the Enterprise and not the Defiant.

(in the episode of DS9, "change of heart" Worf lets a Cardassian defector die in order to save Jadzia from Jem Hadar wounds, and Starfleet loses their chance to gain all tactical information of the Dominion. Sisko informs Worf that it would cost him his chance to make Captain - though Sisko would have saved his wife too, had he gotten the chance.)

Worf's relationship with Deanna has never been addressed in the movies, save for in Insurrection, when he tells Riker that his feelings for Deanna had always been there - that Will and Deanna are Imzadi, effectively. But we didn't see him talk to Deanna, nor anyone relate to Worf how they felt for him, knowing that his old girlfriend was marrying, while his own wife had died not that many years ago.

Worf needs another movie - First Contact was his best one for sure!

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I guess what I'm getting at is that First Contact still rocks!

It's a tough choice. But I'm going back to see Nemesis again today!