Star Trek - Nemesis (2002)

Nemesis of My Eye

I had stayed clear of this film mainly on recommendations of others, but when the Special Collectors Edition Series came along, I could hardly resist it. As Sci Fi Films go its not bad, but as a Star Trek film goes, I'll take a Captain Kirk film any day. I thought the basic story line was quite good, in the sci fi sense, but a total goose in the Star Trek Sense. Its not hard to see why things went to horribly bad in the film, the director, as well as the principal writer were all non-trek oriented ( the main writer did admit to being a "Trekkie" however, when his idea
of advancing a plot was the glasses in Star Trek 2 that Bones gave to Kirk, then somethings wrong), also you can see how much of a heavy hand the Studio had in the edits with the deleted scenes... some of the most "Star Trek" styled moments just got the chop. Nemesis is a Good Sci-Fi film, but a superb example of how a franchise film is wrecked in the "do a film by Committee" style of film making that has so successfully killed many films.

THE DVD: Great Extras. Lots of informative material in the commentaries, and in the disc 2 extras. Great to see Ron Perlman out of Makeup and without his digitally enhanced voice as Vice-Roy ( which he plays in NEMESIS).Very Good Collection of Interviews and lookbacks. June 23, 2008

The Franchise Crashes To A Halt

After the so-so box office totals brought in from Star Trek: Insurrection, as well as an overall downturn in viewership of Star Trek TV shows on the air, the Star Trek franchise heavily promoted "Nemesis" as the film that would keep the franchise alive and kicking. Instead, this horrible film had the exact opposite effect.

With "Nemesis", the Star Trek writers/producers tried to emulate the story of "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan", where Captain Kirk squares off against hated rival Khan. In this story, Captain Jean-Luc Picard discovers he has a clone who is trying to take over the Romulan High Council. This plot fails for two reasons: First, the tension between Picard and his clone is not nearly what it should be, as the clone is so evil that Picard (and thus the audience) can feel no sympathy towards him. Second, the Romulans are just weak villains. They have never been featured in any previous Star Trek movies, and their appearance in this film does not better that reputation.

Also, for the third consecutive movie, the fan-favorite Data character is heavily featured. While this is usually a good thing, the plot surrounding Data seems a bit contrived this time. The "drama" of finding "Data's" severed head...already used in the Next Generation series. A Data clone...same deal. Plus, the end scene (which is supposed to be reminiscent of "Khan's" ending) does not carry with it the emotional punch of Spock's death.

To conclude, though the graphics and action scenes in this movie are on par with the other Next Generation movie installments, as well as some character development at the wedding of Riker and Troi, the drama is severely lacking, turning to outright boredom in some spots. If you are a hard-core Star Trek fan who will watch this film no matter what I say, enjoy the slim good moments when you can. If you are just looking for a good sci-fi film, avoid this movie and wait for J.J. Abram's re-boot of the Star Trek franchise in 2009. June 11, 2008

Star Trek Nemesis Collector's Edition

I had already seen this movie prior to buying it, but I would definitely watch it over and over again, and that is a requirement for me in order to purchase a DVD. Nice way to end it all off for the crew of the Enterprise, but alas the ending...It was nice to be able to see all the deleted scenes. All in all a great movie for fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation. June 7, 2008

Dissapointing, pointless

Oh my, I believe this must be the worst Star Trek movie, if you look closely, it is indeed. The worst is that it could have been very good with the Romulans, but they totally threw it away with a totally unbelievable story. All bad reviews here are in most points absolutely right, I will add the villain's motivation: why Shinzon must blow Earth to pieces? Why does he hate Picard? In all Star Trek movies all bad guys have a clear and straightforward (and even understandable) motivation, even Soran in Generations. And 80 years later, after Kirk destroyed a cloaked Bird of Prey which can fire, the Enterprise-E missed a lot of shots, what the heck?! No evolution in weapons technology in the 24th century? And the Romulans only send two war spaceships to blast Shinzon?! Even the best Star Trek movies have plot holes, but this one is the mother of them all, totally bombarded area! And the car chase...the commentary says it all: Brent Spiner thought a car chase would be great...come on! Would'nt the Enterprise give a call to the team and warn them about approching lifeforms with plenty of time, or even before they went down to the planet?? The B4 subplot is pointless, anyway.

I could go on and on (enough have been said about the Wrath of Kahn rehash). It's sad that the producers and writers did not have the intelligence to write a good story, a lot of good fans would had come with better stuff, lets give it a try: The Romulan Empire is seized by a new bloody sovereign (no Picard clone or funny looking aliens, please), the Enterprise and Riker (at last promoted to captain) in his ship, The Titan, are sent as an olive branch, even some Klingon ship could be involved, but is a trap and all hell breaks loose as they fight along with Romulan disidents to turn the bloody sovereign and his fleet to space dust. There you have it, much better Nemesis in one shot!

The good things are few: I liked the dark tone of the movie, the FX and some space action sequences, the Enterprise bridge blown away was cool, but they are not enough to redeem a poor script and heartless execution.

Trek fans who despise films as The Motion Picture, The Final Frontier or Generations, should look twice: at least these movies, with all their faults, have a sense of adventure of some people doing star treking, those stories are faithful to Science Fiction; I despised Insurrection, but at least it raises a moral dilema (albeit very ligthly), but Nemesis is just a pointless and unsuccesful exercise in Science Fiction, drama and cinema.

I'm very sorry for the cast, for around 15 years they entertained us well, they deserved a better farewell. Since First Contact Paramount failed to deliver and the whole franchise is endagered, lets hope the new Star Trek will make it up to the fans.
May 21, 2008

A Great Movie

I'm simply amazed at how many Star Trek fans abhor this movie! I guess I'm not enough of a Trekkie to understand the hatred, though I have been a fan since the 1970's.

I first saw this movie in the theater, and just recently watched it again on DVD. I loved the movie both times. Sure there are some "How can that possibly happen?" moments, but Star Trek has always required a suspension of disbelief in order to enjoy it; and I don't think the stretches of imagination are that big in this movie to be off-putting.

This movie is definitely one of the more action-oriented of the franchise, but the action (along with the special effects) is well done and is fun and often edge-of-the-seat suspenseful. There is also the cerebral aspect in the question of what makes a human a human, and how a human being's past experiences are what really make him what he is - more so than his genetic makeup. I think Data finally realizes in this movie that he is a true individual and possesses the same quality that makes a human a human, which was a great moment to me.

The main villain Shinzon is very well acted, and his blind anger that has been brewing though years of abuse and his intelligence make him an intimidating and formidable foe. Yet he still has that sense of dignity and formality that you can imagine has been instilled into the Picard family line for generations. I also really like how dark and secretive the Remans are portrayed - particularly by the Viceroy. You get just enough of a glimpse into their culture to make sense of Shinzon's past, but not enough to understand them completely. It leaves you intrigued about them, and hopefully we will see more of them in the future.

Overall, this is a great "Next Generation" movie though not quite up to the level of the outstanding "First Contact."

I also must say that the special features included with this movie are some of the best of all the "Collector's Editions" for the Star Trek movie series - very enjoyable to watch.
April 22, 2008

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