Star Trek : Nemesis (Movie)

Karen and I went to see the latest Star Trek movie last weekend - Star Trek Nemesis and I must say I was a little disappointed with it. It wasn’t really a bad movie, it just wasn’t a very good movie. I have been reading interviews with cast members and other production staff for over a year and everyone of them gave it glowing reviews. The hype was that it was the best Star Trek movie ever, and that it was built on a solid story with lots of action and drama. I really got sucked into the hype and went to the theater expecting something spectacular. Unfortunately, it was anything but.

Don’t get me wrong, the story was OK, but much of it had been recycled from “Star Trek - The Wrath of Kahn” and other assorted episodes. And as advertised, there were a lot of action sequences but most of them seemed poorly choreographed and because of this were much less suspenseful then they should have been. It also didn’t help that the peek sequences in the action had been used as part of the commercials for the movie so I knew what was going to happen before it actually occurred. A great way to kill the suspense.

The movie also dragged somewhat in the beginning and could have been helped out by a little bit of judicious editing.

Patrick Stewart looked to me to be tired during the whole film. He has aged quite a bit since the last film four years ago and that might be part of it, but he also just seemed to lack the energy and drive that he has exhibited in other Star Trek outings. I got the feeling that this was nothing more then a big paycheck for him.
Tom Hardy, who played the villain Praetor Shinzon did an excellent job with the part. He was quite believable and evil and will go down in history as one of the better villains in the Star Trek universe. The only problem was that we were expected to believe that he was an exact clone of Jean Luc Picard, and with the exception of being bald did not look much like him at all. The script tried to cover for this by pointing out that he had lived a much harder life, being beaten and such while growing up, but it just seemed like a pathetic attempt to rationalize the difference in looks. I thought it was an insult to the audience to attempt to convince them that a few beatings could change the appearance of the clone as much as was presented. They would have been much better off just not mentioning it and leaving it to our imaginations why the differences existed.

If you’re a Star Trek fan, the film is worth seeing. Just think of it as a Star Trek movie of the week and you won’t be too disappointed with it. If you’re not a Star Trek fan don’t bother with it, or you’ll just come away thinking that the of us are a bunch of whack jobs for being so into the show. If you’ve never ever seen a Star Trek movie (I can’t believe such people even exist) and want to see it at it’s best, go to the local video store and rent Star Trek - First Contact. You won’t be disappointed.

4 out of 10 Stars

Posted by Al on 01/11/10 at 06:21 PM in Movies