Star Trek - La nemesi

It has always been easy to level criticism at Star Trek films, for either being too slow, to action-packed, too Trekkie, not Trekkie enough, or whatever. The fact of the matter is, is that none of them are classics, except for the people who know and love the characters in them: namely, Trekkies.

It has been said that Stuart Baird was brought on board to try and open up Trek to a wider audience, but that simply insults the viewers Trek already has. Voyager tried, and failed, and Enterprise is rapidly going the same route.

The better Trek films are those that revolve around the character-dynamics, and seeing those people work as a team. In those films, such as Wrath of Khan, The Undiscovered Country, or First Contact, the comradeship of the protagonists is evident.

Not so in Nemesis, which is ironic, especially considering the entire film is purportedly about such relationships. None of the characters have been drastically altered, as many might suggest, but there is very little interaction between them, there's no moment where the viewer would think "only Picard/Data/whoever" would get them out of this situation. It's all a bit [for lack of a better word] bleh. There's no adventure, something that has been missing from Trek since First Contact.

Shinzon is a powerful character, a wonderful character, but sorely underused. It's almost as if he's never really serious about what he's doing, and as such, never seems to pose much of a threat. This is emphasized through the cliched dramatic countdown timer sequence (used excessively in Trek, but here lacks substance, especially since it is entirely and utterly pointless).

Nemesis starts off well, full of hope and joy, and the prospect of Troi and Riker's wedding, and the viewer too, is led into a false sense of hope at the prospect of the film. But Stuart Baird lets us down harshly. He was the wrong director for the job: the script (if you listen to the dialogue, watch the cut scenes, etc) is not an action script, but a character-driven one, with a few action elements.

Baird has turned that on its head, and produced an action film, with very little character involvement.

As a plus point, it must be noted that Goldsmith has outdone himself - the music (although in parts evidently synthesized rather than orchestrated) is a delight. Buy the CD, and forget the film.

6 out of 10

If the rumors are to be believed, then approximately fifty minutes of footage for Star Trek: Nemesis are lying somewhere in Paramount's vault. While the movie itself is technically well-edited with a slick Hollywood gloss, this might explain why everyone but Picard and Data are left short-handed with minimal screen time and dialogue. Hopefully, the missing footage will find its way to the DVD release, where we can get the final tribute the crew of The Next Generation deserves.

As a story for a final adventure, Nemesis isn't quite the epic one may hope for. The plot mostly focuses on the parallels between Picard and the new Romulan leader, a human named Shinzon (Tom Hardy), who claims to desire peace between the Romulans and the Federation. He also has a special bond to Picard, which I won't give away, suffice to say Data also gets to experience something similar throughout the film. Essentially, the plot isn't particularly interesting and it works primarily as a set-up for the climactic space battle, definitely the movie's highlight.

Before then, the only setpieces worthy of interest are a gratuitous but enjoyable car chase (!) on a desert planet that resolves in a grin-inducing fashion, and a fast-paced shootout on board Shinzon's warship, the Scimitar, which also resolves in a pretty cool manner. That's all the action we get in the first 80 or so minutes, meaning there's a lot of talky scenes that go nowhere and clumsily insert the good ol' "Nature vs. Nurture" debate to no avail. Outside of the action, what makes the first 3/4's of the movie watchable are the excellent special effects and the crew's camaraderie. Acting wise, we get excellent performances from Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner (by the way, is it just me or does Stewart look even more physically fit than ever? Old age is doing little to bring him down)

Clearly, the final space battle is what we've been waiting for, and after 10 movies and 23 years, we get what is easily the most elaborate action sequence of the entire Trek franchise. The segment runs just short of a half-hour and features the Enterprise going toe-to-toe with the Scimitar, and to keep the concept of one starship battling another from getting boring (because let's face it, that gets old in a matter of minutes), director Stuart Baird throws in a few more ships, some more phaser fights from boarding enemy parties (which prove to be the most exciting parts of the movie), fisticuffs, and even a self-destruct sequence that could prove fatal for everyone. It's a doozy of an action scene, even if it is slightly marred by Troi's psychic link and tiresome reports of collapsing shields. This is the sequence that makes the movie worth watching to sci-fi action fans.

Personally, I would have preferred had Baird just spaced the action out more evenly (a la First Contact), rather than stuffing it all in the conclusion, since the plot itself is hard to hold interest on its own. Still, from the space battle alone, this is more action-packed than any of the original crew's films and comes out just ahead of First Contact in terms of quantity, if not in quality. The finale also features the death of a beloved character, which isn't executed quite as properly as it should have, but is touching on its own. Once again, I'm hoping the director's cut will fix that up. Until then, this is just satisfying enough to those who thirst for outerspace action.

Star Trek: Nemesis is a good movie with a pretty decent storyline that kind of gets to the point too quickly but is fun and action packed,unlike Insurrection,that is very slow paced,and I thought Nemesis was much better.The cast are still as strong as ever,just like every other Star Trek,but I found it disappointing for the fact that it was the Next Generation crew's final adventure,it didn't really go out with a pleasing ending like the Undiscovered Country did with the original crew,and it sort of ended like there was going to be more,but there never will be.A lot of be wouldn't agree with me when I call it enjoyable,a lot of fans really hated this,I didn't really see why,I thought the set up and especially the villain was very good,it isn't the best Star Trek,but it's certainly not the worst.Fans will definitely be disappointed by Nemesis and will feel like you didn't get to properly say goodbye to the crew,but its still a fun and action packed Star Trek adventure.

The crew is sent to the planet of the Romulus as they want to declare peace,little does the crew know it is a trick to take over the planet Earth.

Now there has been great debate raging about this particular movie. It's hard to have perspective when there is no measure, so with that said I can say safely without a shadow of doubt in my mind that Star Trek II: Wrath of Kahn is the greatest of the Star Trek Movies ever made, period. There has never been a movie prior or post this movie that has engaged, excited or enthralled a Treker. If you want to know why exactly, read my review on it.

Now during this era of Star Trek movies they never muddled with the plot killer dimension, time, except one, Star Trek IV: Return Home. All of the other movies where, how would 'Q' put it, linear. Honestly, anything that has a plot where someone goes back into time and tries to change it or prevents its change, well lets say, it kills the plot by putting a plot hole the size of a…black hole.

I was never a real fan of the time travel as a script concept simply because if it was possible at all, everybody and anybody would eventually try to go back in time and change things to a more favorable outcome for themselves. Basically if you were able to go back in time, wouldn't you pick the winning lottery ticket numbers? So if you can do that why can't I? The next thing you know, you've got a million winning tickets. Star Trek: Nemesis, gets one gold star for having a plot that does not change time on a clock.

In fact it's pretty good. There are flaws and incongruities especially in regards to the Generations episodes and there is no justification for some of the oversights, but the movie shines where it should. A real attempt was made to develop the villains character Shinzon of Remus, Picard's clone. He isn't just a villain, he is a Picard, an alternate version.

So what's new? Picard embodies the perfect Starfleet officer. But take that uniform off and replace it with tattered clothes and remove that individual form his starship and place him in the deep recesses of a sunless world mined by slaves, tortured by Romulans and …you get the picture.

What I think people missed in this movie was the big question, are Picard and the clone so different. Shinzon even asks Picard that in the movie. Could Picard have changed or convinced the clone had he had more time? Could the original Picard in a similar situation become evil? Either way, it is the human element and conflict within each of the Picard's and is what will intrigue an audience and is what I especially liked about this movie.

The special effects are good and really enhance a situation not nearly explored enough in Star Trek, the tactics of starship combat. This and only a few other instances has there been such an emphasis on strategy and tactics in starship combat.

Jean-Luc Picard ( Patrick Stewart) and his clone Shinzon of Remus (Tom Hardy) are both at the top of their game and fluently exercise their Shakespearean acting talents. Especially Hardy, who convinces us that he is Picard's clone, and then convinces us he's nothing like Picard. The Enterprise crew is at their best and Stuart Baird's direction gave Nemesis a movie like feeling rather than TV mini-movie feeling.

In closing, who wants to be an ensign when you can be a captain? In the end Trekers have to realize that Star Trek and its stories are about its captain. It is the captain who gets to say those cool lines like: 'Energize', and 'Fire', 'Divert Warp Power' 'Meet me in my ready room' and Picard's trademark lines 'Make it so!'.

A must see for Sci-Fi buffs and open-minded Trekers.

I loved it.

I used to be a real Trekky several years ago, but kind of grew out of it. This was the kind of Star Trek film I had been waiting to see. Much more involving than Insurrection and an intriguing story that I thought just got better as the film went on.

Brent Spiner did a masterful job with his two roles.

The special effects were like nothing I had ever seen from Star Trek before. They were brilliantly created and went beyond the typical Star Trek style effects which added extra depth to the film.

I have been told that many pure Star Trek fans did not like this film. And I agree that it seemed rather 'un-Star Trek' in many ways. But I think it was these un-Star Trek elements that really boosted this film.

It comes in at number 2 of my favorite Star Trek films. Second only to Wrath of Khan. Or perhaps a draw.