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Director: Stuart Baird
Release Date: December 13th, 2002
Rating: PG-13 (for sci-fi action violence and peril and a scene of sexual content)
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If you're like me, then you loved Star Trek the Next Generation and watched it regularly. You also thought that Deep Space Nine was fairly decent, but wasn't quite as good as its predecessor. After that, you lost most interest in the three different series that have since come and gone. In fact, you have trouble remembering their names.
 Word of a new Next Generation movie grabbed my attention, but did not peak my interest since the last one wasn't all that hot. But as more details of the movie were revealed in the trailers, I became more and more intrigued. It was going to be the "final journey", which I think I've heard before, but the plot sounded great.
On their way to a nude honeymoon on some remote planet, the Start Trek crew is taken off course by several random distractions and ultimately end up in the heart of Romulan territory to negotiate a truce on behalf of the Federation. There, they meet the new leader of the Romulans, Praetor Shinzon, who just happens to be an exact clone of Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Shinzon is much younger and a helluva lot meaner than Picard.
Praetor Shinzon is played by Tom Hardy who steals the show in this movie. Hardy gives us a look at a younger Picard who had lived an entirely different life. The filmmakers push this cloned scenario to make the viewer think about the age-old question of "Do circumstances make the person?", giving the viewers some food for thought.
The acting, story, and characters are all done with that Next Generation quality one can expect. Some memorable moments include the Enterprise crashing into another ship out of desperation and Data jumping from one ship to another in the middle of space. The situations are all very drastic causing the characters to give their all in the midst of annihilation and the big screen budget allows for some impressive special effects.
The problem is that this movie is supposed to be the "final journey", yet it was just like any other journey - thought-provoking, interesting, and full of cool effects. Next Generation has set the bar up so high for itself that it has a lot to live up to if it wishes to go "over the top". Keep in mind that most Science Fiction movies don't even come close to this bar, but the key element that was missing was a bigger bang for the buck.
If you're going to have a grand finale for the most popular Star Trek crew, you need to throw in some more drastic and extreme situations. Sure, Shinzon had a ship that could destroy a planet with a single shot, but that never happened. Sure, one of the crew members actually died, but only the crew members themselves were ever in direct danger. The creators must have believed the "thought provoking" story would of had a much bigger impact than it did.
All in all, the movie was fantastic, living up to the previous Start Trek movies before it, but it was a weak ending for the Next Generation crew.
Related Links:
Star Trek: Nemesis Official Site |
