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Star Trek: Nemesis
Star Trek: Nemesis

A movie directed by Stuart Baird

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To boldly go down the tubes

  • Jun 23, 2009
Rating:
+2
It was a good five years in between Star Trek movies.  Insurrection was out in late 98 and Nemesis was out in 2002.  With that time off you could swear some creative juices would be flowing to make the long awaited new Star Trek film a success right?.....They do not.

The last of the movies with the Next Gen cast has a story written by a long time Trek fan but directed by a newcomer in hopes that the "new" energy that Harve Bennet and Nicholas Meyer brought to Star Trek would help it out here.....It does not.

The story does have the smarts to use the long time Trek villains, the Romulans and it's only once mentioned counterparts the Remans as villains.  The story has a political shakeup in Romulan government with a mysterious new leader taking charge and wanting to talk peace for the first time in years with the Federation.  Captain Picard and the Enterprise is sent as diplomatic hosts to uncover if the intenions are genuine....They are not.  The new leader is actually a sick young man who is going to use a poserful radiation weapon to kill all of Earth's inhabitants and Picard needs to get home quickly to warn the Federation.

The movie has it's pistons firing with the right touches of humor that Trek always has had, but sadly the stupid Data comedy is present (here he trys to be cool and sings.)  It's thankfully short. 

I always like it when we see new kinds of technology in Star Trek, especially equipment and we see the ARGO and offroad vehicle that Picard uses to get around on a planet, it is of course used in Trek's first car chase.  One might wonder why a glorified buggy would be needed when we see so many kinds of shuttles and spaceships flying around?  Cheaper to build perhaps?  A flip side to this is that we are left with the same regular phaser/torpedo devices for our action scenes.  The Enterprise crew members must not even play they're own PC games to learn what other methods of destruction there are in their universe.  A particuallarily stupid touch is Enterprises corridors which flip open to reveal weapons.  What happened to First Contact's armory?  Flip out corridors is better suited for Batman.

The final action scene is a nice big blast where we finally see the Enterprise let loose some real firepower against the big bad Romulan ship.  A scene where Picard tries to ram the enemy ship is novel but why doesn't Picard go even further and try and BOARD the ship after he broke into it's hull?  At that point in the battle his ship has exhasted it's weapons so why not try to take over the enemy vessel?

The movie's cast is as always in place with the Picard and Data relationship that really comes to mean more here as they talk about similar situations in their existance concerning the movie.  I like the two of them but you really wish more of the cast got something else to do other then say the same lines they've always said.  Speaking of wastes, how do you waste Ron Perlman in a throwaway role as the villians heavy?  They could have gotten anyone to do this and went with a huge character actor for is ultimately a nothing part.  Speaking of this guy, he's partially empathic and uses his powers to "mind attack" Troi while shes in bed with Riker.  As good as it sounds, which is to say not. 

Ever wonder why so many DVD's come out with deleted scenes nowadays with alternate endings and so forth?  It's cause to cut down on time constraints and cram more showings at the theater and other reasons because the movies get the test screening crap shown out of them and need to change things.  The DVD has SEVERAL minutes of added scenes that could have really helped the story along and amplify certain themes more.  With the extra scenes we find out that now most all of the crew is moving on after this mission and the family is breaking up.  Talk about a movie that needed an extended cut.  On top of that, we finally see a seatbelt in Star Trek in these missing scenes.

The villian is arguabbly the best of the Next Gen movie villians.  When you look at the other three, you had two vain villians and one Picard hardly interacts with.  This villian is a personal foe of Picard's for reasons I will not spoil here and ranks up with Khan as one of the best series villians.

Admitedly this one got better the second time I saw it and there are people out there who swear it's as good as any of the other "even numbered" Trek films.  If it is, it's right at the bottom with The Search For Spock (3) right underneath it.  I don't know if I was expecting too much and didn't get it or maybe I'm right and that the movie really missed many of it's marks.  Whatever the case may be, the Next Gen cast never came back and the next film was 7 years later and focussed on the original cast of characters.  The real Nemesis here might have been boredom.
Picard vs Shinzon The Enterprise opens fire Data The Romulan Senate The Enterprise Crew Picard having fun in the ARGO

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July 26, 2009
Good review, though I might have graded it higher due to the B4 and Data storylines and the whole family/father/son thing going on. Smashing the Enterprise again was a bit much -- I prefer a better star battle. Is your review at all including the deleted scenes? I may get the DVD now.
July 26, 2009
I mentioned the deleted scenes a little bit. If many of them were put back in, it would have made the movie better. thank you.
July 26, 2009
Perhaps. I'll have to pick this up.
 
June 24, 2009
Nice review John! Again, while I think that First Contact was the best  TNG film, I do feel as if Nemesis was underated.  I really enjoyed that you touched on the issues of technology in the film, good work!
 
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More Star Trek: Nemesis reviews
review by . August 26, 2010
posted in Where No Website Has Gone Before
If one is good, two must be better. That must be the philosophy driving the 10th installment in the big-screen Star Trek franchise. Nemesis doubles its pleasure by cloning two characters and borrowing heavily from earlier films in the series -- but that doesn't necessarily make the end product twice as good. The movie reunites all of the major characters from The Next Generation for a film Hollywood sources say will be the last in the series. I hope the rumors prove false, because Nemesis …
review by . December 07, 2009
posted in Movie Hype
A Fitting Send Off for the Next Generation Crew
Star Trek Nemesis isn’t new by any means… In fact I vaguely recall checking it out back in 2003 when it first arrived on DVD and though it did nothing to offend, the prose hadn’t really stuck out in memory either.  As such I recently added the DVD to my collection in effort to complete my tour of the Star Trek motion pictures.  It has the distinction of being the tenth major motion picture of the Star Trek franchise despite the fact that Roman Numerals in the titles …
Quick Tip by . July 12, 2010
posted in Movie Hype
This is one of my favorite of the Star Trek series. It is interesting to see a Picard raised by Romulans.
review by . October 06, 2009
Nemesis Blu-ray box art
There has been a lot of bad mouthing over the years as to how the TNG crew went out in the final Berman-Era Trek film, with the loss of Data as well as having too much action.  I say, what's not to like?  Nemesis was full of everything that Star Trek had over the years; story, action and a half decent plot.  If anything killed this movie, it was B4.  Fans probably would have been fine with a final conflict with the Romulan Empire, which somehow would end on a good note.  Instead, …
Quick Tip by . May 13, 2010
posted in Where No Website Has Gone Before
Sad finale for the Next Gen crew in a dark and violent showdown with a shadowy enemy. High on action and low on common sense and plotting.
review by . December 06, 2009
posted in Movie Hype
Star Trek Nemesis isn't new by any means... In fact I vaguely recall checking it out back in 2003 when it first arrived on DVD and though it did nothing to offend, the prose hadn't really stuck out in memory either. As such I recently added the DVD to my collection in effort to complete my tour of the Star Trek motion pictures. It has the distinction of being the tenth major motion picture of the Star Trek franchise despite the fact that Roman Numerals in the titles used to identify the films fell …
Quick Tip by . October 06, 2009
Last Voyage of the Next Generation crew where they battle a creepy Romulan foe. Not bad but Picard and company deserved a better swan song.
review by . December 11, 2002
posted in Movie Hype
Pros: Patrick Stewart and the great TNG Cast     Cons: Numerous Plot Holes, dull pacing, and nothing new.     The Bottom Line: Nothing new here, and a bad send off for 15 years of great work by the TNG cast.        Star Trek Nemisis Review            In what is being billed as a "Generations Final Journey" The cast and crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC 1701-E warp onto the big screen this …
see all Star Trek: Nemesis reviews (9)
About the reviewer
John Nelson ()
Ranked #9
Born in Wausau Wisconsin. Move at an early age to Ventura California and lived for 8 years. Growing up in a big city landscape didn't prepare me for my next move: Archbold Ohio with a population of … more
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About this movie

Wiki

 In STAR TREK: NEMESIS, based on the STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION television series, the USS Enterprise is gearing up for a challenging mission. While responding to a call from the Romulan neutral zone, the crew comes across a signal on the nearby planet Remus. It turns out to be Data's (Brent Spiner) less advanced brother, B-4 (also played by Spiner). Soon thereafter, Picard is confronted by Shinzon (Tom Hardy), who makes an offer of peace on behalf of the Romulans. As Starfleet enters into negotiations, they realize this treaty may have a twist. Shinzon presents himself as a clone of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), and as a simultaneous friend and foe. Though the baby faced Shinzon wears an intimidating shiny black metallic suit of armor, and spits his words through a nasty sneer, he is clearly no match for Picard. Meanwhile Data has a nifty side project debugging his clone, whose intentions are not as innocent as they may seem. As tension mounts between the crew of the Starship Enterprise ...
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Details

Director: Stuart Baird
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Release Date: December 13, 2002
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Screen Writer: Brent Spiner
Runtime: 1hr 57min
Studio: Paramount Pictures
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