Rating of
0.5/4
3rd Worst Star Trek Film (Which means it's bad)
Drive-In Massacre - wrote on 12/22/09
After seeing Star Trek: Insurrection, I was certain that the next film could not possibly be worse, but with a series like this, I guess you never can tell. It tries very hard to be a major, epic finale for the Next Generation crew, but fails much more than it succeeds. The whole experience is kind of upsetting because you can tell how much effort the special effects crew and actors put in to make this a good film. It just doesn't end up being that way.
By the time I had gotten to this movie I had figured out that, yes, the odd numbered movies in the series are usually substantially worse than the even numbered ones. I think it's safe to say that everyone behind Nemesis was well aware of that too; which leads me to believe the writers and directors simply didn't try. It is without a doubt one of the most massive films in the series. You can see the that this movie costs money in pretty much every shot. The premise is completely ridiculous; it involves a clone of Cpt. Picard who was raised by inhabitants of a planet nobody, not even hardcore Trekkies, really know about! So in the mind of the film makers, the big budget and stupid script would end being a good addition to the series, simply because the even numbered movies have always been better. A statement I actually agree with, well of coarse, up until this one. Another problem this movie has is it's cinematography. Don't get me wrong, I love dense atmosphere and color, but, holy shit! The movie poster its self looks like an X-Box cover, in fact, the movie almost entirely consists of dark green and black, which is a nice look, but after it's smeared on for almost 2 hours you want to puke. Even with those flaws the actors try there best, but one performance really got to me. Praetor Shinzon (the Picard Clone) who is played by actor Tom Hardy who is...is... Just...God! Oh my God! You know what? I don't know, maybe it was just the ridiculousness of the character that added to it, but Hardy is just terrible. He doesn't, for one second, make you believe he is even Patrick Stewart's nephew in-law, let alone his clone. He is so forced and so dramatic and comes off more like a final boss in a sci-fi video game cutscene.
It's still very hard to find positives in the lower part of the list, but anyway...I think this is film is the only writing credit ever given to Brent Spiner, the actor who plays the character of the android named Data, so needless to say, there is some interesting scenes that have to do with his character, which is always good because Data ended up being my favorite character in the series. Also, the first 10 minutes or so of the film is a wedding scene and the characters seem pretty well-placed and there are some interesting comradely and dialogue throughout, so it makes you hopeful for at least a mediocre film, but that hope dies soon after. Other than that, the special effects, although laid on VERY thick at times, are creative and nice to look at.
