Nemesis is no exception but, thankfully, there’s also a bit more
to it than that and, if nothing else, at least it’s better than
Insurrection.
The plot is decent, if ultimately under-developed, involving a clone of Picard,
old foes the Romulans, and various plans to do bad things to lots of people.
I’ve just realised that I’ve been blabbing on for 200 words about films,
programmes and characters which some of you will have never encountered.
That’s another slight weakness of Nemesis – if you’re not Trek minded,
you’re going to be lost. Worse still, you’re going to miss out on the emotional
pay offs and much of the humour because, along the way, we have a wedding, a
few in-jokes and the death of a major character to digest.
Chances are though, that most of the audience will have some level of familiarity
with the Trek universe, and they’ll find much to enjoy here. The action
sequences are big and bold and the special effects, now that we’re in the
digital age, are probably the best of any of the Star Trek films. The look of
the film is very good too, all dark greens and shadows, and the music score is
well used.
All this counts for nothing though if we don’t have characters to root for and
believe in and this is where the Next Gen crew has always delivered. While all
seven principals can’t hope to receive equal screen time (indeed, Geordi and
Dr. Crusher barely register) when they do appear we’re genuinely interested in
their fates, and this is down to the depth of the characters and the skills of
the players.
Spiner, while starting to look a little old for his android make up,
has fun with a dual role. Riker and Worf do some ass kicking and Troi gets to
fly the ship. The biggest plus, as it always has been throughout the series,
is Patrick Stewart. He is an actor of inestimable talent, able to rise
above the sometimes hokey material, and sci-fi fans should be grateful that
he’s given us fifteen good years.
More minus points? There are a couple of plot threads that are introduced then
abandoned that could have been quite interesting and the Romulans are under-used.
When the for and against columns are totted up, we’re left with a solid if not
classic entry that may well be the last with this crew. If there is to be
another one I won’t complain and it would be nice to see them go out with a
bang.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
