(Executive Decision, Star Trek: Nemesis, US Marshals)
Producer:
Rick Berman
Screenplay:
John Logan (based on story by John Logan, Rick Berman & Brent Spiner)
Music:
Jerry Goldsmith
Cast:
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Patrick Stewart
Commander Riker: Jonathan Frakes
Data: Brent Spiner
Geordi: Levar Burton
Worf: Michael Dorn
Dr. Beverly Crusher: Gates McFadden
Deanna Troi: Marina Sirtis
Shinzon: Tom Hardy
Viceroy: Ron Perlman
Senator Tal'aura: Shannon Cochran
Commander Donatra: Dina Meyer
Commander Suran: Jude Ciccolella
Praetor Hiren: Alan Dale
Senator: John Berg
Admiral Kathryn Janeway: Kate Mulgrew
Wesley Crusher: Wil Wheaton
Guinan: Whoopi Goldberg
Starfleet Bridge Officer: Bryan Singer
Shinzon, the new bad guy
Star Trek: Nemesis
is the tenth - and planned to be the final - film in the Star Trek
saga, but who knows how the money machine will play out in future?
In this movie, it's time for the Romulans and Remans to forget about their
worries and their strife and call a truce. Alas, something's afoot since
within four minutes the entire Romulan senate, including Praetor Hiren
(an even more wooden Alan Dale than he is as Vice President Prescott
in
'24'),
are dead and someone's to blame.
That someone is Nemesis' chief bad guy and baldy-bonce Shinzon
(Tom Hardy). Why is he bald? Why does he look like Picard (Patrick Stewart) so much?
Just think of Dolly the Sheep...
Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Troi (Marina Sirtis) have taken
things one step further and got married, but there's not much time for a
happy honeymoon as someone or something's screwing with her mind, there's
the appearance of Thalaron radiation - something so dangerous it could kill
all of the Enterprise crew within seconds and when Picard, Worf and Data
find a duplicate Data head on a far away planet, you just know that one's
going to turn out to be bad news.
For this final edition there's nothing complex or any sidetracking subplots,
just a one-track story that doesn't deviate. There's nothing wrong with that
as overall it makes for an entertaining two-hour romp with all the panache
of a camp melodrama and any film in the series, even the fifth one, absolutely
dumps over
Star Trek: Insurrection
from a great height.
However, you must prepare for the screen death of a major character - and I'm
not talking about the uncredited cameo of
X-Men
and
Usual Suspects
director Bryan Singer as a Starfleet bridge officer.
You lookin' at me?
Click on the image for info on
the 10-Movie DVD Box Set
I have no complaints with the sound or picture. The image is in the correct
2.35:1 widescreen ratio, is anamorphic and looks stunning in the few
brightly-lit scenes and space fights, while insides are a little soft.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 sound resonates round the speakers when required, while
the Enterprise hums quietly during the quiet bits.
All of the featurettes are in 4:3 fullscreen, although contain 2.35:1 letterboxed
film clips and interviews shot in 16:9 letterbox, so why not make the whole
thing anamorphic widescreen? The extras are as follows:
New Frontiers: Stuart Baird on Directing "Nemesis" (9 mins):
For a man who's only directed a handful of films, he's edited on many more
including 2005's forthcoming Die Hard 4: Die Hardest, and here he
explains how he got what he wanted out of the cast and crew in a frank manner,
but it's all too brief a featurette.
A Bold Vision of the Final Frontier (10 mins):
From storyboards to screen, plus that final moment I can't reveal, as it's a
spoiler!
A Star Trek Family's Final Journey (16 mins):
Chat from the cast and crew and the point of view of the screenwriter
John Logan.
Red Alert! Shooting the Action of "Nemesis" (10 mins):
A brief low-down on the action sequences.
Deleted Scenes (20 mins):
Seven of them in letterbox 2.35:1, with an introduction from producer Rick
Berman and various other cast/crew. These are some of the 45 minutes that
was excised to leave the final cut running at 112 minutes. It's easy to see
why most of them were left out, but they do make for interesting viewing
as supplemental material. I'd have left in the lift scene and the one with
Picard's new chair.
Photo Gallery:
40 pictures.
Director's Commentary:
Does exactly what it says on the tin.
There are 24 chapters to the film, subtitles are in English for the hard of
hearing, Dutch, German, Hungarian, Polish and Turkish. The menus are green like
the colour of the box and fit in with the theme of the piece but sub-menus
mostly copy each other.
Finally a message must go to the luxurious packaging, with the standard DVD
case inside a cardboard outer box, and inside it all an envelope containing
details about the forthcoming 4-disc Indiana Jones Trilogy DVD boxset.
Oh, I so hope they allow the second film to be uncut this time, but I somehow
doubt it.
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
