Star Trekking - Redux

13. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

12. Star Trek: Insurrection

A lot of people would say they hate Star Trek: Nemesis.  Me, on the other hand...well, I don't hate it, but it still isn't good.  The first half of Nemesis I found sort of surprisingly engaging for the most part, especially once the reveal of Shinzon occurs. It leads to a scene/conversation between him and Picard where Shinzon relays his life story up to that point. And while said conversation is more than a little on-the-nose about the whole "nature vs. nurture" theme at the center of it all, it still proves to be a fairly interesting scene.  Tom Hardy is also solid as Shinzon.  Where Nemesis stumbles is...well, pretty much everywhere else. There are clear parallels to draw between this plot and Wrath of Khan's, but Nemesis quite frankly lacks the impact of that film. Once Shinzon (surprise, surprise) reveals that he doesn't really want peace and is just another villain, the movie just loses any intrigue it may have started out with. The second half of the movie devolves into mostly a series of action sequences, particularly an extended battle between Shinzon's and Picard's ships that starts out pretty cool, but just gets monotonous because it feels like it goes on forever. It all ultimately leads up to an ending that sees Data sacrifice himself in order to save everyone else -- not unlike the ending of Wrath of Khan -- but the impact feels lost here.

What it all boils down to is that Star Trek: Nemesis is a lackluster and disappointing entry in the series, made even more so by the fact that it ended up being the unintended finale to The Next Generation era. I honestly don't hate it, but it's not hard to look at it and see the problems so many others have with it.

13. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

12. Star Trek: Insurrection

11. Star Trek: Nemesis

Okay, so I fully acknowledge that Star Trek: Generations most likely works better if you've seen the Next Generation TV show.  In fact, this movie's pretty much dependent on that.  But that's sort of the problem.  And I wasn't going to take the time to watch seven seasons of a TV show in the middle of marathoning a movie series when just the movies are what I signed up for.  The first 20 minutes were the best part for me.  That part functions as a thrilling mini-movie of sorts with members of the original crew that culminates in Captain Kirk's apparent death.  If only that had stuck, cause the rest of the movie went downhill for me from there.  Watching Generations was like coming into a new class a couple of weeks before the final exam.  There's so much that was lost on me in terms of who the characters were and where they were currently in their lives that none of it had any impact on me.  Despite that, the actors still engaged me with their performances.  Also, the villain's plot was interesting.  But Generations is ultimately hindered by its dependence on having to see the entire TV series it comes from.  It gives this movie a limp from the word go, and I just thought they could've done a better job of initiating the unfamiliar, like what they did with The Motion Picture in '79.  But alas, it wasn't so, Number One.