The movie seems to follow the same formula as the last three:
Start off with a quiet or light-hearted scene, involving the crew, send them off to meet the ConflictTM, establish the conflict, and any character arcs, and then wrap it up in an ultimate space battle.
You can pretty much see this as it unfolds. That isn't the worst crime in the world, and since I can guess that the action will be pretty good, the big question for me is whether what really makes a good Trek film-its HEART comes through.
Unfortunately, the answer for me is no.
As a movie, "ST Nemesis" ultimately fails because of its villain-Shinzon. Okay, so he's a clone of Picard. So what?
Cloning has been done loads of times, and the theme of a character experiencing doubt as he ponders how the existence of a doppelganger reflects upon him has been done before. We got this in the NextGen episode "Time Squared." We got it in the episode "Second Chances." We didn't need it again, and the way it's portrayed here, I don't buy it. In "Time Squared," Picard HAD to doubt himself, because the fact that apparently questionable actions on his part resulted in tragedy is something that already happened, albeit in the future. In "Second Chances," Riker has to accept the fact that his doppelganger is him, and was him, right up until eight years ago, and cannot take solace in the fact that they had separate lives and experiences prior to then. The tendency for Riker to ponder how this other Will Riker reflects upon him is inescapable. Here, we're supposed to believe that Shinzon's childish taunt to Picard-the insinuation that Picard somehow shares in the responsibility for things that Shinzon does-actually gives pause to Picard, and I don't buy it for a second. Picard should be smart enough to know that what Shinzon does has nothing to do with him, regardless of his genetics. Anyone with a cursory knowledge of genetics and personality dynamics should know that genetics alone do not determine character, and even if they did, Picard shouldn't be worrying at this stage in his life about whether atrocities committed by someone with the same DNA as him says anything about himself. Thankfully, the movie itself doesn't really embrace this character point wholeheartedly, and after some patented "ABC Afterschool Special"-esque "You can FIGHT it, Shinzon! You can CHOOSE your own destiny!" dialogue, the point is dropped.
This wouldn't be so bad if the movie at least gave him a solid motivation for wanting to attack Earth. This guy was conceived by the Romulans as a weapon, tossed aside when not wanted anymore and tortured by Romulan guards all his life, and his main beef is with the Federation? Why is this? Shouldn't his main problems be with Romulans? What does he care about Earth, or the Federation? His entire plan, if you want to call it that, seems like nothing more than a gigantic child's tantrum. If this kid grew up in Reman mines, where did he get educated? How did he amass an army?
More than anything, both this movie and the previous one give the impression that the creators are just going through the motions. Riker and Troi's wedding seems thrown in, not because the writers are really interested at this point in their relationship, but because the feeling seems to be that well, they might as well get married. It's as if the creators feel at this point that they can no longer rationalize having Riker remain a Commander, so they have to give him his own command. It's as if they feel that well, everyone wants to get him and Troi together, so let's do it now just in case there are no more movies. This is really a shame, because how Riker and Troi got to this point in their relationship might've been a truly interesting character issue to explore in the movie, and that this was abandoned in favor of some worn out clone revenge story demonstrates that creators do not feel that the best stories come from exploring some the regular characters' most familiar conflicts and interactions with one another, but with contrived cardboard villains.
Data's death? Well, there was nothing illogical about it, so I can't really fault it. It flowed logically from the story, but at the same time, though, I can't say I really care. I don't know if it's because I no longer empathize with the character, or because there's nothing to preclude his return in the next movie.
Perhaps Donatra beamed him off at the last second. Who cares?
As far as the action? It's great. Great space battle. Great explosions. The ramming sequence between the Enterprise and the Scimitar will no doubt be remembered as one of the best Trek action sequences, along with the Enterprise-D's saucer crash and the Borg battle from "ST First Contact." The production design and FX are great. Technobabble is at a minimum, except for one or two descriptions of the thelaron weapon. The occasional humorous bits were good, and not as forced as in "ST Insurrection." Despite the theme and characterization problems with the film, I didn't notice any huge fundamental plot holes. It was nice to see Wesley at Riker and Troi's wedding, and Guinan as well. I was also glad that Janeway's appearance was kept brief.
Start off with a quiet or light-hearted scene, involving the crew, send them off to meet the ConflictTM, establish the conflict, and any character arcs, and then wrap it up in an ultimate space battle.
You can pretty much see this as it unfolds. That isn't the worst crime in the world, and since I can guess that the action will be pretty good, the big question for me is whether what really makes a good Trek film-its HEART comes through.
Unfortunately, the answer for me is no.
As a movie, "ST Nemesis" ultimately fails because of its villain-Shinzon. Okay, so he's a clone of Picard. So what?
Cloning has been done loads of times, and the theme of a character experiencing doubt as he ponders how the existence of a doppelganger reflects upon him has been done before. We got this in the NextGen episode "Time Squared." We got it in the episode "Second Chances." We didn't need it again, and the way it's portrayed here, I don't buy it. In "Time Squared," Picard HAD to doubt himself, because the fact that apparently questionable actions on his part resulted in tragedy is something that already happened, albeit in the future. In "Second Chances," Riker has to accept the fact that his doppelganger is him, and was him, right up until eight years ago, and cannot take solace in the fact that they had separate lives and experiences prior to then. The tendency for Riker to ponder how this other Will Riker reflects upon him is inescapable. Here, we're supposed to believe that Shinzon's childish taunt to Picard-the insinuation that Picard somehow shares in the responsibility for things that Shinzon does-actually gives pause to Picard, and I don't buy it for a second. Picard should be smart enough to know that what Shinzon does has nothing to do with him, regardless of his genetics. Anyone with a cursory knowledge of genetics and personality dynamics should know that genetics alone do not determine character, and even if they did, Picard shouldn't be worrying at this stage in his life about whether atrocities committed by someone with the same DNA as him says anything about himself. Thankfully, the movie itself doesn't really embrace this character point wholeheartedly, and after some patented "ABC Afterschool Special"-esque "You can FIGHT it, Shinzon! You can CHOOSE your own destiny!" dialogue, the point is dropped.
This wouldn't be so bad if the movie at least gave him a solid motivation for wanting to attack Earth. This guy was conceived by the Romulans as a weapon, tossed aside when not wanted anymore and tortured by Romulan guards all his life, and his main beef is with the Federation? Why is this? Shouldn't his main problems be with Romulans? What does he care about Earth, or the Federation? His entire plan, if you want to call it that, seems like nothing more than a gigantic child's tantrum. If this kid grew up in Reman mines, where did he get educated? How did he amass an army?
More than anything, both this movie and the previous one give the impression that the creators are just going through the motions. Riker and Troi's wedding seems thrown in, not because the writers are really interested at this point in their relationship, but because the feeling seems to be that well, they might as well get married. It's as if the creators feel at this point that they can no longer rationalize having Riker remain a Commander, so they have to give him his own command. It's as if they feel that well, everyone wants to get him and Troi together, so let's do it now just in case there are no more movies. This is really a shame, because how Riker and Troi got to this point in their relationship might've been a truly interesting character issue to explore in the movie, and that this was abandoned in favor of some worn out clone revenge story demonstrates that creators do not feel that the best stories come from exploring some the regular characters' most familiar conflicts and interactions with one another, but with contrived cardboard villains.
Data's death? Well, there was nothing illogical about it, so I can't really fault it. It flowed logically from the story, but at the same time, though, I can't say I really care. I don't know if it's because I no longer empathize with the character, or because there's nothing to preclude his return in the next movie.
Perhaps Donatra beamed him off at the last second. Who cares?
As far as the action? It's great. Great space battle. Great explosions. The ramming sequence between the Enterprise and the Scimitar will no doubt be remembered as one of the best Trek action sequences, along with the Enterprise-D's saucer crash and the Borg battle from "ST First Contact." The production design and FX are great. Technobabble is at a minimum, except for one or two descriptions of the thelaron weapon. The occasional humorous bits were good, and not as forced as in "ST Insurrection." Despite the theme and characterization problems with the film, I didn't notice any huge fundamental plot holes. It was nice to see Wesley at Riker and Troi's wedding, and Guinan as well. I was also glad that Janeway's appearance was kept brief.