| Overall Grade: |
D+ |
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| Story: |
D+ |
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| Acting: |
C |
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| Direction: |
C- |
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| Visuals: |
C+ |
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the end of an era
by Michael M (movies profile)
Jun 20, 2008
21
of
31 people found this review helpful
There was a time when Star Trek featured both cutting-edge special effects and tantalizing, well-written plots that pushed the boundaries of philosophy and imagination. But that age has come and gone, and Nemesis is so bad it hurts. To begin with, Patrick Stewart--a great actor--playing Jean Luc Picard (a great character) are ruined by simply awful writing. Stewart is a Shakespearean master, but he can't save a role that was written so thin it's almost transparent. Sadly enough, other characters are worse. Deanna Troi and Will Riker are almost as unconvincing as their romance (with its creepy love scene), and Riker's about as dashing as a grapefruit. The rest of the movie is more of the same. B4 is an absurd and unconvincing addition to a movie that makes no sense, in which the 24th century crew of a starship apparently sings Irving Berlin tunes and drives around on strange planets in dune buggies (yes, you read that right; there's a dune buggy in Star Trek). And let's not forget the dorky-looking sunglasses. And then, of course, there are the battles. For some reason, Picard--supposedly a brilliant starship captain--figures that ramming the crippled Enterprise into another ship that has full shields and is virtually undamaged, will work. And in this movie, it does. Then again, this is also a movie where extras die left 'n' right (shot, sucked out into space, etc.) while Riker ends of fist-fighting some guy, knocking him over the railing into a bottomless pit, etc. You'll also notice in this movie that for some reason, every time a bad guy charges a good guy from behind, he doesn't shoot or stab him--he just tries to kick or yell at him or something instead. This movie lacks the depth of its predecessors, relying on bad humor and the usual action-movie cliches instead. The only bright point, in fact, is Shinzon's character, who is menacing and easily eclipses Stewart (who oscillates between bad one-liners and brooding over his misbehaving clone). Some highlights... The Enterprise--knowing they're being chased by a ship they can't detact--carelessly flies through a gas cloud that prevents them from communicating with the rest of the fleet (which consists, apparently, of only four or five ships). Then there's the "menacing" eye contact between Riker and the leader of the Remans, even though the Reman is apparently unarmed, doesn't have a clear plan for what he's actually doing on the Enterprise, and only punches Riker when he could easily have killed him. Ah, but the best moment is when--in a scene reminiscent of Arnold Schwarzenegger in "Commando"--Picard kills the bad guy by ripping a sharp pipe off the wall and holding it outward, letting him impale himself. If that's not the dumbest death scene I've seen this year, I don't know what is. |
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