Hey folks, Harry here - A few weeks ago Paramount had a super-security screening of STAR TREK NEMESIS on the Lot and I heard from a couple of folks there that the movie was dreadful. Just as bad as bad could be, but neither one of them cared to write a review about the film, however now we've got our first full on review of STAR TREK NEMESIS. It is far more even-handed than the my early conversations with a pair of folks a couple of weeks back. Chuckamuck sought out what was good as well as what was bad in the film. It seems that there is a good deal of both. Apparently the action is thrilling, but emotionally vacant. The film felt blocky and ... well, I'll let Chuckamuck tell ya how it went. This sounds like a very fair review...
Harry--
Just returned from the AMC 25 in New York City where the Next Generation crew's latest (and last?) adventure was screened for various press and media types on Saturday night....
Longtime "Trek" fan here, and I was excited when John Logan and Stuart Baird were brought in from the outside to bring some fresh energy to the franchise. I've been generally underwhelmed by the Next Generation crew's previous film outings and feel that each of the previous installments has played more like an extended episode of the series rather than filling the big screen the way you expect a big-budget sci-fi movie to.
"Nemesis" is both a success and a slight disappointment. It succeeds at delivering some nice character moments, several kick-ass action sequences and (for once in a very long time) an intruiging villain. The cast is as comfortable as ever in their roles and they're all given a more equal amount of screen time than in previous movies. Some of the strong points of the movie are the credit-less title sequence, the off-road vehicle sequence that calls to mind "Three Kings" with its grainy bleached-out look, the Enterprise getting the shit beat out of her, and some of the exchanges between Picard and Tom Hardy's Shinzon. Hardy definitely squeezes as much as he can out of his role and does an admirable job.
Less successful are some painful attempts at humor (never a strong point with the series), some clunky dialogue and gaps in logic, and Jerry Goldsmith's surprisingly wimpy score.
The pacing is off. I mean, there are long moments of dead air that just scream for music or dialogue to fill the screen and which bring a lot of the drama to a halt. This movie is pretty talky too -- there's a lot of dialogue to explain the plot but almost all of those scenes fall flat with little or no dramatic tension. The story feels rushed and dramatically light-weight. You never really share the sense of dread or urgency that the crew is experiencing, hard as everyone seems to be trying. And ultimately, the "surprise" ending lacks the dramatic impact that it deserves.
Despite my reservations, the movie is still entertaining. It has plenty of "Trek" references to please the fans, the production design is good, it's one of the best-looking "Trek" movies yet, and it features some of the best action sequences in the entire series. When Picard tells the crew to assume battlestations, hang on for a seriously bumpy ride. Mostly, though, it lacks the ability to suck you into a rousing adventure. Whereas in "Wrath of Khan" (the one "Trek" movie the filmmakers have openly admitted to aspiring to) the audience was in on Kirk's plans to sucker-punch Khan with surprise maneuvers, here similar circumstances come across as flat and uninvolving. It lacks a sense of audience involvement and intellectual one-upmanship that made the Kirk/Khan duel so fun. Given their relationship, Picard and Shinzon should have had a much more interesting duel of great minds than what they're given here. The duality in the characters isn't explored nearly enough and the story suffers for it.
Favorite moment: Picard driving the off-road vehicle with utter glee Least favorite moment (TIE): Worf nursing a hangover at the wedding reception and Troi using her empathic abilities at a crucial point in the film. While this is one of the better uses of the character's abilities, the way it is shot is hideous! Remember some early episodes of TOS where they lit Shatner's eyes, with the rest of his face in shadow in that 60's kind-of-way? They try the same cheesy technique here with Troi and it's horrible! It's even worse when Marina Sirtis shifts her body and her eyes fall out of that little plane of light. It screams "reshoot."
To wrap up, the movie is good fun. Logan and Baird have done an admirable job and the film enjoys a sense of familiarity that we all feel with these characters. And while the group I went with all enjoyed it (with certain reservations like those above), we all felt that once again, it played like another TV episode projected on the big screen. Still waiting for that epic movie adventure....
Chuckamuck
