"Star Trek: Nemesis"

2002
-directed by stuart baird
I find this movie to be at once better than its reputation, yet also achingly disappointing. The pre-release P.R. centered on whether this would be the final film for the NEXT GEN cast. The tagline, "a generation's final journey", summed up the attitude of the studio (not that they wouldn't have backtracked had the film exceeded expectations, of course). The story was dark and compelling, though perhaps too literally dark? Were they trying to save money on the electric bill? Of course the reman ship would be dark, but why was Enterprise lit so dimly? The acting and visuals were fantastic, and the john logan dialogue lovely. But there are holes in the pacing/editing, and in the credibility of character motivation. The remans are touted as devastating warriors, yet they constantly yield ground in the face of underwhelming odds (you can almost hear graham chapman shouting "Run away, run away!!"). There are battle gaps when the Enterprise crew doesn't act like they're under attack, and when you can't understand why shinzon isn't pressing his advantage. The mano a mano fight between riker and the viceroy (played by the never-disappointing ron perlman), is rather contrived. WHY does the viceroy suddenly slide down that chute? Tom hardy's shinzon is everything you could want a villain to be, capable of dancing cheek-to-cheek with stewart. Dina meyer is tee-riffic as donatra, and one hopes for more of her in the future. The death of data (which is understandable from the standpoint of brent not much longer being able to credibly play a non-aging android) is the film's gaping clanker of an embarrassingly wrong-headed decision. And that has nothing to do with sentimentality. At the end of the film, when picard and data realize that only one of them can be saved, data sacrifices himself. The infinitely more powerful choice would have been for picard to give up his life. It would have made the film much more stunning, and i HAVE to believe that the weenies in berman's office considered it (i would LOVE to know which voice advocating for picard's death got shouted down...it doesn't look like the truth will be easily forthcoming, as the berman and baird commentaries are contradictory). But even though they knew the film was probably the last for the cast, they couldn't bear to shut down future options. They had greatness in their grasp and they went chickenshit, so they have no one but themselves to blame for disappointing box office returns. They even had to chicken-shitly handle data's death, leaving open an obvious resurrection with his memories downloaded into b4. I'm sorry, that's just too painfully transparent a recycle of the built-in escape clause for spock's death in KHAN. You only get to pull that rabbit out of your ass once. The film resonates with the values of duty, family, and sacrifice. What more amazing full-circle choice could have been made, going back to when picard fought for data's right to be recognized as more than a machine, than to give up his life for his android friend? And what more truly powerful end to a generation's journey? Besides, if the clamor for another NEXT GEN film got to be too irresistible, how hard would it have been for q to...well, you know...