Dec 18, 2002 02:33 PM
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(Updated Dec 19, 2002 11:27 AM)
One fear I have with Star Trek: Nemesis is that it has the potential to get lost in the myriad of films coming out this holiday season. With Die Another Day, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, already on top of the box-office charts, and with Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Gangs of New York, Catch Me if You Can, Chicago being just some of the other major films opening in December, there is the chance that Nemesis could be forgotten about: mainly because Star Trek: Nemesis does have the noted liability of existing in a franchise that hasn't always produced the best films in the world. And yet, for all those who get stuck in the lines and can't get into The Two Towers which opens a week later, I'd strongly argue that Nemesis is a worthy and alternative.
Written with great care by screenwriter John Logan (Gladiator, Any Given Sunday), Star Trek: Nemesis really does boast the best of both worlds in terms of balancing character and story with solid action set pieces that truly do light up the screen - giving audiences more than enough reasons to just sit at the edge of their seats. And Nemesis finally does what The Next Generation Trek films should have been doing all along: it takes bold leaps and broad strokes with the amazing group of characters that most of us have grown to love over the years. Logan loves these chracters and it shows as their archs play out on screen. Nemesis rightfully offers promotions for these characters, and provides a wedding as well as a few other touchingly humorous and even terribly sad moments. It’s a roller coaster of emotion for fans and non-fans alike because in the end it’s just really good, interesting filmmaking.
Star Trek: Nemesis swiftly sets up its action, with the crew of the USS Enterprise unexpectedly ending up in a situation that is truly out of this world. The central conflict of the story arises out of two key parallels for the characters of Data and Picard, and the adversaries they encounter in B-4, a pseudo-prototype Data; and Shinzon, a young clone of Captain Picard himself.
Actor Tom Hardy, who plays Shinzon does a remarkable job, creating another superbly memorable movie Trek villain who truly does stand up nicely with the ranks of villain like Khan. And Shinzon perhaps even more credibility as a villain due to his close and very complex relationship to Picard. Stewart and Hardy have built a credible dynamic that plays very nicely off one another, and there is a thick tension created that flows nicely through the arch of the film. It all leads to an excitingly tense climax that has some amazing special effects. And although they are not up to par with the pure visual eye candy of the latest Star Wars films, they do tie in nicely to the overall story, thereby grounding it in reality.
Credit can be given to action director Stuart Baird (US Marshals, Executive Decision) and cinematographer Jeffrey Kimball (Mission Impossible II) for the mostly steady and fast moving pace of the film. The film does verge on becoming a product of the Michael Bay school of filmmaking, in that it is at times too fast and too into the action, particularly near the climax and a scene with Riker fighting one of the bad guys which was just confusing to watch. Also, a few longer character scenes earlier on in the film would have helped draw the film out into a more even whole (and from what I've read on the net, I suspect that originally there were scenes of this very nature).
But overall, the story is at the same time fast-paced and fairly interesting, largely exploring the themes of family and what marks we leave behind in life, even when it does fail at fleshing out its background. The character of Deanna Troi is also used nicely in the film, but unfortunately, the characters of Dr. Crusher, Worf and Geordi Laforge are once again left with not much to do. As well, composer Jerry Goldsmith turns in another rousingly dramatic score, and in the end, there are some truly shocking occurrences in Nemesis, a few of which that actually took me by total surprise (none of which I am going to reveal here).
All I am going to say is that Star Trek: Nemesis is a film that is worth seeing for its purely visceral ride. It is better than the more recent previous Trek outings, primarily because Nemesis finally does bring a real cinematic quality back to the franchise - and because of that I really do hope that this isn't the last Trek film to feature these big screen stars.
Grade: B
(Movie originally reviewed on December 12, 2002)
