Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)
The Cast
Patrick Stewart .... Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Jonathan Frakes .... Commander/Captain William T. Riker
Brent Spiner .... Lt. Commander Data/B-4
LeVar Burton .... Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge
Michael Dorn .... Lt. Commander Worf
Marina Sirtis .... Counselor Deanna Troi-Riker
Gates McFadden .... Dr. Beverly Crusher
Tom Hardy .... Praetor Shinzon
Ron Perlman .... The Reman Viceroy
Shannon Cochran .... Senator Tal'aura
Dina Meyer .... Commander Donatra
Kate Mulgrew .... Admiral Kathryn Janeway
Whoopi Goldberg .... Guinan
Bryan Singer .... Bridge Officer
Throughout the entire Nemesis movie, you're filled with an overwhelming sense of finality, that this will be the final Star Trek movie. Or, at the very least, the final TNG cast Star Trek movie, since it appears that the franchise will be headed in a new direction in 2007... backwards. I don't know if I'm really a fan of the prequel, since almost every little detail is a nod to the fanboys of the original movies, the ones that know the serial code of the U.S.S. Enterprise off by heart. Prequels are one of the signs of an unimaginative Hollywood, & this distresses me greatly.
The movie starts off with an unfortunately unrecognisable Dina Meyer (she's Romulan in this movie) destroying some sort of Romulan Council of Elders or whatnot. The film then takes us to the Enterprise, where we're treated to the reception of Riker (Frakes) & Troi's (Sirtis) wedding. Basically the writing of the movie enables every character to get their swan song in, though I can't for the life of me remember what poor Dr. Crusher (McFadden) did.
After the wedding reception, Picard (Stewart), Worf (Dorn) & Data (Spiner) go down to some planet that's showing readings of the same technology that allowed for the creation of Data. After a little treasure hunt to find all six pieces, the assembled android is revealed to be a creation by the same man who created Data, a long time ago. Later on in the movie, Geordi (Burton) sets up the new android, B-4 (also Spiner) with all of Data's memories, setting up a predictable fate for a certain character later on in the movie.
Through some technical jargon that I've long since forgotten, somehow the Remans (the opposite of Romulans I believe) genetically engineered a clone of Picard, one Praetor Shinzon (Hardy). He's all menace & bluster, with a cocky bravado & a desire to exterminate Picard & the planet Earth. He almost does it too, but then some stuff happens, stuff dies, etc. Everything gets all wrapped up in a bittersweet fashion.
If you're gonna go out, you should go out with a bang, not a whimper. Since the whole movie seemed to reek of everyone moving on, you're just waiting for the individual characters to have their moment in the sun. Riker gets to show off his badassery, Picard gets to show why he's a better Enterprise Captain than Kirk (quick, somebody argue!), & so on. Other than a few other scenes in the movie, it just trudges along. Look for Bryan Singer as one of the faceless Bridge Officers, but don't look for Wil Wheaton because sadly all his scenes were deleted, save for a brief glimpse of him at the wedding I believe. Anyways, a slightly better than average movie, but didn't really do much besides wrap everything up. 3 outta 5.