Flickering Opinions: Star Trek: Nemesis

Film Details:

Directed by Stuart Baird (Executive Decision)

Written by
John Logan (The Time Machine, Gladiator)

Starring
Patrick Stewart (Jeffrey)
Brent Spiner (Independence Day)
Tom Hardy (Black Hawk Down)
Ron Perlman (Blade II, Alien 4)

Review: by Melissa (e-mail your faithful reviewer)

The Star Trek films have always suffered from the "Two Hour Episode" syndrome, meaning that the cinematic outings of the series usually don't feel particularly cinematic. Of course, this is a double-edged sword. If you get too edgy with this established franchise, the purists go nuts. If you play it too safe, the movie is boring.

Nemesis just barely works its way out of the "Two Hour Episode" feeling. The director is willing to play with the scale and the look of the franchise just enough so that this does feel like a movie.

Unfortunately, it's only a marginally good movie, even though it does have Ron Perlman in it. Ron Perlman is the MAN, you know. Maybe the film just doesn't have enough Ron Perlman in it. He certainly didn't have enough screen time for my tastes. He's not event he main bad guy. Boo!

Not that Tom Hardy is a particularly bad villain. He's just not a particularly good villain, either. Maybe I'm just not all that fond of whiny little Gothie boys when Ron Perl-frickin'-man is waiting for something to do in the sidelines. Perhaps that it's just that the Star Trek movie villains have been played by some of the best villainous actors of the modern day: Ricardo Montalban, Christopher Lloyd, David Warner, Christopher Plummer, Malcolm McDowall, Alice Krige, and F. Murray Abraham. Tom Hardy might make an alright foe, but, damn, he is no David Warner. Of course, so few people are David Warner. There are about as many David Warners out there as Ron Perlmans. Tom Hardy is neither, especially when Ron Perlman is standing right next to him onscreen.

But enough about Ron Perlman. Let's talk Star Trek.

Basically, the enterprise gets summoned into the Romulan Neutral Zone, where they find a prototype of Data. Just when you think you can really dig having two Brent Spiners around, the Enterprise gets summoned to Romulus, where a new praetor (Tom Hardy) has successfully staged a coup and taken over. When the Enterprise crew meets with the praetor, they discover that he is a clone of Picard. He appears to want peace with the Federation, but not really.

What happens afterward is at least entertaining and often refreshing, if not particularly great. The film does have the balls to kill off one of the major characters, do some really major damage to the Enterprise, and devote ample screen time to a decent final space battle. It's also nice to see ships not fighting upon the same plane in outer space.

However, the film misses ample opportunities to be a more fascinating endeavor. For a film about the planet Romulus, there are very few Romulans in it. For a film that should be about double-dealing and political intrigue, the script pretty much misses all opportunity for plot twisting. For a film that's supposed to be about a clone of Picard... why not have Patrick Stewart himself play the role? Yes, Tom Hardy is remarkable casting for the role, but what a missed opportunity! I've seen Patrick Stewart on stage, and damn, I'd love to see him chew scenery as a villain. Wouldn't that have been cool?!?

Add that to the fact that the script has plot holes the size of the moon, and you get a film that is at least as frustrating as it is entertaining.

Oh, well. At least it's better than Insurrection.

And it has Ron Perlman.