Movie Review: 'Star Trek: Nemesis'

“Star Trek: Nemesis” (2002)

Also known as: “Star Trek X: Nemesis”

Directed by Stuart Baird

Screenplay by: John Logan

Story by John Logan & Brent Spiner & Rick Berman

Based upon “Star Trek” created by Gene Roddenberry

Starring: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Tom Hardy, Ron Perlman



“Star Trek: Nemesis” is the 10th feature film based on Gene Roddenberry’s “Star Trek” television series and the fourth to star the cast of the spin-off series “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”  Released on December 13, 2002 as a “generation’s final journey,” “Star Trek: Nemesis” ended the voyages of the Starship Enterprise-E on a less-than-glorious note and put Paramount Pictures’ movie franchise in deep-freeze for seven years.



“A Generation’s Final Journey Begins”

(Stardate 56844.9 - Earth Calendar Year 2379)

Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Duty. A starship captain's life is filled with solemn duty. I have commanded men in battle. I have negotiated peace treaties between implacable enemies. I have represented the Federation in first contact with 27 alien species. But none of this compares with my solemn duty today... as best man. Now, I know, on an occasion such as this, it is expected that I be gracious and fulsome in my praise on the wonders of this blessed union, but have the two of you considered what you were doing to me? Of course you're happy, but what about my needs? This is all a damned inconvenience. While you're happily settling in on the Titan, I will be training my new first officer. You all know him. He's a tyrannical martinet who will never, ever, allow me to go on away missions.

Data: That is the regulation, sir. Starfleet code section 12, paragraph 4...

Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Mr. Data...

Data: Sir?

Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Shut up.

Data: Yes, sir.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard: [turning to the wedding guests] 15 years I've been waiting to say that.



It is the year 2379. 15 years have passed since Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) took command of the Galaxy-class USS Enterprise-D. The Dominion War, which has left hundreds of worlds battle-scarred across the quadrant, is over, but instability in the Romulan Empire is about to create more problems for the United Federation of Planets.



In a daring move, rogue elements of the Romulan Star Empire’s military join forces with the rebellious Remans, the inhabitants of Romulus’ sister world, Remus. The warlike Remans have been subjugated for centuries by the Vulcan-like Romulans and used as slaves or as cannon fodder in the Empire’s interstellar wars. Led by a mysterious young leader named Shimzon (Tom Hardy), the Reman-Romulan rebels carry out a deadly coup d’etat that kills Praetor Hiren  (Alan Dale) and most of the Romulan Senate.



Meanwhile, Captain Picard’s Enterprise “family’ is breaking up after a decade and a half’s worth of adventures. First Officer William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) has been promoted to captain’s rank and given command of a new starship, the USS Titan. He’s also getting married to Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), whom he had had a romantic relationship years before both joined Picard’s crew. Ops Manager Data (Brent Spiner)  will replace Riker as second-in-command after “Number One” and Deanna’s wedding on Betazed. Other key officers, including Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) and Lt. Commander Worf (Michael Dorn) have already been reassigned or expect to be posted elsewhere in the near future.



But as the Enterprise-E warps to Betazed, trouble rears its ugly head. First, the ship’s sensors detect positronic energy on Kolarus III, a remote planet near the Federation-Romulan border known as the Neutral Zone. Because positronic energy is unique to androids like Commander Data, Picard feels compelled to lead an away team to the planet surface.



On Kolarus III, Picard, Data, and Worf find a disassembled android that is a virtual twin to Data. In fact, he is, like Data’s “evil brother” Lore, a prototype for the Enterprise’s  third-in-command. Named B-4, he shares many of Data’s features but has a less refined neural net.



Admiral Janeway: Jean-Luc. How'd you like a trip to Romulus?

Captain Jean-Luc Picard: With or without the rest of the fleet?

Kathryn Janeway: A diplomatic mission. We've been invited, believe it or not.



As the Enterprise crew tries to  figure out how an android made by Dr. Noonien Soong got on such a remote planet, more bad omens manifest themselves. Admiral Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), tells Picard about the coup on Romulus and orders him to take the Enterprise there on a diplomatic mission.

Kathryn Janeway: The Son'a, the Borg, the Romulans-- you seem to get all the easy assignments.

Jean-Luc Picard: Just lucky, Admiral.

Kathryn Janeway: Let's hope that luck holds. Janeway out.



 Picard’s “easy” assignment is to meet with the mysterious Shimzon and determine what the new Praetor’s true intentions are. If Shimzon’s peace overture is genuine, it can change the political face of the Alpha Quadrant significantly. But if Shimzon and his Romulan accomplices are intent on war, Picard and the Enterprise may be heading into a deadly trap.



My Take

"Star Trek: Nemesis" is an extremely frustrating Star Trek film to sit through, even for the most dedicated fan of the franchise. The basic premise is solid: the mysterious Romulan race –  an offshoot of the Vulcans that left their home planet because they refused to embrace Surak's philosophy that logic and rigid control of one's emotions were the keys to planetary peace – was finally given a major role in a theatrically released "Star Trek" movie, and Patrick Stewart is always watchable as the Enterprise-E's stalwart Capt. Jean-Luc Picard in a story in which the Starfleet veteran must confront a darker, more menacing version of himself. Great concepts, really, but lousy execution.



Part of the blame goes, of course, to Rick Berman, actor Brent Spiner, and screenwriter John Logan, who conceived the story and co-wrote the script. The idea to feature a weakened Romulan Empire taken over by Tom Hardy's Shimzon was long overdue; we'd seen several Star Trek films that featured the Borg, the Klingons, and several human villains as antagonists to the crews of two different iterations of the Enterprise, but the Romulans were relegated to secondary roles in one film ("Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country") and props in another ("Star Trek: Generations" featured a couple of Romulan corpses in the battered Amargosa Observatory).

But in the view of many fans, the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" movies had become feature-length Picard-Data stories dominated by A stories that depended way too much on Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner's characters, usually to the detriment of the other characters. "Star Trek: Nemesis" is especially burdened by this, because not only are we told that Data (Spiner) has another prototype (B-4, who is also played by Spiner), but also that Picard has a Romulan-made clone.

Now, much has been said about the film being too villain-centric (it is) and that it suffered from "franchise fatigue" (debatable), but it did have some good ideas. The prospect that the Enterprise-E would get some new crew members, including a new first officer and maybe the return of Wil Wheaton's Wesley Crusher (who briefly appears in Starfleet uniform in the wedding scene in Act I of the movie) now that Jonathan Frakes' Will Riker had been promoted to captain and had his own starship to command, suggested that a sequel would wrap up the adventures of Picard and his crew.

Most of the responsibility for the failure of "Star Trek: Nemesis" falls squarely on the shoulders of director Stuart Baird, an Oscar-winning editor who turned to directing films in mid-career. Berman chose Baird to helm "Nemesis" to give the franchise a new vision from an outsider to "Star Trek," which in retrospect was not as good an idea as it seemed  when production for the 10th film in the series began in 2001.

I'm not opposed to the idea of bringing new talent to an established series of films, but in my opinion, Baird was the worst possible choice to direct "Star Trek: Nemesis." He went into the process without having watched a single episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," alienated the cast because he made no effort to get to know the actors (per the Fandom "Star Trek" wiki  Memory Alpha: According to LeVarBurton and several other members of the main cast, Baird kept referring to LeVar as "Laverne" throughout production and thought the character of Geordi La Forge was an alien.

Although "Star Trek: Nemesis" features decent performances by Sir Patrick Stewart and Tom Hardy (in one of his first major movie roles,"  I can't honestly give it a good recommendation. The score by the late Jerry Goldsmith is good, and many of the special effects sequences are well-done, but this was hardly a worthy sendoff for the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" crew.



 Blu-ray Special Features

• * - new for this release
• Commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda *
• Commentary by Stuart Baird
• Commentary by Rick Berman
• Reunion with the Rikers *
• Today's Tech, Tomorrow's Data *
• Robot Hall of Fame *
• Brent Spiner: Data and Beyond - Part Four *
• Trek Roundtable: Nemesis *
• Starfleet Academy: Thalaron Radiation *
• Production featurettes
• A Star Trek Family's Final Journey
• A Bold Vision of The Final Frontier
• The Enterprise-E
• The Romulan Empire featurettes
• Deleted Scenes with intro by Rick Berman
• Storyboards
• Trailers

Blu-ray Details

• Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Dubbed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, French, Portuguese, Spanish
• Dubbed: French, Spanish
• Region: Region A/1 
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Paramount
• Blu-ray Release Date: April 30, 2013
• Run Time: 116 minutes