Lively, entertaining reviews of, and essays on, old and newer films and everything relating to them, written by professional author William Schoell.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

STAR TREK NEMESIS


STAR TREK NEMESIS (2002). Director: Stuart Baird.

This was another big-screen movie using the characters not from the original Star Trek, but from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) has his hands full when he encounters a megalomaniac, Shinzon (Tom Hardy), who is a clone of Picard and wants revenge on the Federation and everyone else for his horrible childhood. [Hardy, a fine actor, practically walks off with the picture, although his full lips -- as opposed to Stewart's thin ones -- would make him an unlikely clone, shaved head or no.] Shinzon is a member of the Remans race, who are treated like slaves and inferiors. There are some zesty battle scenes in this [the characters show no shock or remorse after extras are "killed" in front of their eyes], and an intriguing opener when the members of a council are killed by a gas that putrefies them, but all in all it's nothing especially memorable. It is fun to see Kate Mulgrew as Captain Janeway from Star Trek: Voyager, now promoted to Admiral Janeway, in a cameo. Apparently this did so poorly at the box office that it pretty much killed off the theatrical franchise.

Verdict: Holds the attention. **1/2.

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