I watched Nemesis again, for the first time in years. I thought Tom Hardy’s performance as Shinzon was amazing but I thought the character itself could have been given more development. I thought the film itself was lacking. The film kind of seemed pointless to me. I do still like this movie and I like the character of Shinzon but I thought it could have been much better. I thought the film’s themes of identity were fascinating but I struggled to find any meaning in it beyond that. Maybe there is no other meaning but the theme of identity could have been explored much more. Anyway, do y’all like this movie? Why or why not?
Nope. Did not like. Insurrection and Nemesis are nigh unwatchable to me.
What’s wrong with Insurrection?
Oh, I hate it. The labourious mind-numbing action, the “we aspire and they don’t” hand-wave resolution to the half-assed philosophical premise, the dozenth mind rape of Troi and Picard’s callous response, it’s all trash.
Don’t get me wrong, it had some OK scenes. You had to learn about them after the fact, though, because they were all cut from the film! Cutting Picard’s discussion with Data from the start, and the crew’s visit to his quarters at the end, is as good as cutting the Kobayashi Maru and funeral sequences from TWoK. They wouldn’t have saved the thing, but they would have given Data’s death at least a little emotional weight.
Left a bad taste in my mouth for twenty years. Thank goodness Picard came along to revisit these characters. It was a mess, but I’ll take any season of Picard as a superior send-off to the TNG era than this movie.
Thank goodness Picard came along to revisit these characters. It was a mess, but I’ll take any season of Picard as a superior send-off to the TNG era than this movie.
I actually just started watching Picard. I’m on episode 4 right now. So far, so good. I kind of stopped watching Star Trek after Discovery came out because I heard it sucked (Also because it was on streaming). I decided to finally give new Trek a chance and so far it’s not half bad. It’s better that I watch something and form my own opinion instead of listening to what some dumbasses online are saying.
I enjoyed Picard more than I thought I would
The worst TNG movie by far. It had a couple good lines, and it could have been almost as good as Insurrection if it didn’t magically hand wave Data’s sacrifice away.
I remember leaving the theater annoyed. I saw them all in theaters from Undiscovered Country onward and it was the only one I wasn’t happy with.
Even worse than Into Darkness?!
It’s thoroughly mediocre. I will watch it if I’m watching the TNG movies, but probably not standalone. There is definitely some cool stuff in it, and I also like Tom Hardy and Ron Perlman, but as you note I don’t think it really pulls it all together. And then there are things I hate, like dune buggies, B4, and the fact they fucking killed Data.
It is especially bad as the last TNG movie. The TNG era crew should have got their Undiscovered Country epic last ride but Nemesis isn’t nearly conclusive enough. At least we’ll always have “All Good Things”.
I honestly have a problem with how the Undiscovered Country treats the original characters. Great story, but it did the characters dirty.
Saving democracy through experience, cunning, and guile in their golden years all while continuing to grow as individuals isn’t enough for ya?
Genuinely curious about your take, it’s not something I’ve seen before.
while continuing to grow as individuals
Only one person really grew, and that is Captain Sulu.
It kind of doesn’t make sense for Kirk to still captain the Enterprise, especially given the disdain that the admiralty seem to have with him. I also feel like he doesn’t really have a mission any more like he did during the show. Given that Starfleet wasn’t desperate for officers at the time, I would expect that Captain Kirk should be captaining a desk and only getting pulled in because Spock wants Kirk.
Spock shouldn’t be a captain in this movie. He is doing high level admiralty/government work here. It was already accepted that Spock would retire from Starfleet and become an ambassador. Now is the perfect time to do it. It also gives a way for Spock to outrank Kirk in making decisions while not being an admiral, something which is kind of banked into the premise of the show.
Chekov was a first officer in Star Trek II, he should be a captain by now.
Scotty is slumming it as chief engineer of the Enterprise at this point in his life, especially as the Enterprise isn’t the most up to date ship.
McCoy displays what appears to be incompetence in letting the Klingon Chancellor die. A doctor on the front lines of the Klingon Cold War should know enough about Klingons to be able to treat Klingons.
Uhura should know how to speak Klingon, also because she was on the front lines of the Klingon Cold War.
The only one who progressed in his career is Sulu as he is has a prestigious Captain’s chair, but it makes sense given his age and experience.
I see what you mean. When I said “growing as individuals” I meant it moreso as “learning about ones self”, i.e.: Kirk is forced to face and overcome his own racism, Spock faces his own biases when he is let down by the betrayal, etc. But yes if we’re talking career advancement, then you’re right. They’re all basically facing retirement except Sulu and Chekov, really.
Personally speaking that doesn’t affect the story at all for me, I think it’s up there with TWOK as the best Trek film for it’s Soviet Union “end of history” allegories.
