*** Now talking in #suburbansenshi
*** Topic is '-= =-' .
<FireFly_9> Having had the opportunity to sit back and watch the latest installment in the Star Trek Movie franchise last night, I felt the need to share my visceral reactions with all of you.
<FireFly_9>
<FireFly_9> Overall, as a long-time fan of all Star Trek (yes, even the Animated Series), I found this movie to be sadly lacking. Unlike Generations, which was pretty much an assumed failure (from its badly rushed inception to it's poorly thought out villain and ill-conceived premise) Nemesis was not pre-ordained to fail (save that it was scheduled, insanely enough, to open just before Two Towers, of all things). John "Gladiator" Logan was the writer, and had composed what was, by all accounts, a superb story for the movie. The Director was a new face unfamiliar with Star Trek, which hopefully would save the movie from looking like just a larger television episode. We had a truly fearsome villain this time around. There were Romulans involved at long last, and we were finally going to see true starship combat in the TNG vein.
<FireFly_9>
<FireFly_9> But, as Haruka-poppa would say, "it all went straight to hell."
<FireFly_9>
<FireFly_9> Plot:
<FireFly_9>
<FireFly_9> The basic premise of the movie is simple. Without spoiling anything, Picard meets up with a new villain that has every reason to be the most dangerous foe he has ever encountered, and one who is dead set on destroying the Earth (a welcome change from villains like Ru'afo and Soran, who attacked no-name planets and had no discernable personalities of their own.) Along the way, the TNG crew would say their farewells as their careers finally took them away from Enterprise and on towards the rest of their lives.
<FireFly_9>
<FireFly_9> I did not read the script that was leaked on the internet for the movie. But by all accounts it was three hours worth of solidly written moments that superbly actualized the plot as described above. In fact, all three hours were filmed. Only two hours made it to theaters. Here is where the problem begins.
<FireFly_9>
<FireFly_9> An entire hour was redacted because Paramount felt the film was "too talky" and the exposition scenes were "slowing the film down". Given that this movie in many ways seeks to evoke and mirror the tense dynamics and emotional engagement of what is perhaps the best-loved Trek film of all time, The Wrath of Khan, these comments filled me with dread. And my fears were realized upon seeing the film.
<FireFly_9>
<FireFly_9> All the "talky" moments that had been excised, I realized, were what separated this movie from the likes of Khan, taking it from what could have been a taut, nerve-wracking emotional journey and turning it instead into a flat action set piece, full of sound and fury, but ultimately signifying nothing. We were "told" why the main Villain, Shinzon, should be considered ruthless and dangerous, we were "told" how fearsome a foe he would be, but aside from a few actions in the combat sequence, we are given little opportunity to see it for ourselves. His interactions with the Romulans, a notoriously cagey and cunning race, could have established his personality much more grandly than any exposition, but we are only treated to mindless banter.
<FireFly_9>
<FireFly_9> The consequences of the many separations that occur in this movie are not dwelt upon in anything more than the most cursory of fashions. Star Trek V had more feeling in many of its character moments than Nemesis ends up with. This is not the writer's fault, since the cut scenes apparently covered this area, but the studio's for insisting on an anemic version of the full film.
<FireFly_9>
<FireFly_9> There was a void for me... structurally the plot fit together perfectly, but without the emotional "glue" to hold it together (like Kirk and Bones musing about mortality in II, or the tearful scenes with Spock before and after his death that gave the audience a chance to reflect as well as the characters) there was precious little impact. Everything moved too fast and the film ended too early.
<FireFly_9>
<FireFly_9> So, I have to give the plot of Nemesis one half Dragonball out of two. So Sorry, John Logan, I know this one isn't your fault.
<FireFly_9>
<FireFly_9> Audio Score:
<FireFly_9>
<FireFly_9> The soundtrack to this movie had some excellent homages to the Star Trek: The Motion Picture soundtrack (after all, it was the same composer), and they were placed well. There was no overuse of generic themes (Such as "Klingon" music playing every time Worf speaks (which admittedly did not happen much in this cut)), and the music was sufficiently "creepy" at the right moments and fit the mood of the film acceptably well. I had no problems with it, but it didn't stand out that much. One and One-Half out of Two Dragonballs.
<FireFly_9>
<FireFly_9> Visuals:
<FireFly_9>
<FireFly_9> Special-effects wise this movie was the best yet. The new Romulan Warbirds and the "unfolding" of the Scimitar were excellent, as well as a certain scene involving the Enterprise-E and the Scimitar. Some of the scenes on Romulus were too dark, however (explained away in the plot, but I would have liked a better view of the rarely-seen Romulan homeworld). Still I have to give credit where credit is due. One and a half of Two Dragonballs
<FireFly_9>
<FireFly_9> Overall Impression:
<FireFly_9>
<FireFly_9> The film looked good, and sounded good, but lost too much with the removal of one hour's worth of plot. Holistically, I came out of it feeling less emotion than I did in Star Trek V (where I was actually moved by the Kirk-Spock-McCoy scenes) and even the Trek movie I hated the most (Generations), where I still felt pangs at Kirk's (wrongful as it was) demise. I'm not giving this film *any* points for overall impression. (And believe me, I didn't imagine I was going to say that today... I was anticipating giving Nemesis the first 7-star review.) ZERO out of one Dragonballs.
<FireFly_9>
<FireFly_9> Final Score: Three and One-Half Dragonballs out of Seven (still too high, I think)
*** Disconnected