Review of Star Trek: First Contact (1996) by Eddy C — 18 Jun 2014

And so comes the day where I watch a Star Trek movie and I do not see William Shatner's name in the opening credits, and goes with him some of the heart of the original series, we all knew it had to happen some day but it doesn't make it hurt any less.

But what follows is a very gripping movie from frame one that looks absolutely beautiful with some of the series' best special effects. This is probably one of the series' best movie efforts. It has a great plot with many side-plots and they all fit and are carefully well crafted and integrated without ever feeling cramped.

Everything is this movie is very well paced, each subplot has a great build up with exciting action also, much like Star Trek VI, there are quite a few references to great literary works of the past and they perfectly illustrate their point and fit in well.

My favorite side plot of them all though was Data's and maybe this was the build up I wasn't very impressed with in the first, at the time I didn't know they would bring over this side plot into another movie but I am happy to see they didn't rush it and allowed it to grow in a second movie as it goes to new depths and is explored quite well.

Another good side plot is the explanation and exploration of something in the Star Trek series that everyone has used since day one and gives us the origin to it and I will not spoil it. Besides Data's good development, Picard is given good development too with some real character conflict happening, there are very tough situations going on in this movie and it's never easy to decipher what the right outcome is and this gives way to some fantastic acting moments namely by Patrick Stewart.

Given all of this though, some of the heart seems to missing that has been in the previous movies and I'm sure this is because of the lightheartedness and good chemistry of the previous crew, it seems to be a tight, buttoned down affair with very few attempts at humour and, to be honest, it works and it isn't a negative against the film but when you've been watching this series everyday, the tonal shift is evident and it appears I have much less to say than usual! However, with excellent visuals, fantastic character development and exciting action, First Contact is one of the most satisfying entries in the series and the best offering by the Next Generation set of movies.