Review of Star Trek: Generations (1994) by Shane K — 02 Mar 2009

It?s been a long time since I?ve seen the Next Generation crew in action, and that?s odd to say considering there was a time when that was the only Enterprise crew I knew. The next Generation was the first Trek series I saw and this was the first Star Trek film I took in. This was also my first exposure to Captain Kirk, and as such I did not see this with the same kind of baggage that a lot of people brought to it. I frankly think this is a much underrated film, and a lot of it has to do with reactions to Kirk?s death. The thing is, after twenty-five years of TOS there was probably no death that Braga and Moore could have possibly dreamt up that would live up to people?s expectations. But focusing on the ending is to ignore the film?s many good qualities. First of all, the cinematography in this is kick-ass, it?s a big step up from Star Trek 6 and it looks a lot better than the TV show. That?s important because it plays into the film?s greatest strength, its ability to expand the program into a far more cinematic form. Secondly, Data?s exploration of an emotion chip acts as great comic relief. Thirdly, Malcolm McDowell is always great at playing lunatics, and this is no exception. And finally, the space battle between Riker and the Klingon Bird of prey is frickin? kickass and the image of the Enterprise crashing into the planet was absolutely awesome. The problem is that that set-piece is so awesome that the film is never really able to top it, and once Picard goes into the nexus the film slows down significantly. Also, the film takes quite a while to get going in the beginning. This is certainly not a perfect film, but it is one that I like quite a bit, and I might go so far as to say it is the best of the odd films.

BTW, the commentary track from Braga and Moore is highly recommended, they are shockingly candid about the weaknesses they see in their own script and they talk about them openly. This type of honesty is rare on commentary tracks.