Review of Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) by Ben L — 13 Aug 2017

Star Trek: Insurrection feels like a long episode of the Next Generation, and not a particularly good one either. It?s very quick to get going, which I appreciate, and there are only a few sections of the film that drag. The story is actually a rather simple one, but it is compounded into a much more complex situation which was not necessary. However, I liked some of the elements of the plot. The idea of this planet that is under observation by the Federation without them interfering is kind of fascinating. And it makes sense that maybe something else was going on to make them spend this much time monitoring people who don?t have technological advancement.

There are a lot of CGI effects in Star Trek: Insurrection, and they are possibly worse than any effects from the TV show. I was totally surprised by how bad it all looked. Some of the space stuff was OK, because everything you saw was created in a computer, but when the CGI things start interacting with real backgrounds it looks horribly artificial. It wouldn?t be so bad if they didn?t use so much CGI, but they keep throwing in more things drawing attention to how bad it all looked. The makeup effects, on the other hand, were done extremely well. The Son?a characters with the skin stretched across their faces looked shockingly real.

I wish the Ba?ku characters were more well-defined. The only one we get to know in any significant capacity is Anij and she seems to have very little of substance to talk about. She?s more interested in flirting with Picard. I get the idea that we are to sympathize with the Ba?ku people because of their ordeal, but it would make it more effective if we cared for some of them as individuals too. There are a few scenes between a young boy and Data, and I liked where that was going, but it wasn?t given enough screentime to establish this kid as a main character. Plus that relationship doesn?t amount to anything in the climax of the film, it literally does nothing to move the story forward.

Finally, I was totally annoyed with the lack of communication from Starfleet or justification for their actions. It seems that in many of these Next Generation films they basically make Starfleet into a villain, or at the very least an organization that is antiquated and unfeeling in its policies. I hate that Picard has to continue disobeying orders in order to ?do what?s right.? In fact it would have made a more interesting film if he actually felt the orders were legally justified, and he had to go against his moral standards to do his duty. However, these films are rarely interested in more philosophical debates like that, they just want action. Overall, Insurrection is not good, but it is watchable and at least feels a bit like a traditional adventure from Star Trek: the Next Generation.