Review of Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) by Rebecca H — 11 Nov 2008

An entertaining slice of Star Trek, this is full of funny bits, which is, for me, Star Trek's greatest strength. But the characters and plot are wasted.

There are seven regulars to fit in. Picard (Patrick Stewart), who selfishly keeps the entire plot to himself, Data (Brent Spiner), who manages to steal a few bits of plot for himself and is very funny, Riker (Jonathan Frakes), who has a shave, Troi (Marina Sirtis), who flirts with Riker, Geordi (Levar Burton), who gets his sight back, Worf (Michael Dorn), who is for some reason back on the Enterprise and Dr Crusher (Gates McFadden), who does nothing.

The plot is supposed to be the crew rebelling against Starfleet to protect 600 simple folk on the planet that contains the secret to eternal youth, but that never comes across. It seems unlikely that Starfleet have anything to do with this at all, as they are only represented by one man, who is working with a bunch of angry, gross aliens. The characters at stake and those staking them are bland nobodies we've never seen before, and aren't interesting to focus a film on.

Donna Murphy's romantic interest for Picard is unlikeable and snooty, the romance jumps out of nowhere, and her ability to stop a moment in time very unclear whether it is real or metaphor.

The plot really isn't developed. This is the secret to eternal youth. Surely more people would be out to conquer this planet? And if this is an insurrection, how about some kind of tension or violence or consequence?

It is funny, but it is hideously underdeveloped and the subplots go nowhere. This would be fine as an episode, by why is this a film?