Review of Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) by Erin C — 07 Jul 2009

After reading some comments from people saying how bad this is, I feel at last I must jump in and defend it! I've felt for a long time that I'm one of Nemesis's few defenders, so I shall now begin my review for it and why I think it is my second favourite Trek film after Star Trek 2009.

I always have enjoyed TNG and that goes for all of the movies. Nemesis begins with the rather lovely killings of Romulan senators; an openening sequence which puts a smile on your face which won't go away, even once the film has ended. Then, a new Praetor has arrived who claims to be Reman and the Enterprise (my personal favourite, the NCC-1701-E) goes to investigate.

Now enter Shinzon, who is in fact not Reman, but a human clone made by Romulans. Played by Tom Hardy, I have to say, he is one of my favourite Trek villains next to DS9's charming Gul Dukat and Star Trek 2009's sexy Romulan Nero, and Shinzon isn't all too bad looking either. Yes, I have defended Shinzon, and I shall always defend Shinzon - "you will not be around to witness the victory of the echo over the voice!" - one of the best villian lines ever.

Why else is Nemesis brilliant? Well, it's a TNG film, so we have Captain Picard (the awesome Patrick Stewart and the best ST Captain in my opinion), Will Riker (simply awesome), Data (the character I regard as my first favourite), Worf (oh look, more awesome), LaForge (another dose of awesome) and the list goes on. It pits the TNG crew against the Remans who have taken over control on Romulus, trying to reverse the slavery that they have been living in for who knows how long. The Remans are these delightfully creepy bad guys, the Viceroy played by Ron Perlman (Hellboy), who for some reason, seem to demand respect. Though I will always be a Romulan fan, so I love it when the Romuans join forces with the Enterprise to kick some Reman backside!

The next best point; the Scimitar. It's big, it's black, it's shiny, it's a Reman Warbird, it's bigger and badder than the Enterprise E and it is equipped with a Thaleron Radiation Cannon. Who wouldn't want this ship? So, because it is so mean and bad, it gets taken down, sadly at the sacrifice of Data (and yes, I do cry). But all is not lost! B-4 remains and has Data's memories (when you read Countdown, this is important!) so the awesome android is still around, in one sense or another.

Concluding the review, Nemesis does have some moments where you just think "what the hell?". For example, Captain Picard flying the little shuttle through the corridors of the Scimitar mowing down Remans (Carmageddon anyone?) and then Data jumping through space from the Enterprise to the Scimitar. But these bits just make you feel very satisfied and think, hey, this is Star Trek, without silly, it would just be as dull and repetitive as Terminator Salvation. So yes, Star Trek Nemesis is brilliant and I will always love it as one of my favourite moments.