Directed by: Stuart Baird
Written by:John Logan
Starring: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Tom Hardy
Released: February 6, 2003
Grade: C+

Star Trek has been around for longer than I have lived.  Being new to the series, I haven’t seen any of the original films or tv shows, which makes my opinions on this movie seem rather trivial.  I can only judge it from the viewpoint of an inexperienced junior and honestly, those that will be lining up to see this film, and probably enjoying it, will be those who have been there and done it before.

There’s a kind of urban legend that every even numbered movie in the saga has been great and every odd numbered movie has been disappointing.  Up until now, I had no reason to doubt this theory as I immensely enjoyed the 8th film, Star Trek: First Contact but was bored to tears by the 9th film, Star Trek: Insurrection.  Curiously, Star Trek: Nemesis was the original title of the 9th film before it was changed to Insurrection.  I guess they thought it was a pretty cool title.

In Nemesis, the crew of the Enterprise head to a planet of Romulus to deal with the hostile Romulans.  Apparently, they are pretty evil dudes but have suddenly become all nice and stuff.  The Earth isn’t too believing of this reversal in hospitality and the Enterprise is asked to investigate.  There they meet their new leader, Shinzon (Hardy), who reveals some shocking news.  Shinzon is a younger clone of Captain Picard (Stewart) and was created for evil doings.  He also has some nasty weaponry which can destroy people instantaneously so he must be stopped at all cost.

And on we go.  There’s all the fancy techno dialogue which is uttered solely for those Star Trek fans in the audience.  I had no idea.  We all know the bad guys will be destroyed but unfortunately, the cast and crew haven’t created much excitement in the lead up.  There’s the same familiar faces and a small cameo from Whoopi Goldberg, which served no purpose.  Perhaps she just wandered onto the set by accident and director Stuart Baird failed to say cut.  Who knows?

The film’s poster and trailer say “a generation’s final journey... begins”.  Does this mean this is the last in the long running series?  I’m not 100% sure but I doubt it.  There were plenty of people in my theatre so I can see the journey going on and on and on...