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On
course to Betazed to celebrate the wedding of Commander Riker
and Counselor Troi, the crew of the Enterprise are
unexpectedly diverted to the planet Romulus. It appears that
the Romulans wish to negotiate for peace. But the new leader
of the Romulan Empire has a sinister connection to Captain
Picard...
Nemesis
isn't a bad film as such, but several things about it really
annoy me.
First
of all there is the presence of B4, another twin "brother"
of Commander Data (Brent Spiner). The first time I saw this
movie, the trailer had led me to expect Data's evil twin Lore
to appear, but instead we get yet another, even earlier prototype.
What is rather odd is that none of the Enterprise crew
mentions Lore, even in passing. I can understand the need
not to bog the script down with too many continuity references,
but surely someone should have expressed concern that this
other android might be Lore.
However,
this brother is different, since B4's cognitive abilities
are more akin to those of a young but inquisitive child. Thanks
to another great performance by Spiner, B4 is easily distinguishable
from our old pal Data.
As
if one look-alike wasn't enough, Shinzon (Tom Hardy), the
titular nemesis, is also a replica - a younger version of
Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart). It's a nice idea, raising
the question of whether Picard could have turned out bad if
his own upbringing had been different. But unfortunately Hardy
bears only a passing likeness to Stewart facially, and no
resemblance at all in terms of his voice. When he does "evil",
he usually ends up sounding more like comedian Phil Cornwell's
impersonation of Alan Rickman.
In addition to Lore, the movie's pre-publicity also had me
expecting a major role to be played by the Romulans. As it
is, this race has relatively little to do with the proceedings.
Instead, the main aliens are a much uglier bunch called the
Remans, a species we've never heard of before, who have until
recently been subjugated on the dark side of Romulus' twin
planet, Remus. The Romulans serve little purpose other than
to provide the means for Shinzon's creation.
The
production team make a more minor mistake when they imply
that Picard was bald by his twenties or thirties, as suggested
by an old photograph the Captain digs out, showing Tom Hardy
as his younger self. This contradicts the television episodes
Violations and Tapestry, both of which depict
a younger Jean-Luc.
While
I'm nitpicking, the away team that seeks out the components
of B4 is far from subtle in its survey of a planet inhabited
by a pre-warp civilisation. In the TV series, they would have
made a big deal of not allowing their advanced technology
to be seen by a less developed people, but here they allow
the aliens to get a good long look at their shuttlecraft as
they make their escape.
My final criticism is that the second half of the story owes
far too much to the plot of Star Trek II: The Wrath of
Kahn. It's basically a prolonged battle, which takes place
in a region of space that interferes with ships' systems.
There is a particularly dramatic event and some moving scenes
towards the end of the film, but these are undermined by a
glaringly obvious get-out clause - like Spock's mind-meld
with McCoy prior to his act of self-sacrifice - which was
presumably added in case the producers decide this is not
to be "a generation's final journey" after all.
Star
Trek: Nemesis has its moments, though. There are some
great special effects, including the now obligatory heavy
damage to the unfortunate starship.
References
to Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Troi's (Marina Sirtis) wedding
at the beginning of the movie make for a nice touch, since
a wedding - albeit one that was tragically curtailed - opened
the very first Romulan Star Trek episode, Balance
of Terror, back in 1966.
As
I said, this film isn't all bad. In fact, I enjoyed it more
the second time around. However, it is my least favourite
Trek movie to feature the Next Generation cast.
Richard
McGinlay
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