You can call what you are about to read biased: I am the resident Trekkie, after
all. But in my opinion, you shouldn’t even be reading this review if you haven’t seen the
other nine films, the television series’, and/or aren’t a Trek fan. I’m writing this
review with the fans in mind; the fans that know exactly what in the hell I’m talking about
when I say that it was bunk that they had Klingons in the first episode of Enterprise
(for non-fans: it screws up previously established continuity—the Federation didn’t make
first contact with the Klingons until the early 2200’s and Enterprise takes place in
the mid 2100’s). If you do not fit into any of this, then you might want to just skip right
over this review. If you are willing to brave the rest of the piece, then by all means
continue...
On their way to the planet Betazed, the Enterprise is diverted to the Romulan Neutral Zone by Admiral Kathryn Janeway to begin discussions of peace with the new Romulan Praetor, who is in fact a Reman (from Remus, the neighboring planet of Romulus, which is used as a sort-of “dumping grounds” for undesirable Romulans). The crew soon realizes that this isn’t about peace at all (very far from it), and a race to save the Earth from destruction begins.
I was, of course, in line opening night to see this, and it's official:
Nemesis is definitely an even numbered Trek film (which is to say that it
redeems the series from the previous “effort”). In fact, Nemesis is the best
Trek movie this side of The Wrath of Khan – it is an amalgam of the action and
comedy characteristic of the romps of the Original Series crew and the drama and moral
lessons inherent in The Next Generation; truly the best of both worlds (I’ll give you
a cookie if you pick up on the previous reference. Wait a second...I just gave it
away...damn...).
You know you are having a great movie-going experience when one minute the film can
make you cry, make you laugh the next, and keep you on the edge of your seat throughout the
entire show with the action and the suspense of what will happen next. Nemesis was
one of these experiences: the action had me on edge for the whole thing, the humor was very
funny without overshadowing everything else (Worf deadpans in one scene “Ugh...Irving
Berlin...”), and, even though I knew who was going to die, I still bawled like a little baby
when it happened.
Which is one of the things that is great about Star Trek: if you truly are a fan of
Trek, then you have to have some kind of emotional bond with these characters
– when you are a fan of a television series that ran seven seasons and 177 episodes, the
show’s characters become members of your family. Hence, my tears of mourning for this
film’s losses: characters die, others move on, others display their feelings of loss
because of the previous two, and it all affects you as it would in reality. This is truly
great storytelling at it’s absolute best. The only other story that has the possibility of
affecting me similarly is The Lord of the Rings, which says a lot for the Trek
scribes.
But, certainly, if only one particular thing is of concern to the typical
Trek moviegoer, it has to be the villain. The Reman refugee Shinzon is definitely no disappointment in
this department. Not since Khan Noonien Singh have we seen such a deeply personal
motivation for the villain’s malevolence; Shinzon has it in a triple-dosage (but telling you
what they are would ruin part of the film’s magic). Shinzon actually has an advantage over
the other villains of the series in that you actually feel sorry for him in some parts of
the film; in fact, his incentive is not entirely unfounded, especially as far as the Romulan
Empire is concerned.
Now I'm going to rant a little: I'm one of the biggest Trekkies you'll ever meet
(could you tell?), and I am absolutely and utterly appalled by the reviews that
Nemesis is getting (bad ones). These are obviously people that were never Trek
fans in the first place, have no idea what they are talking about, are mentally
incapacitated, or are any combination of all three. I’m not here to discredit their reviews
as “wrong” and tout mine as “right” – depending on the particular audience, it could very
well be the other way around – but I believe that you should be wary of any review
you read, especially in this particular instance.
So, here's the run down, and this applies to all things Trek: You like
Trek, you watch Trek; you don't, you don't. And that’s as plain and simple as
it gets. I LOVE Trek, I religiously follow Trek. Here’s a grain of salt,
take this review with it if you must.
And, in conclusion, I’ll leave you with two words that are usually frowned upon in
this movie reviewing jungle. But, as with anyone that looks down upon me (for whatever
reason), they can eat my bunghole: Nemesis kicks ass.
Now, where did I put my Type-2 Phaser......
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