While painfully aware of its terrible reputation among fandom, I am firmly in the minority who appreciate this flawed Trek installment. Released at a time when interest in the franchise was at an all-time low, Nemesis exists as a curious beast when compared with the rest of the film franchise.
Produced four years after the previous film, Nemesis gathers all the familiar faces for what Paramount’s marketing department was quick to bill as a ‘generation’s final journey’. But right away, things don’t look right. After such a lengthy break, the characters look noticeably older, and sadly, appear to be operating on autopilot. Having Stewart and Spiner involved in the production ensures the movie rapidly degenerates into the Picard and Data Show perhaps giving only Frakes as Riker an opportunity to spread his action wings. Much like Insurrection before it, the growing influence of its stars during production only served to dilute the original story and satisfy ego. Its an unfortunate aspect to the film’s production, one which no doubt accelerated the unraveling of the once lucrative Star Trek franchise as it hobbled into the twenty-first century.
Indeed, it is in the film’s story that the most significant problems can be found. An ardent Trekkie, John Logan (an otherwise superlative writer) proves that fanboys aren’t always the right people for the job. Culling elements from The Wrath of Khan, Logan’s theme of mirror images is an intriguing one, rife with storytelling potential. Tom Hardy delivers an able performance as Shinzon, but alas, never really feels like Picard. Much like Nero after him, his motivations remain unclear, robbing the film of its narrative spine. For Data, the discovery of yet another Soong-type android in the form of B-4 feels contrived and tired. Almost as bad is the egregious dune buggy sequence in which he’s discovered (supplanting the gimmicky ‘manual steering column’ of the previous film).
It has often been said that Star Trek’s main draw-card is its characters. Nemesis is a film that finds these characters out of focus, lost to action sequences and scenes of tedious exposition. The film’s deleted scenes reveal the mindset of the film-makers in the kinds of edits that were made. For those who own the Blu-ray or special edition DVD, you can see a proper scene with Wesley, a final farewell for Beverly, the arrival of Riker’s replacement and a poignant reflection on the passage of time between Picard and Data. But the cuts also reveal an even darker edge to the film which would have seen Troi encounter Shinzon a second time in a terrifying turbolift assault.
The blame for these unkind cuts is often laid at the feet of director Stuart Baird. While clearly able to put together a cracking action sequence, Baird shows little regard for the beloved The Next Generation crew, excising the more character driven scenes in favour of action, action, action! While he has never commented on the film in the years since, numerous cast members have publicly criticised his direction, citing on set conflicts (referring to LeVar Burton as “Laverne”) and a fundamental misunderstanding of what Star Trek was about. The end result is a story that feels emotionally bankrupt. Compared to Spock’s funeral service, Data’s wake (and Sirtis’ crocodile tears) lacks emotional punch.
Lacking any sort of legitimate narrative payoff, the film simply sputters to an end. Tragically the closing moments have Picard and B-4 engaging in little more than a sing-along which, while it reveals Data is still around - somewhere – its trite nature belies the significance of the moment and the supreme sacrifice made by the once lovable android.
For a film that makes so many mistakes, it does get quite a few things right. Tonally, the film is refreshingly dark – enhanced by a foreboding score from Star Trek stalwart Jerry Goldsmith who deftly weaves electronic elements into an otherwise traditional orchestral film score.
The climactic battle in the Bassen Rift is undoubtedly one of the most exciting sequences in all of Star Trek. Featuring the final on-screen appearance of the Enterprise-E, Nemesis makes good use of much improved CGI technology, delivering a battle unlike anything seen in Star Trek before. For the first time, viewers saw redshirts dispatched into the vacuum of space as the main bridge was blown apart, not to mention the Enterprise ramming the Scimitar in a sequence that is both kinetic and terrifying.
It is in this way that Nemesis points the way forward, offering Trekkies a sign of things to come; more action, faster pacing and huge set pieces (and ships). After examining these high octane elements, one might speculate that at this point Berman had become aware of the shifting tastes of modern cinema audiences. Was it too little, too late? Potentially but by the time he might have realised it was time to move on the final nail was in the coffin and the drastically diminished box office takings revealed how bad things actually were.
Alas, all speculation is moot. Upon release the film was a critical and commercial failure (though made it to #1 in Australia!). Nemesis now stands as the final installment in the “Prime” movie franchise, replaced in 2009 by JJ Abrams Nu-Trek. Though the three films released thus far have been resounding financial successes, they continue to polarise the fan base in a way Nemesis never did.
Set in the year 2379, Nemesis represents the farthest point in future history depicted on screen. With series Star Trek Enterprise scrapped in 2005, and the Nu-Trek films continuing, Star Trek has effectively been trapped in prequel-land ever since.
I’ve always felt that The Next Generation crew deserved better - a fonder, more definitive farewell. Before the film’s 2002 release, Patrick Stewart claimed that there were plans for a sequel; however those appear to have been consigned to the dustbin. With the third rebooted Star Trek film being released next year, and a number of dormant media properties being reborn (The X-Files, Heroes, Full House) there may still a slim chance that Picard and co will be seen on screen one final time.
(An edited version of this piece was originally published on the website "Some Kind Of Star Trek". You can see the original article at: http://trekclivos79.blogspot.com/2015/08/a-final-insult-nemesis.html)
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