Rating: 
Summary: One of the best TNG feature film offerings
Review: In having viewed this film quite a number of times, read the novel based on it and seen some of the comments from others, I would like to make a few comments of my own.
Thank God, Star Trek: Nemesis is not the pollyannish crap most of the other Star Trek films have been. In my opinion, the majority of the TNG feature films were scripts for TV that never should have made it to film length. I can only wonder how Patrick Stewart and crew could put up with some of the stuff they were told to do to make those awful escapades. I think one heck of a lot of credit MUST go to John Logan for his script. You have to remember that he had to work in concert with Spiner and Berman but his touch comes through in a far finer script than in the past movies of TNG fame [or infamy]. It is NOT 'Gladiator' and it is not MEANT to be 'Gladiator'. Maximus cannot be everywhere in every genre.
I felt Tom Hardy's Praetor 'Shinzon' was one of the rare villains who finally [YES!]brings the character of Picard into a modicum of reality. The past films suffered from a distinct lack of it.
Shinzon's quip of "Don't be so vain!" made me want to cheer. This obvious snake summed up my past feelings about Picard's overly do-good mien. It was refreshing to hear him counter Picard on many levels and challenge the notion that Star Trek's universe is one of purity and light where wrong is always conquered and Starfleet always saves the day. It really has gotten to be a bit much until I saw Nemesis and I do want to see TNG get a bit edgier in the future.
Some have groaned about the pseudo-rape scene. My comment is: Rape is a reality of existence. Unfortunately it has happened, will happen and likely always will continue to happen. Does that mean I or anyone else condones it by ackowledging this? NO! What it does mean is that there is bad in every life and one needs to rise above it. Marina Sirtis's 'Troi' did just that and that alone makes her character plausible in this film. It was worthwhile to have that in the film just to make that point.
The clone issue was another groaner for some but I felt it made ample comment on the rush to clone everything in sight. You cannot have and exact duplicate of yourself EVER. There is simply no way to give a clone your life experiences. I would have liked to see Shinzon overcome his anger and fear but life does not always turn out how you wish and people are not meant to be carbon copies of each other.
Nemesis is my favorite Star Trek film. Wrath of Khan and Undiscovered Country are the others but no TNG really got me liking it until I saw this one. If you want the TNG film to purchase this is, in my opinion, the BEST of them so far!
Rating: 
Summary: The worst of the lot
Review: This is certainly the worst of all the Trek films: I have no idea what they were thinking ($$?) when they made this one.
The plotline is illogical, unfocused, inconsistent, confusing and so poorly written that even some of the TNG season two stinkers (Samaritan Snare, anyone?) are more entertaining and satisfying to watch. Half the screen time you have no idea why the character is doing what it's doing. And the way they killed off Data was truly pathetic.
I cannot understand what would motivate the producers to make this movie. It has no sense of wonder that made Star Trek great in Generations, First Contact or Undiscovered Country. Even Insurrection, though lame and laid-back, was true to the spirit of Trek - it was like an average season finale parts I and II combined. Nemesis plays like a cheap sci-fi B movie - avoid at all costs.
Rating: 
Summary: 2.5 stars: Elegy for the Brave
Review: Nemesis, ostensibly the final huzzah for the long-lived Next Generation crew, has its moments but never quite gels into a cohesive, compelling film. The opening tone of the movie is perfect: Troi and Riker getting hitched (finally); Worf, Data and Picard off on an expedition to find the source of anomalous Data-like signatures; unrest on Romulus. Well and good. Unfortunately, the movie begins to hit the skids there. The story, written by John Logan (Gladiator, The Aviator), is off his characteristically high standards. Logan has proven himself able to find the personal amid the epic, and Star Trek is often both, so he might seem an ideal candidate to pen this installment. However, this tone of this movie is too dour and too dark for most people to truly find enjoyable. This, I suspect, is more a direction problem than a screenplay problem (more on that in a minute), so I'll give Logan a pass. But you're on watch, Mr. Logan. The dialogue here is at its least memorable for Trek, all utilitarian, and although it mostly avoids cliche, it doesn't ever sparkle. There's no "the line must be drawn here" speech, sadly. There's an "I would be this guy if I grew up like he did" speech, in fact, there are quite a few of them. Cheer up, Jean-Luc, you'd probably have turned out like Idi Amin if you'd grown up like him. On an unrelated topic, I think Picard would have made a smashing dictator: imagine a planet full of bald, Shakespeare-quoting English-accented Frenchmen. Picardia. Rick Berman, give me a call.
This movie tries so hard to be the Next Generation crew's Wrath of Khan, with the obsessed, delusional villain, an outmatched and outgunned Enterprise, and a crew member's sacrifice. All that's missing is the heart. And a great deal of substance. Like Wrath of Khan, an outsider was brought in to direct this movie. Unfortunately, the outsider for Nemesis was Eurotrip and U.S. Marshals auteur Stewart Baird instead of the multitalented Nicholas Meyer. THE Nicholas Meyer (hereafter referred to as Saint Nick) had never directed a film before Wrath of Khan, but his outing in Khan was more than luck: this guy knew what he was doing. He managed to coax an entirely ham-free performance out of William Shatner, no small feat (and I love Bill Shatner, so don't scream at me). Khan was a seriously messed-up guy, but Ricardo Montalban played him with such magnetism and charisma you couldn't help but love the guy, at the very least love to hate him. Wrath of Khan was perfectly paced, technically marvelous, and full of touching (but not manipulative) moments. Saint Nick also co-wrote the screenplay for Star Trek IV and co-wrote and directed Star Trek VI, all the original series favorites. His resume speaks for itself. Let's look at Stewart Baird's resume. A quarter-remembered action flick from eight years ago, a raunchy teen sex comedy (coming in rated and unrated versions speaks for itself), and his magnum opus, Executive Decision, an inferior Air Force One copy. As a result of his action background, this movie often feels like a standard-issue thriller instead of a Trek film, with precious little thought and introspection in order to keep the action a-comin', and what thought there is becomes tiresome really quickly. In all fairness, the action is good, as are the special effects. But who cares? The story sucks. It is misdirected up the wazoo. When it started, The Original Series had the most talented writing staff on television, and it had to: the shoestring effects were nothing special, and the budget was as empty as Scott Bakula's chair is now on Enterprise's bridge (cold, yes, but true). Well, Scotty B, it's time for a big Quantum Leap--to conventions! Okay, I'll stop, but I'll ask this question: Since when did the effects become more important than the substance? Why should I spend my hard-earned cash (in this case, my parents' hard-earned cash, because they treated) on a light show with an equally light story? Sadly, it seems, Star Trek is Trek as the producers have learned to play it: safe, unthreatening, but also soulless. Worrying about audience segmentation and profits does not a great movie make. Gene Roddenberry is, I hope, spinning in his grave, because his Star Trek was the other way around. Star Trek needed (and needs) a Deep Space Nine more than it could possibly know: if there is no new blood in the franchise, it will die of inbreeding. How many different alien names can you come up with, really? You're going to run out, eventually. As sad as it makes me feel, Nemesis is the future of Star Trek, not its past.
Say what you will about studio execs, but they can connect the dots: most successful Trek pictures: Wrath of Khan, First Contact. Possible reasons: new directors, tension, excitement, epic action, substance. Lather, rinse, repeat. So, a great movie is a shopping list? If it's so simple, then why do so many movies suck? Apparently, the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy applies here--those factors were present in both films, but they weren't the reason they were great movies. These movies were spectacular because they spoke to timeless themes and gave the actors material to sink their teeth into, but also because they took extraordinary risks and succeeded wildly. Kirk is having a midlife crisis? Picard is obsessed with killing the Borg? These were quite bold risks to take with beloved characters decades in the making. Ultimately, for all the sermonizing and speechifying by Picard in this movie, this movie doesn't let him reject the thought that he could be the other guy, or be truly terrified of it. Data dies, but the B4 will probably take his place should another movie be made, and Riker not remembering the tune Data was whistling at Farpoint (Pop Goes the Weasel, by the way) doesn't nearly match the power of Kirk's final scene with his son at the end of Khan. I would have liked to see what some really talented people could do with Star Trek: Paramount's got money, why not get great people to do this stuff (I fantasize about Aaron Sorkin writing a Trek movie), instead of second-rate action directors with portfolios consisting of fare that one sees during the summer, finds the ticket stub six months later in a coat pocket and can't remember the movie at all. Get Saint Nick Meyer on line one, Rick. You need him more than you know.
Rating: 
Summary: Great addition to the Star Trek movie universe
Review: This movie is one of the best in the line. Mind you i mean the TNG line. Great story, good production, and outstanding effects. A must own for any trekkie.
Rating:
Summary: I'm a huge Star Trek fan but this is the worst.
Review: I'm a huge Star Trek: The Next Generation fan. That said, this movie is just about unwatchable. The plot doesn't make any sense and it's just bad. Bad bad bad. Horrible. Blech!
Rating: 
Summary: The Next Generation died with Captain Kirk in Generations
Review: As far as I am concerned, Star Trek the Next Generation went down with the Enterprise D in Star Trek: Generations. This movie, like most of the TNG movies was simply thrown together showing off special effects and blowing things up. As other reviewers have noted, all the other characters besides Data and Picard have been reduced to background people. Worf has become comic relief and a wimp compared to the Klingon with the warrior's heart in the TV series. Nothing is familiar on the enterprise (it's just a ship like any other that they move around in and shoot things with) The Borg are too emotional and ordinary with the introduction of the Borg queen as opposed to the cold mechanical unstoppable juggernaut of the TV series. Now in this movie we come to B-4 the recently discovered and previously unheard of android that just came out of nowhere (the romulans just happen to find him laying around some planet). If I remember right, Dr. Soong (Data's inventor) only created two androids. Data and Lore (the evil prototype). I could have written this story much better. When I saw the preview and it showed two Data type androids, I suspected and was excited by the idea that they reassembled Lore for some necessary reason. And finally, we have a movie about the Romulans that isn't about the Romulans. The story is just thrown together. I give it two stars just because it's mildly entertaining and worth watching just for the action....the only thing worth while that relates to the series is that Troi and Riker get married. But after Gene Roddenberry died, Trek just went downhill from there.
Rating:
Summary: So much action accompanied by so many questions!
Review: One the one hand, it was rather refreshing to have a Romulan-themed story in quite a long time. The action sequences are super and the effects shots are great. On the other hand, this latest (last?) Trek installment did leave this reviewer with several questions. Why did Wesley Crusher show up at First Officer William Riker and Counselor Diana Troi's pre-wedding banquet (see TheNextGeneration episode "Journey's End") ? What is Worf doing on board the Enterprise-E (see DeepSpaceNine series ender "What You Leave Behind II") ? And with Data ceasing to exist as a sentient being (he is said to have been killed off though he never in fact lived) and hence unable to assume the role of Second in Command, who then would assume Riker's role - Geordi, Worf, or someone else? Part of the blame for this movie's dismal box office performance must rest with the studio, both for releasing it up against "Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" and deleting at least 41 minutes of filmed material. Having said all this, the movie itself comes up somewhat short indeed. The main flaw seems to be that it never sufficiently delves into the cause(s) for Shinzon's anger and enmity towards Picard and the whole human race. After all, was it not the Romulans who treated him so shabbily all these years? It is far from certain if a feature-length story featuring DSN characters will be made, either with a few crossover characters from TNG or none. However, given the unexpectedly weak showing at the box office for this film and the less-than spectacular track record of its preceding films (only one is said to have reached the US$100M threshold) it is highly unlikely that there will be any more Star Trek theatrical movies; The Wrath of Khan, a film from which this one is unjustly accused of ripping off, nearly became a non-theatrical movie.
Rating:
Summary: What I always thought about Clones!
Review: You've got to be kidding me! I watched this movie already 4-5 times since I bought it, and still it brings to life the real reason for not cloning, that clones will always think that it is just an mere echo of the real person. No matter what excuse it gives, like being raised in the mines and learning real hate dished out by Romulans, and any other excuse, the real reason is that clones will always think of theirselves as mere shadows, unable to live up to the real person. We aspire to better ourselves, but that can not be reasoned by a clone. It is not real, it is just an echo. On the heels of Star Trek II:The Wrath of Khan, this movie stands as the best of the Next Generation movies made. That right! When you think about how the Romulans are willing to act, when you think that you are going to be one to make diplomatic contact and be friends, when you find a foe that rather end everything else, instead of himself (as a clone) you as the Captain Picard are just presented with one of the weirdest battles a person would ever face. See yourself, and the other side of you, as presented by your clone. And as the real person, at all costs to normality, you can not let it happen, personally to the point of giving your own life to leave others to live, except for a robot, that aspires to be human, but can not, and sees himself with a B4 model, that drives it also drives this movie as a total experience. Unlike a human, a robot can sacrify his life, he is just a mere robot, and in the end, becomes more human just by that act, but will not realize it. The depth of this film demands full attention, as to all the details, such as the strife within the Romulans with some wanting peace and some willing to do anything for war and to win. With only one purpose in mind, what is your purpose in life? To aspire to be better, to be more, or to end it all, and be known throughout the Galaxy (or so you think) as someone who was really thinking that anyone is that important?
Also again, the crew of the Enterprise crash the Enterprise, like never before, because even if you just got married, you may end up dying, and only could live for the moment, and not perhaps, for the future of your dreams!
Where is that Romulan drink at the end?
Rating:
Summary: One of "Star Trek"'s best morality plays
Review: Unless science fiction is very, very "hard" -- and sometimes even then -- there are always elements of fantasy involved, especially when it's presented onscreen. Whether on television or on the silver screen, Star Trek (ostensibly a science fiction series) has never been shy about using however much or little fantasy is required to make its point. The show has always been first and last a humanist morality play, a myth for modern times, and to critique it solely from the point of view of hard science misses the point.
That said, I liked this DVD even better than a DVD I saw first, Spider-Man 2 (likewise a morality play in the best Marvel Comics tradition) -- which is saying a great deal. Many have already commented on the plot of ST: Nemesis, so I need say no more here. But for me, at least, the Star Trek universe is more "realistic" than that of Peter Parker, even though he lives and moves (so splendidly!) in modern New York. I think it's because the humans and aliens in this film are not superpowered; it's their machines as extensions of (yet as separate from) themselves that have tremendous capacities for good or evil. Moreover, Picard and his nemesis Shinzon (thanks to the respective technologies at their service) are not nearly so equally matched as Spider-Man and Dr. Octopus apparently are. "Doc Ock", those mighty mechanical arms notwithstanding, has a human part vulnerable to Spider-Man's superior fleshly strength. Shinzon's Scimitar is a "predator" that eats Federation starships and Romulan Warbirds (not to overlook planets like Earth) for breakfast. Only great skill, character and sacrifice on the part of Picard and Data in particular can overcome Shinzon's advantages. If anything, I think that Spider-Man's dictum "with great power comes great responsibility" is even more one of the themes of ST: Nemesis than of Spider-Man 2 -- even if that theme is not one of the overt aims of the first film.
And now, let's hope that the next film in this series breaks the pattern of odd-numbered Trek films being of lesser quality...
Rating:
Summary: Something of a Departure for Next Generation
Review: This installment played for me much better on the small screen where the action sequences (which are a little exaggerated and maybe a tad gratuitous) don't overshadow and undercut the relationships and storyline for which I've always felt TNG excelled.
Some have conerns about the storyline. I thought it was good enough to hold up the characters and I loved Tom Hardy as the evil Praetor Shinzon. He was a physically and mentally impressive and a capable "nemesis" to our beloved Captain Picard.
Hardy takes away valuable screen time from some of our usual TNG characters, and the performances of Dr. Crusher and even Deanna seem perfunctory at best. I grew weary of Deanna's uncharacteristically sad, tear-stained face.
Overall, it's a great TNG romp through the evil underbelly of the unknown and a showcase for good versus evil as well as Captail Picard and Data. Definitely worth seeing and a worthy film for your collection.
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