Rating: 
Summary: Star Trek Takes a Nap
Review: Star Trek:
Insurrection If your looking for a movie to watch in your spare time, Star Trek Insurrection is a decent movie but definitely not one of my favorites. Starring Patrick Stewart as Jean Luc Picard and directed by Jonathan Frakes, this movie goes face first into face stretching action,literally. Though not as exciting as First Contact, it still provides the cheesy action of an old guy [ Jean Luc] climbing in dangerous places with a big phaser rifle shooting aliens. I think it's funny because in this movie, two gramps meet and fight to the finish. One's got a facial problem [the bad guy], the other a mental problem, what kind of 70 year old man would think himself strong enough to fight wars? I might suggest this movie to people who like to watch people from a nursing home duke it out. They never learned not to play with guns either. It's pure entertainment for people that like to watch strange movies and laugh at them. The camera work could have been better. Towards the end, it doesn't show much of the enemy ship, there isn't much of an inside of a ship to see though. The special effects were all right, but the phasers looked kind of fake to me. One scene made the movie purely messed up to me. Jean Luc runs around an enemy ship firing a phaser, right after that he says, " If you fire your phaser, you risk igniting your ship, you wouldn't risk that would you?" [The guy he was chasing is one of the old gramps I mentioned earlier]. Isn't that stupidly cheesy? I don't under stand why everybody except the captain always wears the same stuff. The captain wears a dress suit and regular clothes but the rest of the crew always wears the same old red suit. All the Ba'ku wear different stuff. Star Trek Insurrection is rated PG-13. I say a lot of people would like this movie. For other people though, it gets really annoying. Anomynous
Rating: 
Summary: Stop Complaining and Start Enjoying Simple Pleasures
Review: Ok, from what I have heard, the main gripe about this film, is that it could have been a TV episode. But when it comes to being a film, I think that this movie hits it right on the mark. The humor in it adds some bubbly fun to a film that could have been all syrup and saddness. And unlike some sci-fi films, the humor isn't contrived and it actually makes sense. Who doesn't get a kick out of Worf's wart or Data's ability to be a flotation device? Another thing that made this Star Trek film great, was that it didn't center on Captain Picard, like many of the other films (and TV episodes) have a tendency to do. You get to hear about how other people are reacting to and experiencing this latest adventure. Yes, this film does give Patrick Stewart an ample amount of screen time, but it also allows the viewers to enjoy little quirks about the rest of the characters we have grown to love over the years. Complaints about plot holes and such I think are reading too much into the film. This is sci-fi, ok? Give the writers, directors, and producers a little leg room! Overall, I believe this to be an excellent addition to the Star Trek family of movies. A little bit of fun, adventure, intensity, and the well placed moral at the end. So grab some popcorn, a pillow, and your phaser shaped remote control, as Insurrection takes you boldly into a different style for this crew, and has a bunch of fun doing it.
Rating: 
Summary: Perfection is overrated...
Review: Most of these reviews of Insurrection damn the film with faint praise. It wasn't this, it wasn't that. The Federation wouldn't do this. There's petty squabbles about legal points, etc. Writer Michael Piller clearly uses Star Trek Insurrection, much as Roddenberry did, as a soapbox to decry the injustices visited upon others. Usually he'd use Star Trek as a analogy of what had occurred in the past or present. That doesn't make Insurrection a great film but it does have substance. The film would have been more powerful with a stronger villian. Why the character of Q never showed up is beyond me (actually it probably has to do with the fact that Paramount always dictated that any NextGen script had to be understandable by a person totally unfamiliar with Star Trek. Sorry folks, but that doesn't always make for interesting or good entertainment). It's also entertaining. Of all the Trek films featuring the NextGen crew, Insurrection has an abundance of humor. It's that humor along with the action sequences that make Insurrection work very well indeed. It's certainly not the best Trek film, nor is it the worst. For all of its cleverness and the moving scenes involving Picard's loss in Generations, that film is fairly empty and fairly routine. It smacks of being an overblown episode of the series. That's OK as the series at its best produced The Best of Both Worlds and other episodes equally as strong. The plot in a nutshell; the Federation elects to violate their own ethical directives and relocate a people so that others can benefit. The Baku live on a planet with an unusual form of radiation that can provide the Fountain of Youth or a cure for almost any disease. Data discovers the plot as he is observing the Baku. He tries to return with the info but is damaged and, in a sense, goes mad. He goes into defensive mode and, in the process, exposes the Federation's presence on the planet. Picard is called upon to provide info on Data's systems so they can destroy him. Picard feels compelled to investigate knowing that the behavior the Android is demonstrating is unusual. He also discovers the plot against these peaceful people and the plan to do a forced relocation without their knowledge. The epic scale of the visual effects in Insurrection sets it apart from the smaller screen version. Sure, the story could have been featured as an episode of the series. Somehow I don't view that as a bad thing. Trek in its prime dealt with important conflicts, issues and ideas presented in an entertaining format. Just as director/actor Jonathan Frakes does here. If it lacks the larger than life conflict of First Contact (a film frequently accused of ripping off Wrath of Kahn because it quotes Moby Dick. Beyond the quotation from Melville's classic, the film deals with obsession but, handles the theme quite different and deftly but enough on that...)or the space opera elements of Nemesis, Insurrection provides more than the usual sketchy character moments of either of these films. All four of the Trek films are unique, different and, yes, flawed in their own way. Many fans seem disturbed by the fact that the Federation is showed as flawed. Yep. It makes the film and the characters more interesting. I realize that Roddenberry had a vision for the Federation as perfect. Perfection is boring in drama. There's no conflict. There's also the political repatriation aspect of the story. It suggests that humanity hasn't changed significantly. Human nature, despite our noble ideals, is to be greedy and selfish. The fact that humanity isn't a paragon of virtue but still manages to do the right thing is what makes drama (and humanity) interesting. The DVD transfer is sharp and looks very good. Unlike Generations which had some transfer problems, Insurrection looks great on a big screen. The sound is also quite good. The extras are pretty skimpy; more than likely Paramount will try to milk the fans again by introducing a special edition. Insurrection has a trailer and featurette originally shown on either Showtime or HBO (don't recall which)which is pretty ordinary. There's no director's commentary, no special effects discussions (and there are some stunning sequences in the Briar Patch)and no discussion on the political implications of the script. The final word: Enjoy Insurrection for what it is--an entertaining visit with old friends. The sad thing is that Nemesis got negative press and lost admit the Holiday releases from last year. As a result, Paramount won't greenlight anymore NextGen adventures. They blame us, the fans, when they need to look within at their marketing of the pictures. I'll dismount the soapbox now that I've made my case for Insurrection as a solid occasionally inspired movie that is dramatically flawed.
Rating: 
Summary: An evolved SF movie
Review: I was really pleasantly surprised when I saw Star Trek developing into a higher level of story lines and incorporating new age ideals. This movie is one that has a few levels - if you're looking for an amazing story - the story is one that you have seen or read in the past - but what have they said:
" There are only 12 story lines anyway" and they keep getting redone. But there is another subtler level of energy work here that I really enjoyed. The REAL story line, in my opinion here, was the quest for the perfect moment as opposed to the conquest of the universe. Isn't that what was really discussed? Now I don't think that it was done very deeply because it might have been lost on many - but I'm one who enjoys the SF jenre along with the fantasy part of it. You'll enjoy this for the newness of it if you let yourself - and it will get you thinking long after you watch it - again if you allow youself!
Rating:
Summary: Great Star Trek with poor ending
Review: Somtimes it feels that the franchise is getting tired. I first detected this with First Contact, although it was fun watching it, but with this film I don't know what they are trying to do. It is a wonderful story about one of man's greatest dreams where the legendary crew of the Enterprise fit beautifully. I think this is thanks to one of the greatest story supervisors Star Trek has ever had: Michael Piller. But then you can feel the touch of Rick Berman where I am sure he suggested and finally decided the movie needed a villan and a voilent ending. The part where Murray's character goes insane and kills admiral Dougherty totally spoils the picture. I always thought that Star Trek wasn't about a bad guy but about humanity's potencial to resolve any problem sensibly. Insurrection gives a very bad name to Star Trek for fans and non-fans, and of course with Nemesis it is impossible to do any worse.
Rating:
Summary: Better than "Nemesis" (But hey, what wasn't?)
Review: "Insurrection" is underrated. Some folks have impugned the movie because, despite a title like "Insurrection," it wasn't dripping with political intrigue like the latter days of the DS9 show. Thank God it's nothing so boring as that. Despite a few moments of manufactured cheese (Picard's love interest), and some dramatic overacting by F. Murray Abraham as the villain, the movie is excellent, entertaining, and above all, the funniest TNG movie. WHY YOU'LL LIKE IT: The story is entertaining and even contains a surprise twist subplot. Like "First Contact," a portion of the story revolves around relatively mundane events on a planetary setting, but there is no shortage of spacefaring action, including a visually stunning nebular battle sequence that should make "Wrath of Khan" fanatics jealous. Everyone from the core cast gets their screentime, but it's Data, Riker and Worf who are laugh-out-loud funny as they supply the most hilarious Trek movie dialogue since "The Voyage Home." If it weren't for "First Contact," this would be the best TNG movie hands-down. WHY YOU WON'T: Some folks mentioned that the plot is a little thin, and they're not entirely wrong. "Save the Space Amish" isn't a great title, but that would more accurately describe the gist of the movie than "Insurrection" does. F. Murray Abraham, as the movie's more-disgusting-than-creepy villain, isn't much of a presence. The movie makes some social commentary about the "forced relocation of indigenous populations" (a la Native Americans) that gets old pretty quickly, but it's never lingered over very long so you only have to tune it out for a moment or so every now and again. Picard's afore-mentioned love interest and Data's child pal get pretty old pretty fast -- don't hope they die, you'll only be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Don't be fooled by those who give this a bad review
Review: I am rather surprised to see the negative reviews this film has gotten here. I thought this movie was excellent, and would rank in the upper echelon of Star Trek features. What is nice about this film is the character development aspects. One of my favorite parts of Star Trek is getting to know the crew members, and my favorite episodes of both TOS and TNG are the ones in which you learn a little more about your favorite characters, not the ones that are action oriented. In this film, that is essentially what we get. We get to see a relaxed, very human Picard (versus the Captain Ahab madman Picard in First Contact), the friendship between the child and Commander Data, and the (finally) rekindling of Riker and Troi's romance. There is also plenty of action to satisfy that component. The scenes which the crew must shoot down the probes that are chasing the settlers are very cool and quite exciting, and the space battle (with the "Riker Manuever") is also great. Granted, not as intense as the Borg battles in FC but this is an alltogether different deal. There is a review that mentions a disagreement with the idea of moving 300 settlers. Firstly, I really don't take much account into a particular movie's politics, so I geuss that didn't bother me. However, I believe the movie was successful in pointing out that however beneficial the effects of the planet may be, they (the Admiral and his conspirators) were going about it in an entirely illegal fashion, so I had no problem with the feasability of that part of the story. At any rate, fans ought to understand that the Next Generation movies have actually been done at a higher level of consistancy than the original series cast movies. Generations is the weaker of the four, but even that one isn't as bad as the putrid ST V, and the next three are all very, very well done. I sincerely hope that Paramount doesn't give up on this wonderful cast.
Rating:
Summary: I should Move so you can cure disease and death! NO!
Review: MY REVIEW. Star Trek movie rank 7th of 10. OK. We know that Patrick Stewart is a big time liberal over there in the land of English socialism. Rodenberry was a conservative libertarian. Hey there is room for everyone in the world, even in the world of Star Trek. But this time they raised eyebrows. Let me Explain. Before we know that the bad guys are bad guys here is what happens. A solar system has the secret to eliminate death, disease and suffering. But tests must be run and to do that a small group of settlers must be moved. Settlers mind you, not the "forever, indigenous residents" of the planet. Picard goes nuts and takes up arms to support the settlers against the orders of a superior officer and against the approval of star fleet. Only after starting a court martial offense, to prevent to discovery of the cure for aging and disease does Picard learn that the Star fleet admiral has been duped and that the experimenters are bad guys with ulterior motives. New age idealism is one thing. But here Picard weighed the conflicting ideas of settlers keeping their homes vs the permanent end to aging and disease and went with the settlers?! Huh? Isn't that like defending a settler farmer who wants to ploy up a field where the cure for cancer is growing before tests can be run to see why the current plant cures cancer? Once you get past the idea our heroes are defending an absurdity, the rest of the movie is well. Done. The scenery in this film is spectacular. The special effects are impressive. It just that the main premise for the story is stupid.
Rating:
Summary: Yawn Trek
Review: Repeat after me---
Star Trek is NOT a comedy!
Star Trek is NOT a musical!
Star Trek is about exploring strange new worlds and exciting adventures...which this is NOT!
An revengeful alien wants to remove some peaceable people from off "his planet".
Not even F. Murray Abraham can save this movie!
Rating:
Summary: Zion like community and values
Review: The show is better with repeated viewings... It successfully shows a Zion like community and perhaps all that idealism is reflected in Picard where he deals with an issue that's just as pertinent as survival, how we use our power.
| 
