Directed By: David Carson
Directing – 6
Carson’s direction for the film was solid. I think that the film is entertaining enough; however, I think it could have been possibly 10 to 15 minutes shorter. On top of that, there was a subplot or two that were unnecessary. Regardless, I thought the film was entertaining and investing.
Cinematography – 9
I think the cinematography was good enough. There was a little too reliant on extreme shaky cam for some of the action scenes.
Score – 7
The score for this film was not as memorable as some of the previous installments.
Story – 5
The story follows Jean-Luc Picard as he must stop Soran, a deranged scientist that wants to do whatever he can necessary to get back into this heavenly world known as the Nexus, from destroying a nearby galaxy. I believe the story is a little similar to Star Trek V, where the villain is trying to get to a certain place that will give them what they desire in the universe. While that film explores themes such as religion and pain, this film explores more about heaven, obsession, peace, even pain, etc. I will also say this film also takes a little bit of a departure from its thematic roots of friendship. The story is solid. I do think there were a few unneeded subplots. For example, there is Data and his emotional response chip. Also, Kirk is in the film; however, I don’t believe they handled Kirk all that well. Kirk is possibly my favorite character in the franchise and I don’t believe they did an amazing job at handling his overall character. Was he terribly written or handled? No. I just think they didn’t do the most amazing job with his character. If this is the last time we see him as Shatner, I don’t think they put a nice period to his overall story. The same goes for his Enterprise crew. Also, the Klingon’s in the film was a little unnecessary, that part of the story could have also been handled differently. Also, Soran didn’t get a ton of character motivation and/or development to understand why he wants to go back to the Nexus. Yeah, if one has experienced pain they would want to escape reality; however, Soran has been wanting to go back for over 70 years, so maybe it would’ve been nice to get a little more characterization for him. Also, Picard has this trouble throughout the film where he suffers from the loss of a son; however, it felt a little unnecessary as well. We only explore that a couple of times and I felt that could have been different. I don’t think the story was terrible, but tons of unneeded subplots were written and not enough attention to other focuses.
Acting – 8
The acting was fine. I think everyone did a solid job. I do have one major issue. Brent Spiner, while he was good in his role. I think that he did go a little above and beyond and I understand the way his character was written; however, he could have been a little different.
Post-Production – 7
The editing was okay. Tons of subplots and a few extreme shaky cam moments during the action.
Entertainment – 7
I think the film was entertaining. I do think the runtime didn’t help overall. As the third act was starting the film should have been over, instead there was a whole act yet to go. I’m not saying the ending should have been the climax of act 2, I’m saying the film itself should’ve ended when act 3 started.
Final Rating
6.8/10 – Watchable, yet messy movie.
