Cast
Picard: Patrick Stewart
Riker: Jonathon Frakes
Data: Brent Spiner
Dr. Crusher: Gates McFadden
LaForge: LeVar Burton
Troi: Marina Sirtis
Worf: Micheal Dorn
Shinzon: Tom Hardy
Reman Viceroy: Ron Perlman
Directed by: Stuart Baird; Story by: John Logan, Rick Berman & Brent Spiner; Screenplay by John Logan.
Released: December 13, 2002. Domestic gross: $43 million
My Rating: *****
The Plot
The movie opens with a spectactular assassination of the Romulan Senate. They get destroyed by some creative weapon that disintegrates them. Wondefully graphic. It then moves to a happy wedding of Riker and Troi. The Enterprise is set to escort everyone to Betazed where another ceremony will take place. Naked, of course.
On the way, they recieve a strange, positronic signal, which Data believes is something like him. They take a side trip which includes some off-roading and an entertaining chase scene. What they recover is an android exactly like Data. His name is B4, and not long after they figure him out, Admiral Janeway gives Picard new orders to go to Romulus.
Once at the Romulan headquarters, they meet the new Chancellor, a young human named Shinzon. It turns out that he is a clone of Picard, developed in a forgotten plot to replace the captain. He, along with the inhabitants of Romulus's neighbor planet Remus, have taken over the government. They claim to want peace, but soon, they kidnap Picard in a plot to drain his blood and replace Shinzon's.
This degenerates into a harrowing space battle, which ends with the Enterprise smashing into Shinzon's incredible ship, the Scimitar. Picard goes aboard the Reman ship to stop a biological weapon, and at the last second, is saved by Data, who sadly gives his life.
My Thoughts
This movie was sadly underrated. It blew the pants off Insurrection, and ranked slightly lower than First Contact. Unfortunatly, the fickle audience of today chose not to experience this movie. It was a fitting swan-song for a crew that brought Star Trek back from the brink of destruction. However, their time is over. It makes a fitting bookend to the series and the movies. Personally, I hope that if they make another film, it explores something that is either not series based, or maybe bring back some of our friends from DS9. that would be fun.
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