BACK COVER SYNOPSIS: Set a course for a galaxy of unparalleled action and adventure as Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his Starship crew battle a chilling new adversary... that just happens to hold a shocking link to Picard! In the wake of a joyful wedding between Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Troi (Marina Sirtis), Picard receives another reason to celebrate: the Romulans want peace and the captain will be the Federation's emissary. But as the Enterprise heads towards the Romulan Empire, a brilliant villain awaits - harbouring a diabolical plan of destruction and an unimaginable secret that will give Picard his most fearsome challenge. Costarring Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden and introducing Tom Hardy as Picard's deadly foe. Star Trek Nemesis is "Exciting! Inventive twist-plus the unexpected shoot sparks of surprise throughout the picture." (Gene Shalit, Today).

FILM REVIEW: I remember reading a review of "Nemesis" which said that it's basically as bad as Insurrection but without the silliness. I agree with the part saying it's not as silly as its predecessor, but "Nemesis" to me is far, far worse than Insurrection for the simple reason that it's the only Star Trek film that has absolutely nothing new in it. Even The Final Frontier, despite its major flaws, attempted to explore new territory and themes. With "Nemesis", all we get is a film that cannibalises the best moments of previous films, most notably The Wrath Of Khan and The Undiscovered Country, while not delivering on any of the drama, action or intrigue that those films did. What was the saying? The first person who does it is a genius, the second person is an idiot. That's exactly how Nemesis should be described; it has no dimension to it and the characters are pale reflections of their former selves, almost to the point where you think you're just seeing the actors themselves on screen having a good time rather than the characters. I won't even bother writing a story synopsis because you might as well go to those other reviews to find out the story!

Director Stuart Baird has copped the brunt of the criticism but I'm not entirely sure it's all his fault. You see, the script and idea itself are no good, and I think screenwriter John Logan got off lightly. Sure, Baird didn't impart the nuance necessary to deliver the important elements needed in a Star Trek film and his ignorance of Trek is quite obvious in his direction, but Logan shaped a story which was completely unoriginal, and despite being a fan, a lot of his fan references in the script are just plain awkward. Take the wedding scene; the dynamic between Riker and Troi is that they have feelings for each other but they never get back together so seeing them together, although nice, is also quite flat. Then there's Picard telling Data to shut up; sure, there were many times in the series when the characters are about to tell Data to shut up but they don't. It's moments like these that really shouldn't have been staged. We know they can happen, but that doesn't mean they should be shown. And then there's Picard's openness. A lot of what made the character what he is is his private nature - sure, over the course of the series and the film's he's opened up but in Nemesis it's too much.

Perhaps the biggest let down was the decision to go with yet another villain in an attempt to try and capture the magic from Star Trek II and Ricardo Montalban's magnificent performance as bad guy Khan. Tom Hardy is a fine actor but again its the character and his position in the story that's the problem; he's basically just a watered down whiney Picard who tries to be nasty. Picard has the entire universe to go up against and all they come up with is a clone? Come on, it's been done to death already! Hardy does his best to imitate Picard, but he just can't overcome the weaknesses of the character as written. They're clones, but why do they essentially look and talk the same given they grew up in completely different environments? Why is this character essentially covering the same beats as Khan from Star Trek II? Or perhaps the most obvious question, why he is not threatening?

Then there's Data's death scene. In a blatant duplication of Spock's death scene from Star Trek II, we get a totally arbitrary sequence where Data gives his life to save his comrades, but unfortunately, it doesn't have any emotional or significant resonance to the story. For a scene that is to be immensely important (you just don't kill off one of the major characters for no reason), the fact that it gives you a kind of, "oh well..." feeling is quite sad. What makes it worse is that all of the scenes surrounding and including Data's death scene are lifted tonally and even from an execution standpoint from Star Trek II. We've seen it already!

I'm not going to be all negative. The action in Star Trek Nemesis is perhaps the best of the entire series, at least from a visual and execution stand point. The opening scenes with the dune buggy car chase are spectacular, as are the spaceship battle sequences. The best action scene is Picard's order to ram his counterpart's ship in order to stop him, and this scene looks amazing. The funny thing is, if this weren't Star Trek, it's actually a decent sci-fi actioner! That's why this film is so strange. It's good as a non-Star Trek film but it completely sucks as a Star Trek film.

This film made me question why I was still watching Star Trek. Perhaps it's time to put it to bed before it gets worse.

TECHNICAL REVIEW: It's ironic that the worst Star Trek film gets the best transfer. The images look breathtaking on this DVD transfer, especially the length space sequences which are gloriously rich, colourful and vibrant. The soundtrack is also spectacular, with the numerous space battles sending out shockwaves through the sound system. An excellent transfer.

EXTRAS REVIEW: The extras on this disc are okay but nothing special. We get a dull director's commentary from Stuart Baird who focuses mostly on technical details. There are a couple of featurettes where the cast and crew attempt to talk up how great this film is and how solid the story is but I found myself laughing through most of this. There's deleted scenes, stills and trailers, a German language tracks and a host of subtitles. A decent collection of extras if not exciting.

BOTTOM LINE: Rent it, unless you're a fan who needs to complete their collection.