Score : 7/10
Year : 1996
Country: USA
Language: English
Duration: 1h51
The 8th Star Trek movie is more like a long episode than a good movie ; its premise relies on the return of an old, deadly enemy which sets the Enterprise E crew, under the command of Captain Picard, on a chase to save humanity from total and utter annihilation.
There are many differences from the first 7 movies of this saga, in several respects, and which are quite refreshing because it was due time to break away from certain repetitive aspects of said movies.
Jonathan Frakes, behind and in front of the cameras directs himself and his fellow Star Trek the next gen' crew, with more grit than most TNG episodes, retaining some humour, but also failing at the key moment, which creates a very tepid ending - and is such a shame that it reduces the overall appreciation for what could've been the best Star Trek movie.
It's more graphic than most Star Trek ever was up to 1996, with a menacing and creepy villain, wonderfully incarnated...
It's also important to note that a character's trauma resurfaces with the return of this enemy, with consequences and reactions - some of which unforeseeable for Star Trek.
Overall acting is good, except that for that last tepid segment I mentioned above.
I noted that Worf's prosthetic appearance looked different than those on Star Trek Deep Space 9 from where he came to rejoin the Enterprise, and found this choice quite odd indeed.
His presence, however, isn't a surprise because he is such an important TNG character that he had to be there.
The cinematography is good, and some of the special effects were excellent - but the overall result could've been much superior with a 45,000,000 US $ budget.
There was an odd choice regarding colored lights that should have been one color throughout, but were only in portions - which raises a few questions but I'll have to hush them to avoid spoilers.
Last night, we watched this movie for the first time in full HD, with excellent image quality.
It was also the first time that we could place it in the overall chronological order, set between Star Trek Voyager's blood fever, (DS9 in Purgatory's shadow), and subsequent arc in Voyager after the last scenes of said episode...
For those who never watched and have no clue what I'm talking about, you'll have to at least watch Star Trek TNG to slowly build up on this arc.
Trekkies, however, know all the details about this story and understand why I don't want to spoil this part.
I didn't like the songs in this movie, nor a goof by composer Jerry Goldsmith, usually good and on key in star trek : he played the wrong tune to Mr Worf's arrival... really disappointing in view of the story arc with him at that point.
Otherwise, Mr Goldsmith's score was rather engaging and full of action and suspense to fit the overall darker tone of this installment.
It's a shame that Frakes botched this key event point in Star Trek history... I think we all imagined a much more grandiose moment than the tepid, which explains my severe score.
I do find it's a must watch in the Star Trek chronological order, to understand why this is happening now and not earlier or later ; it is episode 527 out of 704 that comprise original non-rebooted canon.
Cast:
Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Levar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Alfre Woodard, James Cromwell, Alice Krige, Michael Horton, neal McDonough, Marnie McPhail, Robert Picardo, Dwight Schultz, Jack Sharer, Patti Yasutake, [et al.]
Note the presence of writers Brannon Braga and Roland D. Moore, as well actor Ethan Phillips on the Holodeck, all uncredited but taking a break from their normal jobs on Star Trek. (Ethan is Neelix in Voyager, and played 2 other roles in TNG and Voyager).
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