Movie Review: "Star Trek: Insurrection" (1998)After a totally-convincing "Star Trek: First Contact" releasing toward Thanksgiving-favoring late November of 1996 to major "Next Generation" crew successes on the U.S. domestic market by exceeding a closing-in 50-Million-Dollar production budget, when here it must have been a 100-Million-Dollars from nevertheless "Star Trek" license-securing Hollywood major "Paramount Pictures"; a 1912 as legendary studio coming into hard standings of a hit-movie succession, when reprising directions by Commander Riker-actor Jonathan Frakes are noded with the best intentions to present a story fabricated by somehow at that time more benefited weekly-television-striker "Star Trek: Voyager" - in its 3rd to 4th striking seasons - to constant-showrunning as screenwriting producers Rick Berman and Michael Piller (1948-2005), who dug up deep-space-tribes of rivaling hostility-forcing Son'a in actions of fair, but budget-undermining space-battles between super-stylish "Enterprise NCC-1701-E" and a sharply-designed pair of attacking space crusaders near the orbit of a just-too-pleasantly-received harmony-loving beauty of "Planet Ba'ku", when it must have been a stake-raising firing-breathing monster of a showdown between a charming, but growing-soft character of Captain Jean-Luc Picard with changes to finish his career for a single kiss of a perfectly-matching "Ba'ku" woman, when his 1st officer Riker commands the crew with chair and manual enterprising joystick surrounded by minor-suspense-ringing supports of underplayed characters as klingon-warrior-turned-Starfleet-officer Worf, given face under heavy Oscar-worthy make-up actor Michael Dorn and metaphysical psychic Diana Troi, always hidden as balancing performance by actress Marina Sirtis, get eventually denied in a noteworthy, but then again falling short hand-to-hand combat in never-finished blue-screen-backdrops, where potential nemesis character Ru'afo, here visciously as too-briefly-built with just single-beat striking performance by F. Murray Abraham, without given "Insurrection" the proper fulfilling send-off in universally-receivable science-fiction satisfactions.© 2018 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)

Following the success of Star Trek: First Contact, it was hardly surprising to see a sequel being quickly commissions, coming in the form of Star Trek: Insurrection.After a number of conflicts the Federation seek to make alliances with new races, including some of the less savoury factions in the galaxy, one of them being the Son'a. The Son'a and the Federation are working together to study a planet that has a produces a radiation that could be the key to medical breakthroughs. However to harvest this radiation it would require removing the Amish like residents, The Baku, leading to Picard (Patrick Stewart) and crew of the Enterprise rebel against their superiors to The Baku.Star Trek: Insurrection is often criticised for being no more than an extended episode of the series, being a small scale story and action - the run time is only just over 90 minutes and the settings looking like a TV show. The moral dilemma presented by the film has also been criticised, manufacturing a conflict, by making out the villains desperate to take the planet, instead of forming a colony. Even Patrick Stewart said he would have evicted the Baku. The screenplay needed refining to justify the conflict. The film's attempt at comedy is also misguided, using Worf (Michael Dorn) as the butt of jokes.Despite these problems Star Trek: Insurrection is a perfect, decent, if average Trek adventure. It has a nice touch of tying the film with the wider franchise, great for fans of the series but adds some wider context for non-fans. Even with its televisual look and special effects the final third has some decent action sequences, the small team using the caves of the hold out against the Son'a forces.Also the criticism of 'Insurrection' being like an extended episode is a flawed one. It might be small scale but it is better than a film that is better for the sake of being bigger - especially hard considering the previous film was the excellent 'First Contact'.It was also fun to see the Son'a going through their medical processes to keep themselves alive, using face stretching technique similar to what Ida Lowry received in the classic Terry Gillam film Brazil.Whilst Star Trek: Insurrection pales in comparison to 'First Contact' and other great films in the series, but it is better then what follows in the form of 'Nemesis' that attempted to be too dark.

About half-way through Insurrection, I was somewhat expecting "To Be Continued" to pop up on the screen. It felt like one of The Next Generation's two- part episodes as opposed to a movie. It's hard to blame the writers for taking this approach with the Enterprise-E crew. While the Borg was an incredible villain, most of the TNG series was introspective, examining the human condition and artificial intelligence. This perspective played very well throughout much of the series, but the problem is that is doesn't translate into film. And this might be the downfall of the Next Gen crew as the holders of the movie franchise. The previous film, First Contact, wasn't very philosophical, it instead focused on Picard's struggle with vengeance against a powerful and personal enemy. It made for an exciting Star Trek film with both action and intrigue with the Zefram Cochran warp-speed plot. Insurrection fails in its ability to deliver both of these.First of all, giving credit where it is due, it was interesting for Star Trek to examine the sad cases in history of the forced removal of peaceful people. Though it was a little annoying that this group of people were entirely beautiful and white. Did the filmmakers think that this would make the audience have more sympathy for them, that it was ironic, or were they just not thinking? But these same people were also very dull. Sure, it was cool to see Picard have an age-appropriate (sort of) girlfriend, but otherwise it was difficult to feel much sympathy for the Baku. They should not have to lose their land and culture, but shouldn't these people find a way to share this "fountain of youth" with society in order to help prevent disease?Maybe the Baku would have had more time to discuss this with the Enterprise crew if they didn't have a petulant baby trying to capture them. The film's villain, Ru'afo, has to be the most annoying bad guy in the entire film franchise. He's also less sinister than Sybok (sorry to bring that up). Heck, he's less sinister than the whale-loving space probe, at least that could destroy the planet Earth. Basically, a whining brat is trying to get everything he wants while getting a facelift from stylists in tight-fitting clothes. There's nothing scary about him; disgusting, but not very threatening or interesting. Without an effective villain, the Next Gen crew's conversations about youth and forced relocation end up slowly dragging the film.The effects are very high quality, as the studio gives more and more money to the franchise, and it is funny to see all of the crew revert back to adolescence. But the plot, villain, and pacing makes this feel so much more like an episode of the series rather than a film. In fact, the film might be much more enjoyable if the viewer stops half-way through and finishes it up a week later. That might be something worth trying, but for someone else because I don't think I can take watching Ru'afo ever again.Some final thoughts: Worf going through Klingon puberty might be worth its own film. Jonathan Frakes, how long have you been waiting to have scenes like that with Marina Sirtis? Also, how did a movie with such a simple plot get so convoluted with those three space ships at its climax? I must have missed something as I was zoning out. And you would think that the Federation would not get so easily used by such a screaming idiot as Ru'afo. Oh well, the scenic shots were nice.*My film rating follows the soccer player rating measure of 6 as a baseline: you did what was expected of you. This film is a 5 because it attempts to hold to what made the Next Generation series successful as it confronts the horrible act of forced relocation, but its complete lack of a compelling villain makes the plot feel too dull and the strong acting and effects can't carry the movie.

"Star Trek: Insurrection" is a mildly enjoyable entry for the film franchise. Much like "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier", ILM was left out of the effects work on this one and it shows. It shows big time. Unlike that film, this one is competent in other ways, despite shoddy effects work. Jonathan Frakes continued to prove he deserved to make it big as a director, and he continues the gentle good humor, quick pacing, and eye to detail he showed in the last installment. So to this day I am saddened he didn't make it as a big studio director, since he so clearly shows the talent for it.The cast is fine, the story is bland but just engaging enough, and the movie generally achieves what it sets out to do. It might be one of the entries that is less accessible for the uninitiated, however. 3 (out of 4)