STAR TREK: INSURRECTION (Paramount) Starring: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, F. Murray Abraham. Screenplay: Michael Piller. Producer: Rick Berman. Director: Jonathan Frakes. MPAA Rating: PG (profanity, violence) Running Time: 101 minutes. Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.
By now, every "Star Trek" fan deserving of the name is familiar with the "odd-even" rule for the feature films. The second, fourth, sixth and eighth films in the series have been the most entertaining; the first, third, fifth and seventh, not so much. STAR TREK: INSURRECTION, the latest biannual return of the "Next Generation" cast, marks the ninth big-screen journey into the Trek universe, inspiring a combination of trepidation and hope. Could this finally be the adventure which would break the odd-number jinx?
Well, not exactly. STAR TREK: INSURRECTION is an average story, competently told, energized primarily by the chance to mingle once again with the characters from the "Next Generation" television series. The premise finds the Enterprise called to assist when Data (Brent Spiner), participating in a mission on another planet, apparently malfunctions. Once in the system, Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) and company discover the voluntarily agrarian Ba'ku society about to be removed from the planet by an alliance between a Federation admiral (Anthony Zerbe) and a race called the Son'a, led by Ru'afo (F. Murray Abraham). It seems that radiation on the Ba'ku planet possesses a "fountain of youth" quality which makes it incredibly valuable, particularly to the genetically deteriorating Son'a. Picard is outraged by the plan to forcefully relocate the Ba'ku, however, and leads his crew to help defend the planet against the Son'a's sinister plans.
STAR TREK: INSURRECTION, like most of the films in the series, is clearly designed to appeal to the Trek faithful first, and to a broader audience second. That's one of the qualities which makes INSURRECTION feel as fragmented as it does. Every cast member gets to bow to the crowd in a showcase sub-plot -- Data bonds with a Ba'ku boy over the mysteries of childhood; Worf (Michael Dorn) re-experiences Klingon puberty as a side-effect of the planet's radiation; Riker (Jonathan Frakes, who also directed) gets frisky with Troi (Marina Sirtis) and shaves off his beard; LaForge (LeVar Burton) has his natural eyesight regenerated and weeps at the sight of a sunset. During the run of the series, each cast member could get a couple of episodes per season to anchor the main story line. Over the course of a 100 minute film, trying to give seven characters enough to do to keep them happy leads to plenty of punch lines but not enough focus.
It's particularly unfortunate that all the business for the other crew members draws attention away from Patrick Stewart. Here he gets a romantic relationship with a Ba'ku woman (Donna Murphy), as well as a chance to lecture on the historical tragedies of "ethnic cleansing." Stewart has the presence to make virtually anything he does feel commanding, but there's always a sense that he should have _more_ to do. Just as he was always the best thing about the "Next Generation" series, he's the bext thing about the "Next Generation" films, whether playing the fool in a ceremonial headdress or radiating moral courage. Stewart as Picard is almost always going to be a good enough reason to watch a Trek film, while watching him step back for the good of the ensemble will always be a bit disappointing.
There are other good reasons to see this particular film, including some sharply-staged action sequences (Frakes showed a similar facility in 1996's FIRST CONTACT) and plenty of belly laughs. There are also other reasons to be disappointed, including a wasted villain in F. Murray Abraham and a resolution which you may miss if you blink. Altogether it feels a bit small for the big screen, more like a solid episode of the series (complete with obvious allegory) than a film. Perhaps there aren't that many great ideas for Trek features to go around, and maybe that's why the heirs to Gene Roddenberry's vision manage to come up with a really good one only once every four years. If they decided not to make a movie every two years, and waited until that really good idea was ready, they could eliminate that "odd-even" problem once and for all.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 Trek meets: 6.
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