Susan Granger's review of "STAR TREK: INSURRECTION" (Paramount Pictures)
Love springs eternal in this ninth film of the popular "Star Trek" franchise, as Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) is attracted to Anij, one of the leaders of an endangered planet and First Officer William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) resumes his romance with Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis). True to the spirit of the Starship Enterprise, whose purpose is to explore strange, new worlds and, in doing so, learn about many different species, Captain Picard and his crew come to the rescue of the Ba'ku, a small community of humanoid people whose serene and peaceful way of life is threatened, along with the Fountain of Youth properties of their planet's atmosphere. And, as it has been so often, the Star Trek plot is a metaphor for current events with Picard challenging a Starfleet authority that he believes to be corrupt and becoming an intrepid freedom fighter. Doing his best to overcome the weaknesses of the script - a blustering but relatively ineffectual alien villain (F. Murray Abraham), a leading lady who totally lacks screen charisma (Broadway's two-time Tony winner, Donna Murphy), and an overdose of techno-babble - director Jonathan Frakes keeps the pace light and lively, breaking from the standard save-the-universe, thrill-ride formula and emerging more as a robust, fun-filled reunion episode of "Star Trek: Next Generation." To its credit, once again, the humanity outweighs the hardware. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Star Trek: Insurrection" is a breezy, lightweight 7, combining idealism, action-adventure, and the requisite special effects with some of the gentle humor and romance that characterized the original television series.
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