Star Trek: Insurrection

Starring: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frankes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, F. Murray Abraham
Directed by: Jonathan Frankes
Rating: PG
Genre: Science Fiction, Action
1998

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: The crew of the Enterprise, including Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) must travel to a utopian planet to find out why Data (Brent Spiner) has haywired. They soon uncover a terrible plot to take advantage of the planet's unique properties.

Review:

Tim: After the entertaining First Contact, this film is a bit of a disappointment. I thought it was one of the weakest Star Trek films in the whole franchise. I never really got into the story, the villains, or the dangerous situations our heroes find themselves in. I felt a bit bored, disconnected from the plot, and longing for the days of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy.

This film plot is dense and not particularly interesting. We have some strange aged alien people, some commentary on eternal life, and some big Starfleet conspiracy. Honestly, it was hard to get into the plot, which never really created any powerful reaction in me at all. I knew that none of our heroes would be in any real danger, which took me out of the film. I felt like I'd seen this all before, albeit in different films. The movie has a strangely lighthearted feel to it. I don't mind this newer cast taking a more easygoing attitude, but it felt like this took away from the film's ability to thrill us and keep us in suspense.

I feel like I am nitpicking a bit, but I prefer my Star Trek movies to have some great scenes on board the Enterprise. I love watching spaceships battling it out in outerspace, but there were too few of those scenes here. Most of the film takes place on a planet, which is fine, but it slightly detracted from my excitement around this movie.

Star Trek: Insurrection is one of the weakest films in the franchise. It does happen to continue the Star Trek curse (the even films are good, the odd films are not), as this is the 9th film in the franchise. Star Trek diehards will probably not want to miss this, but the average moviegoer can pass this one by. There are much better films in the series and the genre, and this film offers far too little to be considered very good at all.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend:
Star Trek, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Star Trek: Generations, Star Trek: First Contact