Trekkies (or "Trekkers," depending on who you ask) would tell you that when it comes to the "Star Trek" movies, for whatever reason, the even-numbered ones are good, while the odd-numbered ones tend to suck. Let's examine this:
Now comes "Star Trek: Nemesis," the tenth "Star Trek" movie, and another even-numbered one. A lot of care was taken to make sure that this movie didn't suck. The interval between "Star Trek" films is usually two or three years, but this one wasn't released till four years after the last one. They took their time to get it right. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you "Star Trek: Nemesis," the first shitty even-numbered "Star Trek" movie.
The worst thing about this movie is how boring it is. Wow, it drags. Even the action sequences are dull. The worst has got to be the dune buggy chase sequence. They weren't really on dune buggies, but they looked like they were, and they may as well have been. Dune buggies equipped with big guns. The scary thing is that as boring as it is, the theatrical release is almost an hour shorter than the original cut. Supposedly, the longer version will be released on DVD. I'm all for Director's Cuts, but the Director's Cut is a whole hour longer than the shorter version that already seems too long. I'll pass.
"Star Trek: Nemesis" was directed by Stuart Baird. Prior to this movie, he only directed two movies, "U.S. Marshals" and "Executive Decision." I've seen neither of those, so this is my introduction to his directorial work. I gotta say, I'm unimpressed. Maybe it was because of the cuts he was probably forced to make, but as a former editor (he's a respected editor, known for editing movies directed by Richard Donner, like the first two "Lethal Weapon" movies, "Ladyhawke," "Superman," and "The Omen"), he shoulda known how to have it cut together.
The story was written by John Logan (he wrote "Bats," the HBO TV-Movie about the making of "Citizen Kane," "RKO 281," and the recent remake of "The Time Machine"... he helped write "Gladiator" and "Any Given Sunday") & Rick Berman (took over as head of the "Star Trek" franchise after its creator, Gene Roddenberry, died in the early 90s... did some writing for all of the "Star Trek" shows, and has been involved with the writing of all of the movies since "Star Trek: Generations") & Brent Spiner (his first time doing any writing). John Logan then wrote the screenplay. This was not a good script. There are some interesting setup/payoff type things to be found, but the overall story was very weak. Sorry, guys.
The acting is as good as you'd expect from the cast of "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Some of the actors are really good, but some aren't. I don't need to say who, you can pretty much figure it out. Aside from them, Tom Hardy plays "Praetor Shinzon." I'm not familiar with his previous work, but he's decent in this movie. Decent, but not great. His teeth are scary, take a good look at those things. DAMN! By the way, there are a couple of interesting cameos, one being by a former castmember who nobody likes. If you blink, you'll miss him, though.
I can't really think of too many bright spots in this movie, to be honest with you. Am I saying that there's nothing good about this movie? Nope, I just can't remember. The only good thing I can think of right now is that it was better than "Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights," but that movie was REALLY horrible.
Scale of 1-10: 3