Star Trek: Insurrection Review
by "Nathaniel R. Atcheson" (nate AT pyramid DOT net)December 25th, 1998
Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)
Director: Jonathan Frakes
Cast: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, F. Murray Abraham Screenplay: Rick Berman, Michael Piller
Producers: Rick Berman
Runtime:
US Distribution: Paramount
Rated PG: action violence, mild language
Copyright 1998 Nathaniel R. Atcheson
One can not observe a Star Trek movie and expect to see serious science fiction. The purpose of Star Trek is to provide flashy, innocent fun. Sometimes the stories are compelling. Sometimes they’re not. But, with the exception of the first film in the series (which provides little more than endless shots of amazed faces), I’ve never been bored by any of the Enterprise’s numerous missions.
Star Trek: Insurrection is no exception. The film has gotten some negative reviews (a friend of mine actually thinks it’s the worst in the series), but I’m not really sure why. It’s an exciting, often hilarious movie that engaged me and left me ready for the next Star Trek film. Some say it’s a bit too light, and more of a long episode than a film. Others say the special effects are cheesy and that it’s boring. I simply enjoyed the film.
Insurrection, which is the second film to feature strictly the Next Generation cast, introduces us to a race of people called the Ba’ku; the Ba’ku are very old (most of them are about three hundred years old), but they actually appear younger with age due to strange radiation in the rings of their planet. Of course, these peaceful people can’t horde this fountain of youth all for themselves – leave it up to their archenemies, the Son’a, led by Ru’afo (F. Murray Abraham), to mess everything up.
The Son’a, who are horribly disfigured and rely on daily reconstructive surgery to be aesthetically acceptable, strike a deal with the Federation to move the Ba’ku elsewhere and exploit the secret to keep their race from dying. That’s when Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) steps in: he realizes that moving the Ba’ku would kill them (it also helps that he falls in love with a Ba’ku woman (Donna Murphy)). So, with his trusty crew, Picard defies the federation to keep the Ba’ku in their natural habitat.
When dealing with a series with as much history as this, it’s not entirely necessary to re-introduce your characters with each episode. This is why I believe non-fans have a hard time getting into Star Trek; in order to enjoy it, one has to understand how to approach it. Insurrection, however, does a surprisingly good job of us new aspects of the characters. Stewart is bold as always, a magnetic screen presence and perfectly capable of holding an entire film together. Jonathan Frakes, who also directed, is funny as Commander Riker; a subplot with Data (Brent Spiner) discovering his lost childhood is fairly interesting; and Abraham makes a perfect Star Trek villain, overacting like crazy.
Frakes showed similar aptitude for direction in First Contact; Insurrection is an exciting film, with some really attractive special effects and a lot of good action. This is apparently the first Star Trek film to utilize computer animation, and the result is very pleasing to the eye: particularly in the climactic scenes, in which the Son’a employ a giant space ship to suck up the rings of the Ba’ku planet, the special effects have a clean, impressively sharp look.
If I have any complaint about the film, it’s that it tries to take a moral stance when it’s not very appropriate to do so. I don’t think it’s that big of a deal that the Federation wanted to move 600 Ba’ku in order to save the lives of thousands. Better yet, why couldn’t they have co-existed? Insurrection feels a little to light to spring these kinds of big moral questions on the audience. With it’s inherent camp factor, the Star Trek series doesn’t seem well-equipped to deal with issues like this. I prefer to just enjoy the spectacle.
Psychosis Rating: 7/10
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