Yeppers, I picked up the Blu Rays of Insurrection and Nemesis, the Next Generation films that happened after First Contact. I've gone back and forth on those movies and though I disagree with some that they are the abominations that they say, to me, those films feel like the Bond franchise, the end of the Roger Moore era and all through the Timothy Dalton era. It feels like the franchise is listless and coasting, the parent company doesn't want to invest real money, and the fans are being taken for granted. Not to mention, the general public is being treated like a bunch of saps.
What do I mean? Attend...
Star Trek Insurrection: The basic idea of this film was a faction of Starfleet brass cooperating with an unscrupulous galactic power to wrest control of a natural resource away from the natives and use it for it's own interests. They kept telling our crew that it was "for the good of Federation citizens", but that was just lip service. We knew it and our crew knows it. So...mayhem ensues.
Now, what went right with this movie? For our crew, lots of good character moments, both funny and poignant. Also, even though the "badmiral" trope is a bit tired, in the context of institutional Starfleet being shaken by wall to wall crises, like the Dominion war and Borg attacks, it does make sense that factions in the institution might become morally unmored and try to take advantage of the confusion while they think no one is looking.
Also, the references to the crises themselves acknowledge a much bigger universe going on around them, which is always a plus.
What went wrong? The main plot, though not bad, did not feel..."big" enough for a movie. It felt like an average episode of the TV series. Which is one of the main disadvantages of just doing movies. "Smaller" stories are more difficult to fit. Not impossible, but it takes more to pull one off on the big screen than the small.
And again, big crazy villain, big captain centered showdown with 'splosions, big shoot 'em up finish. Wash, rinse, repeat. Which brings us to...
Nemesis. Take that last line, repeat dot to dot, just blow it up some more. Sigh. Cept the crazy villain is supremely poorly written, though Tom Hardy has long since redeemed himself with some amazing work, did his best with a supremely poorly conceived villain, a Picard clone who is upset with his lot in life. Boo hoo.
Other than that, the movie really had some cool stuff, like great character moments, some good space battle sequences, and even a decent Data "death" scene.
But...the villain was sooooo poor, the rest of the movie around it goes from being really good to just barely making it. NOT being helped by the "prototype B4 Lore" that Dr. Soong never though to mention in all those times we met him before.
The main reason to enjoy these films is further adventures of our characters and a window into this beloved universe. But the universe nor the characters are not really service or moved forward by said window.
Trek, we know you can do it when you really try.
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