I re-watched
Generations,
First Contact,
Insurrection and
Nemesis this past weekend.
I've always felt that
Generations suffers from the creative team having difficulty transitioning from television to film.
What was so noticeable this time was that the story telling feels labored in a way that only an existing fan of the Next Gen series would forgive. The stakes are never adequately demonstrated and the film leaps from ship to ship to ship to Nexus to ship to uninhabited rocky terrain giving the story a claustrophobic feel that could have been accomplished on a television episode budget. The scenes with Kirk and Picard are only shared with Dr. Soran so this legendary pairing seems incredibly isolated. (You couldn't squeeze in a scene on the Enterprise where the bridge crew is looking at the main viewer to check up on Picard and sees Kirk and are all like..WTF!?) Soran is killed and after Kirk dies Picard buries him so when Picard gets back to Star Fleet and explains that he had an adventure with the great Captain Kirk they probably thought he'd hit his head.
Picard: "But I did meet James Kirk! I did! Doesn't anyone believe me?"
Star Fleet Command: "Sure you did, Jean Luc. We understand. Just last week I became Abraham Lincoln and fought along side Kirk, Spock and Surak of Vulcan. Why don't you take extended shore leave on Risa?"
Not terrible but not awesome.
My opinion of
First Contact hasn't changed...
Insurrection is pretty much a film of two halves. The first half is a typical low key Next Gen story about wrestling with philosophical issues in a quiet and dignified manner and in the second half a hollywood feature almost breaks out. If I didn't love Next Gen I might have fallen asleep before the beginning of the third act. Not a great formula for selling tickets to the general public.
Not terrible but not awesome.
After staying away from watching
Nemesis for several years I found the film to be well acted and directed but just a little misguided.
I have always liked the premise and a good deal of the film is entertaining. The sub-plot involving B4 is distracting and unnecessary, especially how he is found in the first act.
Not terrible but not awesome.
And oh by the way let me reiterate...
Kirk is the ultimate Star Ship Captain.
IMHO of course.