As Tolian Soran said a few missions back, “...time is going to hunt you down, and make the kill," and time is on the hunt for Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the crew of the Federation Starship Enterprise-E. As their tenure with Starfleet is about to reach its sunset, they’re called upon to rendezvous with Shinzon (Tom Hardy), the new Romulan Praetor to enter peace negotiations with the Federation. Only Shinzon isn’t a Romulan… he’s human, the failed experimental clone of Jean-Luc Picard! Faced with a younger more violent version of himself, Picard must once again protect the Federation from a threat unlike anything the galaxy has ever seen before.
All good things must come to an end, and we can only hope they end gracefully and fitfully. No one likes to see their heroes depart, but we can hope they’re able to go out strong. I don’t think Star Trek: Nemesis was intended to be the final cinematic voyage of Picard and his crew, but it sadly ended up that way after a dismal box office performance. As what has been a common theme for this round of films, Nemesis was a victim of competing ideals for a franchise with an identity crisis. One of my production professors at the time put it succinctly, “It’s a movie trying to hold onto the television series while also trying to be Star Wars.”
On one hand Nemesis is sticking to its roots with interesting thematic elements about age, youth, and legacy. On the other hand, it’s also all about dune buggy “pew-pew” blaster fights. There’s an attempt at duality with ideas of Picard coming face to face with a violent version of himself and if he could have been the same under different circumstances. The version that could have been. Meanwhile, Data discovers another prototype of himself with B4 and attempts to upgrade and enhance this simpler more innocent android. But then we have to have those big space battles to keep those butts in theater seats excited with the Scimitar attacking the Enterprise. It tries to be small and ponderous and big and loud at the same time but
All bumps aside, at least it’s entertaining. The new creative team of director Stuart Baird and writer John Logan definitely help to elevate this film above Insurrection (although as evidenced by his audio commentary, Baird might not have been the best choice). There’s energy and drive to break out of the small screen mold. And to that point, this is a creative move that probably should have happened a lot earlier in this Crew’s cinematic run. It would have also been wise to emulate some of the playbook moves of the Original Crew’s films with a multi-part storyline. Nemesis certainly feels like it’s trying to set up future adventures while the previous three films were content to be simple one-off episodes rather than an arching story.
And when this film failed at the box office in 2002, that was it. It was all over. We got the fleeting final image of B4 singing a song Data had stored in his memory banks and Paramount moved on to reboot the franchise with the uneven Kelvin timeline (that still may or may not have a fourth film coming). It took 18 years for the powers that be to decide it was time to come back to Picard and his crew and give them a genuinely satisfying final mission. While the first two seasons of Picard were decent, this third season is giving fans of Jean-Luc, Riker, Troi, Worf, Data, Geordi, and Crusher the finale we could have only hoped for so long ago. If there's room at the end of this last season for another Next Generation theatrical adventure, I wouldn't be upset.
Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
The fourth and final cinematic adventure of the Next Generation crew, Star Trek: Nemesis, beams down to 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray with a two-disc 4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital set from Paramount. Housed in a standard sturdy case, the 4K is pressed on a BD-66 with a BD-50 saved for the remastered 1080p presentation and bonus features. Both discs load to static-image main menus.
After the bright and cheery-looking Insurrection, Nemesis went dark… literally. This is a very dark-looking film as a key character is adverse to bright lights, so it's often steeped in pitch black with dynamic ominous shadows - and it looks great in 4K with Dolby Vision HDR. I heard it joked this lighting scheme was done so Paramount didn’t have to pay to paint the sets. True or not, when the lights are on, the film looks terrific with impressive details in facial features, costumes, and the slick makeup and creature effects for the Remans. CGI work is also a little stronger here than past films. Some of the CGI ship models can look a little weightless, but a lof of the effects hold up beautifully. Fine film grain is present throughout and there isn’t any signs of troublesome modulation or smoothing.
Dolby Vision (and HDR10) work well for this outing, especially because of the film’s deep black levels and frequent shadowed imagery. The blacks are deep, ominous, and inky but offer some excellent shadow separation and depth. Even in the darkest scenes, it feels like there’s more to the background than past releases. Colors are bold with beautiful primaries with healthy natural skin shades. Whites are crisp and clear without issue. Once again this is another excellent Trek transfer for 4K leaving the film looking better than ever on disc.
Star Trek: Nemesis also enjoys a full-throated active and engaging Dolby TrueHD 7.1 track. As silly as that dune buggy blaster battle race was, it sounds fantastic! Much like First Contact, a little more action goes a long way with this mix. The soundscape feels wide and expansive for those big open sequences in the desert or in Shinzon’s main hall but then can tighten up and feel claustrophobic for the battle on the Scimitar. Blaster fire and explosions and the hum of warp engines add some fun rumble into the subs. Dialog is clean and clear throughout without issue - Tom Hardy doesn’t do a goofy voice in this film. As the final completed score from Jerry Goldsmith before he passed away, it’s a great piece of work and sounds teriffic in this mix. There are quiet conversational moments that keep things relatively front/center focused, but there’s enough small activity in the sides and music in the rears to keep your channels engaged throughout. (The remastered Blu-ray enjoys this same excellent new 7.1 track as well).
The Paramount didn’t seem to mind that Star Trek: Nemesis was a flop at the box office, this release is stuffed to the gills with bonus content including three interesting audio commentaries. The Baird track is noteworthy for how much he just didn’t want this Star Trek film to be a Star Trek film, the other tracks are interesting but as has always been the case, the Michael and Denise Okuda tracks have always been the best and their text and audio commentaries continue that trend. The rest of the archival production and behind-the-scenes features are well worth the journey.
4K UHD Disc
Blu-ray Disc
Star Trek: Nemesis was the end of an era. The tenth cinematic adventure should have been a fresh restart for the Next Generation crew looking to close out their tenure on the Enterprise. Instead, a film with a lot of potential misses as often as it hits. The action is more aggressive and intense and the villain is great, but the film ultimately mismanages its best assets for an entertaining but ultimately middling final cinematic voyage. Not the worst Trek film, but still far from the best. Even this middling adventure enjoys a pretty damned terrific 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release. The new Dolby Vision transfer is a notable improvement over past discs with an exciting Dolby TrueHD 7.1 track to match. Toss in hours of informative bonus features and this is a more than worthwhile upgrade. Recommended
