Star Trek: Insurrection

The maturity of the Star Trek saga and its remarkable fan base have combined to produce a polished film that shines like a crown jewel in the Star Trek firmament.

The extravagant makeup and special effects are actually unobtrusive because they're demanded by the pleasantly formulaic story, whose conflicts -- and broad, innocuous political allegory -- justify the heartwarming resolution.

It's an interesting story, more accessible to non-Trekkers than previous entries.

Star Trek: Insurrection lacks the adrenalized oomph of its predecessor, but no adventure of the Starship Enterprise is without its gee-whiz affability.

Rather than build on the new momentum, this one's a bit more of a cruise-control effort.

That's the moral nut of this highly unexceptional episode, a midlife production in which each Enterprise crew member does his or her vaudeville act.

A muddled, gimpy mess, filled with the worst sort of Trek clichés and ill-timed humorous outbursts.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Not terrible, with good acting, and it's the only one that has Picard in control, though if I were to name this film I would call it, Star Trek: His Erection. It's also sluggishly paced, and has plot holes everywhere. Though First Contact had a screwed up script, it has great special effects. The CGI in Insurrection looks cheap, and even laughably bad at times. Worst of all, it feels like an extended episode of the TV series.

This movie is the ninth of the franchise. The script is based on a conspiracy in which the Federation plans to destroy a planet defended by the Enterprise crew, who decides to mutiny. Honestly, it's not a bad idea but we've seen so many movies about high-level conspiracies (governments, states, etc.) that everything becomes a bit predictable from a certain moment. Patrick Stewart did not disappoint the fans and did quite well in this film, as did Brent Spiner, who plays a very important role in the screenplay. It is a film with a dramatic charge more intense than some of its predecessors. CGI and the special effects seemed good to me and were used consciously, without exaggeration but, despite these merits and being a movie worth watching, there's nothing to make this movie striking or memorable.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

The absolute worst of all the Trek films, simply not even worthy of the name.