Star Trek: Nemesis Parent Guide

While Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) are getting married, something is going wrong in the hostile Romulan Empire. A new leader named Shinzon (Tom Hardy) has come to power in a military coup and might pose an unstable new threat to the Federation. Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his crew are dispatched to Romulus to meet him, but they aren’t ready for what they find: it seems Picard and Shinzon have more in common than anyone would have expected…

Since this is the last film to feature the cast of The Next Generation, it has some significant advantages. First, the screenwriters can kill off any characters they want, since they don’t have to worry about complications in the TV show or future films. Second, the movie comes over a decade after the show first aired, and special effects are considerably more sophisticated now than they were in 1987.

Despite those advantages, this isn’t the strongest film in the franchise. The plot is trying to dissect the old nature vs. nurture debate and while almost succeeds, it doesn’t do justice to the more dramatic intergalactic consequences the story entails. I’m not usually one to criticize a film for over-focusing on character development, but when it has two characters undergoing functionally identical plotlines, you get the feeling the movie could have cut one of the arcs and added some scope beyond the ship.

All that said, this is one of the Star Trek movies I’ve liked the most. Maybe it’s Tom Hardy’s slightly awkward acting, maybe it’s the improved CGI, maybe it’s just that I am in love with the design of the Enterprise E, but whatever the reason, I just think this movie is a lot of fun. The Next Generation cast has had the benefit of a lot more time together than the original series cast, and the chemistry works really well. Patrick Stewart is always worth watching, which helps too.

As a family film, this may be a little violent for some audiences, but it compensates by having no profanity whatsoever. That’s unusual in any movie, let alone a big action/adventure sci-fi franchise like this. There is no drug use, minimal drinking, and the only sex occurs between married adults, which is unusual for the franchise. Parents will want to note that there is a scene where an alien enters a woman’s mind, making her think that he is having a sexual relationship with her. This causes real emotional suffering for her and might be upsetting for some viewers. The protagonists are excellent role models, devoted to their friends and families, and determined to work hard and protect the ones they care about. It’s unfortunate that this is the last film from TNG, but all good things come to an end.