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Star Trek Sunday: Insurrection

A review by Brooks Rich

This is a film often considered one of the worst in the Stark Trek series. No one has ever said it's worse than Final Frontier but I've seen it listed just above Final Frontier. I don't know if I agree with that. It's not awful but it's not great either. I refer to it as the most meh film of the series. You might like it. You might not. But it's definitely a let down after the awesomeness of First Contact.

The Enterprise arrives on a planet populated by the Ba'ku, a species that has shunned technology and lives a simple life, after Commander Date malfunctions during an observation mission. After spending time on the planet, the crew notices changes in their bodies, where it seems they are getting healthier and even younger. Picard discovers that a radiation from the planets rings has regenerative properties, essentially making the Ba'ku immortal. The Federation is working with a mysterious race known as the Son'a, they're no Borg, to relocate the Ba'ku and harvest the planets rings. Picard and the Enterprise crew rebel against the Federation in order to help the Ba'ku.

Yeah it's just not that exciting after First Contact. It's another film that would make a pretty interesting  episode but as a film it just feels like it's lacking. Plus the humor in this film really brings it down. I don't always mind when TNG gets funny but here it feels so forced and awkward. They can only make Data doesn't understand what it means to be human jokes so many times.

F. Murray Abraham is the villain of this movie, the sinister leader of the Son'a, Ru'Afo. He does a great job for playing a character that's pretty one dimensional. There's not much too this plot or this movie. It's very just meh. Picard's lover interest Anij is pretty boring, especially after Alfred Woodard in First Contact, and Anthony Zerbe as the Federation Admiral looks bored. Overall it's just not a very exciting film. Frakes is back in the directors seat and tries his best but Insurrection just doesn't offer much.

Next week we wrap up the main Star Trek series with another polarizing film. It's a shame the Enterprise crew kind of went out with a whimper at the end of their run. Although really it was more like they went out with a shrug.

Rating: 2/5



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