Subject: REVIEW: STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996)

From: [email-masked] (Laurie D. T. Mann)
Date: 25 Nov 1996 17:51:52 GMT

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                            STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT
                       A film review by Laurie D. T. Mann
                        Copyright 1996 Laurie D. T. Mann

Star Trek (8): First Contact

Prediction:  Jonathan Frakes will be the first former
Star Trek cast member to win an Oscar for best direction.
Though he won't win for Star Trek 8, he'll go on to do
impressive work in the future.  Frakes' sure direction
and the wonderful ensemble acting of Star Trek 8 carry 
the movie.  Sure to the past trend, the even-numbered
Star Trek movies continue to blow the odd-numbered movies
out of the water.

Using the Borg as the big screen bad-guys was a good idea,
but mixing in two Star Trek cliches in the movie (time
travel and another I choose not to mention here) could have
come close to sinking the ship.  That said, if the Star
Trek writers were going
to dabble in the past again, why not "resurrect" Zeframe
Cochran (a radically different Zeframe Cochran from the
one present 30 years ago, but... ;-> ), the man who both
invented warp drive and initiated Earth's first contact
with aliens?  The view of mid-20th century Earth as
dystopia was kind of depressing, but not nearly so bad as
assimilation plan the Borg wanted to unleash.
The Borg go back to the past to prevent Cochran from launching
his primative warp drive ship, and, of course, the crew of the
Enterprise follow along to stop them.

At one point, pretty early in the movie, it almost
looks like the Enterprise has everything under control.
While the Borg damaged Cochran's test ship
the Enterprise destroyed a Borg ship and found Cochran's
test ship (cleverly built in an
abandoned missle silo).  However, the Borg had managed 
to sneak onboard and start assimilating the 
Enterprise and its crew.  That leaves Picard, Data,
Crusher, Worf and some "red shirts" on the Enterprise to
duke it out with the Borg, and Riker, Troi and Geordie
on the Earth to find Cochran and make sure his damaged warp
ship takes off as planned.

The acting is just great, including James Cromwell (Babe, and
some STNG episodes) and Alfre Woodard (Cross Creek, Grand Canyon).
Woodard does more with her eyes than many actors can do with
their whole faces.  Another great bit of casting was Alice 
Krige as the Borg queen, as malicious a character as Star Trek
writers have ever created.  When I reviewed Generations two years
ago, I said:

   Generations lurches off your screen with lots of destroyed
space        ships, massive plot holes, and a few really great scenes
mixed 
   in just to make it frustrating. Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner 
   are so good it's like they're in another movie. All the women      
characters are completely and frustratingly wasted.
   The direction is also wildly erratic....

This time, everyone in the cast is terrific, though Stewart and
Spiner still outshone the other actors.  The female crew 
members were a  little stronger, but I still would like to see 
more of Sirtis and MacFadden in a Star Trek movie.

While I found the plot a little stupid, it was a more logical story
than Generations, and the dialog was sharp. My plot quibbles 
might be more because I've seen so much Star Trek and read so
much science fiction over the years.  I'm
not sure if a "novice viewer" would have more plot quibbles or
fewer.  To their credit, the writers did turn almost ever
Star Trek cliche they used on its ear, particularly in a climatic
scene late in the film between Woodard and Stewart.  And many
scenes used in the trailers and commercials were taken out of
context in an unusual fashion - the movie would then go off in
a wholly different and wonderful direction.
As with most Star Trek movies, there are wonderful comic
bits that are fun, but these didn't ruin the flow of the movie.

The special effects, particularly the opening shot in the movie,
are just first-rate. 

This movie is definitely worth your time, and rates a strong
8 on the IMDB rating scale.

I hope that when they start to write the next Star Trek movie
that they think about creating an original story, and one
without time travel.  Between all the time travel in this
movie and in the recent TV shows, it's a science fiction cliche
I'd like to see less of.  

-- 
*** Laurie D. T. Mann ** [email-masked] ***
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