Subject: Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)

From: [email-masked] (Christian Pyle)
Date: 30 Jan 1999 17:31:48 GMT

STAR TREK:  INSURRECTION (1998)

a review by Christian Pyle

Of the nine Star Trek films, "Insurrection" most closely approximates the style
of the television series.  It begins, as many TV episodes did, with a
surprising turn of events that intrigues the viewer.  Working with an invisible
survey team, Lt. Cmdr. Data (Brent Spiner) suddenly reveals his presence to the
planet's inhabitants and takes hostages.  Of course, his pals on the Enterprise
rush to investigate.  They discover that the planet's inhabitants-the
Ba'ku-possess immortal youth thanks to the "metaphasic radiation" provided by
the planet's rings and that a Federation admiral (Anthony Zerbe) is plotting
with a dying race-the Son'a-to relocate the Ba'ku and steal the radiation.

The inevitable clash between the admiral and Capt. Picard (Patrick Stewart)
concerns the Federation's Prime Directive, the rule of non-interference with
other cultures.  The Directive was invented back in the original 1960's TV
series as a band-aid for Star Trek's dirty little secret, its roots in
imperialist mythology.  All that boldly-go-where-no-one-has-gone-before,
basic-human-quest-to-explore stuff is the old cover story for European
campaigns to conquer, colonize, and exploit everyone else in the world.  The
Prime Directive reassures viewers that the Federation has higher, selfless
ideals.

Occasionally, Star Trek explores its roots.  In one of the last episodes of the
"Next Generation" series, for example, the Federation ordered Picard to
relocate a tribe of Native Americans because of a treaty the Federation made
with the Cardassians.  "Insurrection" is in the same mold, but seems
artificial:  the Ba'ku are peaceloving and kind; the Son'a are twisted and
selfish.  If the two groups were not so clearly a dichotomy of good and evil,
the movie would be more engaging.

"Insurrection" is the best of the "Next Generation" series thus far, and best
captures the intelligence of the TV series.  However, there are problems with
bringing this crew from the small screen to the large.  The major one is that
the movie is crowded.  While the "classic crew" had a subset (Kirk, Spock, and
McCoy) that, convention dictated, would receive most of the attention, the six
characters serving under Picard all have fan followings and seem to require
equal screen time.  Characters have to be developed on the fly, and little time
is left to introduce each of them to a new audience.

Michael Piller's script is peppered with jokes, probably in an attempt to give
this film the appeal that "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" (1986) had.  The
humor that comes out of the personality of the characters works well-for
example, Data, an android long obsessed with understanding the human
experience, befriends a child and learns to play-but other gags are just
embarrassing.  
     
Grade:  C+