

There's a time-honored theory among hardcore viewers of the "Star Trek"
films: Every odd-numbered movie in the series stinks.
 For example, the first, "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," was a long-winded
yawn, but the follow-up, "The Wrath of Khan" was terrific fun. The third,
"Search For Spock," was mildly tedious, but the fourth, "The Journey Home,"
spiced up the usual formula with romance and wacky humor, as the Enterprise
crew tried to fit in in contemporary San Francisco. And so on and on.
 "Star Trek: Insurrection" is the ninth installment, following 1996's "First
Contact," which many regard as one of the very finest of the bunch.
"Insurrection" doesn't have the nightmarish visuals of that film, or as
strong a story, but it features enough goofy humor and clever plot twists to
qualify as the "Trek" that effectively breaks the curse.
 The movie's single best feature is its villain Ru'afo, played with scornful
malevolence by F. Murray Abraham; he can take his place alongside Alice
Krige's Borg Queen in "First Contact" and Ricardo Montalban's Khan as a
memorably creepy nemesis.
 Ru'afo is the leader of a race that ages so quickly they must frequently
subject themselves to the scariest onscreen face-lifts since Katherine
Helmond's nip and tuck in "Brazil." So who can blame him and his gang for
wanting to move to a planet where pulsating rings of radiation have allowed
the peaceful Baku to remain both youthfully spry and as mellow as the
inhabitants of Shangri-La?
 After meeting the Baku, most of whom talk like they've read too much Rod
McKuen ("A single moment in time can be a universe in itself," theorizes
one), Picard (Patrick Stewart) decides to prevent Ru'afo's planned
relocation of the tribe to another world. Cue the requisite explosions,
chases and perils.
 But though it moves swiftly, Michael Piller's screenplay takes a few breaks
for romance -- Picard and Riker (Jonathan Frakes, who also directed) each
get a love interest -- and laughs, as Data (Brett Spiner) rehearses "HMS
Pinafore" and Picard re-discovers the magic of the mambo. If the picture
errs on the side of touchy-feely occasionally, it still manages to regain
its bearings in time for a suspenseful climax that includes a major surprise
regarding Ru'afo.
 Though it's not quite top-flight, "Insurrection" is reasonable fun and its
tale of eternal life is quite fitting in this, the 20th anniversary of the
"Star Trek" movies. Live long and prosper, indeed.
James Sanford