

*This review was originally published at "The Juicy Cerebellum" and is
copyright 1998 Alex Sandell [All Rights Reserved].  To read the full review,
head to www.juicycerebellum.com*

If Merchant-Ivory produced a "Star Trek" film, this would be it. A man who
must have been about 7 feet tall sat in front of me at the theater, blocking
my view. At first, this infuriated me; by the end of the movie I felt like
thanking him. Watching his gigantic head bobbing up and down was the only
thing that managed to keep me awake.

"Insurrection" runs less than two hours but feels like it never ends. Whenever
Picard's new girlfriend Anij (Donna Murphy) magically puts the world in slow-
motion (don't ask), it feels like director Jonathan Frakes is applauding his
pacing of the film. It just plods along as though there is no need to actually
entertain the audience when you can just bore the hell out of them and still
bring in 30-million the first week.

There are a few redeeming scenes toward the end of the movie, but nothing you
haven't seen in the million sci-fi flicks that have went before it. There's
nothing new in the special-effect's department, either. The effects seem to
have been sacrificed to cover the lead actor's ever-growing salaries. The film
suffers from a dated look due to this. 1996's "Star Trek: First Contact" was
ahead of its time with the stunning visual effects it showed us. It is
unfortunate "Insurrection" took a step backward.

All in all, this film isn't worth your time. It is nothing more than one of
those "sucky" episodes you would turn off on TV. "Oh, no! They're playing that
'Insurrection' episode again! Is 'Jerry Springer' on?"

If you must see it, wait for video. Pass this one up at the theater and go
rent any of the even numbered sequels such as parts 2, 4, 6 or 8. When it
comes to the "Star Trek" series, odd just isn't better.

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