Coverage:

Being a Trekie from the James Kirk/Mr. Spock era, I never fully embraced the Next Generation cast. However, "Star Trek 8," when the Next Generation crew fought the Borg, is one of my favorite films. And admittedly, I did get hooked on the television series, "Star Trek Voyager." That being said, "Star Trek Nemesis" should satisfy most Star Trek fans. There’s plenty of phaser blasts, explosions and hostile aliens. On this mission, which should be the last if we can believe the movie's tagline "A generation's final journey begins," the Romulans plan to replace Capt. Picard (Patrick Stewart ) with his genetically engineered clone named Shinzon (Tom Hardy), to spy on the Federation. However, the Romulans dump the plan - which required kidnapping Picard for a badly needed blood transfusion to Shinzon because his blood has mutated. Instead, the Romulans exile Shinzon in the dilithium mines of a Romulan sister planet to die. Of course this little setback doesn’t set well with Shinzon, especially since he needs an excuse to try and kill Picard and the Enterprise crew for the next two hours. So in the tradition of a true villain, Shinzon sets in motion a plan to transfuse himself with Picard's blood and destroy Earth and anybody else who gets in his way. There is a subplot involving Data (Brent Spiner) who has his own double trouble, in search of his own humanity that adds a twist to the end. "Nemesis," while satisfying to fans, lacks the epic feel of the earlier Star Trek movies, mainly the even numbered ones. As you probably know, critics and fans feel the even number films are the best, and the odd number ones are, well…not so good. "Nemesis" does seem to break that rule, however. Although the sets are spectacular thanks to the magic of CGI, in the final analysis I had the feeling "Nemesis" was just an overblown Star Trek episode.