JayDee's Movie Musings

It would appear so. Does this please you?

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Here, if you have a milkshake, and I have a milkshake, and I have a straw. There it is, that's a straw, you see? You watching?. And my straw reaches acroooooooss the room, and starts to drink your milkshake... I... drink... your... milkshake!
-Daniel, There Will Be Blood

YES! The positive rep button is my G spot.

Another film revisited for the long gestating update to my top 100 list.

This also acts as a rebuttal of sorts to Rodent's views on the film which he detailed here. Now in general Rodent and I share quite similar taste in films. However when it comes to Star Trek we differ wildly. While this is my favourite of all the Trek films, Rodent ranks this as his least favourite. The fool!!!











Plot - Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), once assimilated by the alien Borg, now senses that they are about to return. He is proved correct when the Collective engage the Enterprise E in battle, only to escape through a temporal vortex into the Earth's past. Picard and his crew glimpse an alternative Earth which is dominated by the Borg and, in an attempt to find out how the Borg have altered the timeline, follow them back to the year 2063, one day before Zefram Cochran made the first warp drive journey. It was this event that attracted the attention of some passing Vulcans and established Earth's 'first contact' with alien life. While Riker (Jonathan Frakes) leads an away team to prevent the Borg from tampering with the Earth's history, Picard must repel a Borg invasion of the Enterprise.

Without a doubt a large reason as to why I'm such a fan of this film, and why it's my favourite amongst all the Trek films, is down to the crew at its helm. While I love the whole world of Trek (well not Voyager so much) the Next Generation TV series and its cast is by far and away my most beloved of all the series that have been created so far. A large part of why Next Generation has such a place in my heart is down to the character of Jean-Luc Picard as portrayed by the national treasure that is Patrick Stewart. He was absolutely terrific throughout the show's seven year run and surely deserved awards recognition if it weren't for the snooty opinions that so many awards shows seem to have for genre shows. He built such a strong, rich and layered character during the show and was then able to carry it on into the films. Before Next Generation premiered back in 1987 it would have seemed infeasible that any Star Trek captain could come along to challenge Captain Kirk in terms of popularity, and yet Stewart was able to at least match, and arguably surpass the character of Kirk that was so vividly created by William Shatner. And here in First Contact both the character and Stewart himself are given great prominence and absolutely shine.

While I imagine that even newcomers to the world of Trek could enjoy this film, First Contact certainly holds greater rewards for viewers who are well versed with the exploits of Picard and company. The film acts as a sequel of sorts to the classic two-part story, “The Best of Both Worlds.” That story, spread over the third season finale and fourth season opener, concerned the Borg assimilating Captain Picard and converting him to Locutus, a being that would act as an intermediary for the human race and attempt to facilitate their own assimilation. And while his crew were able to save and restore him, the event had a lasting impact upon Picard as can be seen here in First Contact. Generally renowned for being a great leader, this time he allows his personal feelings of revenge towards the Borg to cloud his vision and risk the lives of his crew. References and allusions to the literary classic Moby Dick were a recurring theme throughout the history of Star Trek. Alongside numerous small name drops across all the shows, the story provided the basis really for both Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and here in First Contact. As well as direct references to the novel and its characters both films detail characters who have become so obsessed with the destruction of another individual(s) that it is to the detriment of both themselves and those around them. In Wrath, it is Khan who after being stranded on a desolate planet by Kirk takes on the role of Captain Ahab and becomes immersed with the thought of killing Kirk. While here it is Picard who inhabits the role of Ahab, attempting to slay his own personal white whale in the form of the Borg

So as a result we get quite a different Picard than we became accustomed to. In the conception of Next Generation one of the main issues was making the captain a more believable character, not having him leave the ship all the time, getting into scraps and putting himself in danger as Kirk did. So Picard was more of an intelligent man prone to reason and negotiation. Here however that gets thrown out of the window; this Picard is a bad ass! He's not sending any away teams to do the dirty work here, he's out and blasting away the Borg all by himself. I love the moment where he furiously mows down a couple of Borg with a tommy gun. We also see quite a dark, hard-edged side to Picard at times; at one point unflinchingly killing one of his own men who has been infected by the Borg because there is nothing else he can do for him. He really is all-action. In fact at one point he goes for the full-on John McClane look by sporting a vest. And throughout the film Stewart is just excellent, a real tower of strength.

In addition to touching back on that classic story there are also a number of smaller nods to the show that will put a smile on the faces of long time fans. The use of the Dixon Hill program on the holodeck and the brief cameo for blundering crewmember Reginald Barclay for example. In particular I get a real kick out of the Dixon Hill sequence. While it only featured a small handful of times during the series (3 or 4 episodes I'm thinking) it was always a real favourite of mine. There are also a couple of cameos for non-Next Generation Star Trek alumni in the form of Robert Picardo's holographic doctor and Ethan Phillips (played Neelix in Star Trek Voyager). While even the main plot point goes right back to Starfleet's very beginning with Zefram Cochrane achieving warp drive for the first time. And touching on its past also came into play when it came to the decision of who should direct the film. While he had directed several episodes of all three Trek series that run during the 90s, First Contact marked the feature directorial debut for Jonathan Frakes. And as with Leonard Nimoy before him (The Voyage Home) it proves a very smart appointment. After seven years on the show he is completely aware and informed of all the actors and their characters and fully understands the world of Trek, whilst also proving a dab hand at handling the action sequences

Film Trivia Snippets - Originally Tom Hanks was under consideration for the role of Zefram Cochrane, and as an avid Trekkie Hanks was all for it. However his commitment to writing and starring in That Thing You Do meant that he was forced to pass. /// It only took 30 years but First Contact marked the first occasion where the actual phrase “star trek” was uttered in Star Trek history. It was said by James Cromwell's Zefram Cochrane. /// Here's one of the geekiest in-jokes you'll ever come across. Part of the Borg's uniform consists of an eyepiece which has flashing lights. Throughout the film it uses Morse code to flash the names of people who were associated with the production. /// As I note later on, the film goes for a bit more of a horror tinge than was usually attempted in the TV series. And this is shown up in terms of some of the films that Jonathan Frakes watched before filming for inspiration. He viewed Alien, Aliens, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Blade Runner and Jaws. /// While the producers settled on Frakes due to his experience within the world of Star Trek, he was not apparently the first choice. Reportedly, both Ridley Scott and John McTiernan turned down approaches about directing.

As you would expect given all their years of experience with the characters, pretty much all the actors who are reprising their roles are completely comfortable with them. And going by the TV series it should come as no surprise that the strongest performances come from Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner, while the weakest emerges from Marin Sirtis. James Cromwell is a great deal of fun as Zefram Cochrane, delivering a character completely atypical of what the cast and the audience are expecting given the legend and legacy of the character and his achievements. For the characters of Geordie and Riker it is quite an eye-opening experience and a real example of the whole sentiment that you should never meet your heroes. Expecting to find a man of great intelligence and vision they instead discover that the man they all learned about at school and idolised was in reality a bit of a drunk and a man whose motivations for travelling to the stars were purely fiscal. Cromwell gives us quite an endearing mix of genius and trailer trash. The other main addition to the cast not already known from the TV series is Alfre Woodard as Cochrane's assistant, Lily Sloane. She gives a nice, colourful performance and enjoys a fun dynamic with Patrick Stewart. Her character also proves vital to the story, providing the viewpoint of an outsider and the voice to challenge Picard on his wayward actions.

Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, the Gorn, the Ferengi, the Jem'Hadar, the Q Continuum. Throughout the decades and numerous incarnations that Star Trek has taken on they were never short of great, iconic villains. In my eyes however all of them pale in comparison to the villain that features in First Contact; the Borg. They were a brilliant creation. In fact they're amongst my favourite ever villains period, no matter the TV show or film; although they were rather de-fanged by Star Trek: Voyager. Their concept and modus operandi is intriguing, while visually they were quite a spectacular and captivating design. They are like a fusion of futuristic technology and good old-fashioned zombie. George A. Romero gave us zombies at night, during the day, at dawn and in their own land. Had he given us zombies in space they make have looked a lot like the Borg. They really are so much more creepy because of their passive nature and slow shuffling movement. As well as zombies the other touchstone for me would be an ant colony, all working together as one entity towards a single goal. Jonathan Frakes utilises them to try for a much more horror-tinged instalment of Star Trek. Even though fans will know exactly what they are like from the TV show the film contrives to keep them hidden offscreen for a considerable amount of time to build up their threat and suspense before finally revealing them. For this outing of the Borg a new character was introduced; the Borg Queen who was portrayed by Alice Krige in quite a delicious and hammy fashion. While the character is a lot of fun it did prove a bit of a contentious addition for Trekkies as it didn't really seem to fit with the base intentions of the Borg.

One criticism that has often been levelled at Star Trek's cinematic output is that too often they just feel like extended episodes of the TV shows from which they sprang. Certainly in my eyes I feel that First Contact was able to sidestep that problem both in terms of the scale of its story and how the stakes have been raised in terms of effects. I think First Contact is able to successfully walk the line between feeling like we're still in the same world that was created on the TV screen, but also making it grander for the big screen. We see this right from the start with great effects developing an excellent opening scene which places us in a Borg ship before zooming out to reveal the sheer scale of it. The larger budget and more impresive effects mean that shots of the ship flying through space past planets and galaxies are richer and more beautiful than they have ever been before. I think giving the crew a new ship to inhabit since we last saw them was a smart move. With both the Star Trek: Enterprise TV show and J.J. Abrams' 2009 reboot one of the issues was how to redesign the ship to make it look modern and sleek, while still retaining the basic feel. The new ship allows them to build a new bridge which has more depth and scale to it without stepping on the toes of the old ship from the TV series.

Although in terms of its story it is rather like a classic staple of TV with the film split into two distinctive storylines. The A plot details the efforts of Picard, Worf and assorted crew members to battle against the Borg drones, while the B plot covers the efforts of Riker, Geordie and others at helping Zefram Cochrane to fulfil his destiny as the man who will initiate humanity's first contact with an alien race. The B storyline provides laughs and an interesting little storyline (I always love a time travel story) while the A plot delivers the action. In particular I love the rather unique action sequence set outside of the ship in zero gravity. It's also in the A plot that the impressive effects are seen at their fullest. Which is not to say that it doesn't deliver in terms of depth, with Picard's struggles providing much of the meat of the film. And while it's not explored to it fullest potential there is also an interesting dynamic between Data and the Borg Queen which has a slight hint of sexuality about it. As I already said Krige is entertaining and the same can most certainly be said for the great Brent Spiner as Data who provides a lot of the film's humour and charm. In fact the whole film is just really good fun.

Conclusion - First Contact is generally credited as being the best of the Next Generation films and one of the best of all the Trek outings, though most people would have it behind at least Wrath of Khan and perhaps one or two more. For me however this is without a doubt my favourite outing for the Enterprise. With a strong central performance from Patrick Stewart this is thrilling, action-packed stuff which is still able to retain a touch of the charm and wonder that defines Star Trek.

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Though I still prefer Wrath of Khan and Kirk to the Next Generation, I still thought First Contact was one of the stronger Trek movies.

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Fear and Loathing in MoFo... The Gunslinger 45's Top 50 Favorite Films

In the 10 Ring: Gunslinger45's reviews

Nice review matey!! Got a different special stamp for you...



I still think FC is the weaker of the films though. I still love it, love all the Trek films and the series's's's's's's...

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Rodent, I think your special stamp has blood on it.

The ink pad has too much ink in it.

Very nice review, literally makes me want to go and get it off the shelf. Patrick Stewart really is a Titan here compared with some of the other crew who look like they are delighted to be getting the pay-check without really trying.

It's a shame the battle at the beginning is over in like 2 minutes, I would have loved to see Federation vs Borg tearing each other up for at least a good 10 minute event. They could have shown a lot more before Enterprise turned up.

For me it's by far the best of the Next Generation films but probably somewhere around 4-5th overall behind Wrath of Khan, Undiscovered Country, Voyage Home and Star Trek (2009).

Sometimes I remember feeling that I couldn't wait for the Earth scenes to finish so we could get back to the action on Enterprise.

8/10

I actually watched it again last night thanks to your review. Now that you mentioned it I really noticed all the nods to classic Sci Fi movies that Frakes watched before Directing it. Like how you don't actually see a Borg for quite a while even though a crew member will see them or the Holo Doctor just like in Alien how you don't actually see the Alien for quite a while.

Part's of the Enterprise even start to resemble the areas in Aliens that have been taken over by the "Alien's".

Nice review I am a big Star Trek Fan

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Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.
Buddha

Thanks to everyone for the compliments on my last couple of reviews.

And seeing as other people have been outlining their favourites, just to let everyknow know First Contact is my favourite of all the Trek films as I mentioned. 2nd place would go to A Voyage Home. I can understand why a lot of people think it's a pretty bad film. But I just find it so fun and silly that I love it. In 3rd would be Wrath of Khan. After that not too sure.

Sorry to disappoint Daniel. Well come on with your defence, bring it on!!! Although it looks like you've actually got quite a bunch of people to convince!

You know you're getting really quite good with the backhanded compliments and slipping in little digs here and there!

Thanks gandalf. And that's about the best compliment you can get for a review, to inspire someone to either watch a film for the first time or to rewatch it. Hope you enjoyed going back to it.

Knew this review would appeal to you! After all you're a self-confessed Trekkie tragic!

Plot - Three years after the onset of the Clone Wars the noble Jedi Knights have been leading a massive clone army into a galaxywide battle against the Confederacy of Independent Systems. The Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic reveals his true nature as a Sith Lord as he unveils a plot to rule the galaxy by transforming the Republic into a Galactic Empire. Jedi hero Anakin Skywalker (Christensen) is seduced by the dark side of The Force to become Darth Sidious' new apprentice - Darth Vader. The Jedi have been all but eliminated with Obi-Wan Kenobi (McGregor) and Jedi Master Yoda (Oz) forced into hiding. The only hope for the galaxy is Anakin's own offspring - the twin children born in secrecy who will grow up to become Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia Organa.

Now this is more like it. Much, much, MUCH better. While it still may come up some way short of the original trilogy, in comparison to its prequel counterparts the improvement here is really quite sizeable. Just everything about it is so much better. In fact it was such an improvement that when the end credits began to roll I was expecting to see that it had been written and directed by someone other than George Lucas. In fact I think I found the opening 25 minutes of Sith more satisfying and engaging than the previous four hours of prequels action combined. Right from the off the film opens with a slice of brooding, thumping score music which lets us know that we are in for something decidedly darker than what the prequels had so far delivered. The action opens right in the midst of a huge, chaotic scrap where it becomes immediately apparent that the film's CGI has had a bit of an upgrade. The animation of the characters is much more fluid and believable while the spectacle of the space-set action is more impressive than ever. That action-packed prologue is a particularly impressive sequence. Another factor which improves the action is their storytelling nature, giving them a lot more substance as opposed to the chaotic, throw everything at the screen style of the prequels. After that initial burst of interest the film does once again get a little bogged down in the politics of the whole situation but overall this is a far more entertaining beast than its forebears, with a much more intriguing plot.

Finally both the character of Anakin and the film itself finally embrace their darker side. In fact this is probably the darkest entry in the entire series, surpassing even Empire Strikes Back. And it certainly helps add a richness and depth that was missing in the first two prequels. Around about the time of the Jedi culling, and particularly the slaughter of the younglings, I realised that for the first occasion in the sequels I was actually beginning to care about what was happening; I had become invested in the story and the fates of its characters. While I was actually quite taken aback by the moment where we see Anakin burning in the fires of Mustafar. For a series which had previously been delivering Jar Jar Binks and fart jokes I found it really quite surprising in its graphic nature.

Revenge of the Sith concludes with perhaps the most impressive lightsaber battle of the whole series, a great duel between Obi-Wan and the newly monickered Darth Vader on the volcanic planet of Mustafar; a wonderfully realised world that comes off like a futuristic Mordor. Fighting in amongst a hail of lava showering down around them it is a strongly choreographed fight which unfolds at a lightning speed and contains more emotion than any of the other action sequences of the prequels by some distance. Although that fight, and indeed much of the film, suffers from the problem that all prequels suffer from; we know the outcome of the story and the fate of the characters no matter how much peril you place them in in an attempt to convince us that their life is on the line.

Film Trivia Snippets - The original cut of Revenge of the Sith ran to nearly four hours, with the opening battle/Palpatine rescue alone running for over an hour. /// George Lucas had originally intended to have Peter Cushing reprise his role as Tarkin, despite the small fact that he had died a number of years earlier. He had planned to use stock footage and digital technology to bring him back onto the screen, but the idea was scrapped when the footage of Cushing was deemed unusable. /// Revenge of the Sith is the only Star Wars film that did not receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects. And in total it only received one nomination for its make-up; losing out to The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. /// One of the main criticisms levelled at the Star Wars prequels is its reliance on CGI. To illustrate that point this film had over 2200 visual effects shots, which was more than The Phantom Meance and Attack of the Clones combined. And by comparison the original Star Wars had a mere 350 such shots. /// To further highlight the massive amount of effects work that went into the film every single clone trooper in the film is CGI. Not a single clone costume or helmet was created. While the climactic battle between Vader and Kenobi took upwards of 70,000 man hours to create. /// The images of the volcanic eruption on Mustafar was actually real footage of Mt. Etna in Italy which just happened to be erupting at the time of production. /// During the birth scene, some shots were made using an animatronic puppet to portray the infant Luke and Leia. The puppet was operate by Ewan McGregor and as such the cast came to refer to it as 'Foamy-Wan Kenobi.

Once again Ewan McGregor gives a very decent account of himself as Obi-Wan Kenobi (loved his heartbreak at the end) and is finally given some competition in the acting stakes by Ian McDiarmid. He is quite excellent as the sinister Palpatine, delightfully sly and conniving as he tears Anakin down before rebuilding him again in his own image. Sadly Samuel L. Jackson continues to feel kind of wasted as Windu. I'm a little torn on the character of General Grievous. The design and conception of the character I felt were strong but he was poorly written and is never truly established as the threat he should be. Though unlike many characters throughout this series of prequels he did actually put a smile on my face on more than one occasion, whether it be revealing that he is a wielder of four lightsabers (FOUR!!!) or revealing that he has the ability to move around like a scorpion. I also felt that the CGI in regards to him was a lot stronger than the previous instalments, making him much less cartoonish and making his interactions with the human cast more believable.

So there are certainly a lot of pleasant surprises to be found here following the atrocities of The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. The most pleasant surprise of all though would probably have to be Hayden Christensen. Now I'm not going to say that he turned it around completely and delivered a great performance, but it is a truly vast improvement. While he remains wooden on occasion he just looks so much more comfortable and relaxed this time out. Back in Attack of the Clones the only thing more robotic than him was C-3PO. And even then it was damn close! Although I've got to say that I still wasn't 100% happy with the character of Anakin and his journey towards becoming Darth Vader. Anakin should have had an obvious streak of darkness in him through all three of the prequels, certainly the last two, but instead it just came across like he was a silly, naďve little boy who had just been manipulated into the position. When you combine that with his compassionate change of heart in Return of the Jedi it feels like Lucas was desperately attempting to humanise him, whereas I think it would have been better to just leave him as a really evil b*stard! It's something that happens occasionally in films when a villain is so good and becomes so popular that the filmmakers then feel the need to try and soften the character and give him redeeming features, perhaps even turning him full-on good guy. The other most obvious example would have to be Arnie's T-800 from the Terminator films.

It's not all plain sailing however as the film does still suffer from many of the problems that plagued the previous two prequels. The most grating of which remains the romance between Anakin and Padme which is still a real slog to try and get through. With Christensen's improved performance the chemistry between the two is more obvious but still nothing to write home about. And unfortunately it's with this dynamic that Lucas once again displays his tin ear for dialogue and melodramatic nature; “You're so beautiful..", "Only because I'm so in love.", "No, it's because I'm so in love with you." And the moment where it turns out that Padme is dying because she “has lost the will to live”? Seriously George? That's the ending you want to give your newly completely trilogy? Couple that with the brutal moment where Vader lets out a heartbroken “Nooooooooooooo!!!” and the film actually ends on a little bit of a whimper. While once again Lucas attempts to squeeze in what I felt were unnecessary references back to the original films, the most obvious this time out probably being the inclusion of Chewbacca. Out of all the wookies in the world the one who helps Yoda out just happens to be Chewbacca. Really? And if you're going to include him you might as well make it worthwhile by giving him something to do. Instead it just comes off as feeling cheap.

So as you can see a lot of improvements. The biggest reason this film is the best of the prequels however? Jar Jar never utters a single word!

Conclusion - It may not be a perfect film but the step up in quality is considerable. The effects are both more impressive and better utilised, the acting in general has gone up a notch and while Lucas' detrimental impact in the writing and directing departments may still be present it is certainly not as conspicuous or damaging. There's a chance I may be over-rating this one ever so slightly because on the back of the two preceeding films it looks like a masterpiece. After being continously kicked in the nuts for 4 straight hours Revenge of the Sith is like instead having your ears flicked over and over again; it's still not ideal but oh what a relief it is!

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Great review JayDee.

I definitely agree that this was the most entertaining out of the prequels.

It is the best of the prequels, but that is still like being the skinniest kid at fat camp.

I knew you would like Revenge well enough. Good review.

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Letterboxd

Thanks guys. Although I've got to say that as great as the 21 reps for Seven Samurai were I think it's kind of spoiled me. Everything else seems measly by comparison! I think I'll start up a subscription service, but a mandatory one. When I post a new review I'll contact everyone to inform them of the review and that their rep is required!

Also it just dawned on me that for the first time in I don't know how long my review count is ahead of Rodent!

Rep whore

I think you're being a little over generous with 7/10. If it's an improvement then it's a very slight one.

Cringe worthy dialogue as you mentioned, nonsensical story/plot lines. I'll turn to the dark side to save Padme, in an instant going from Jedi to Jedi slayer. The turn should have come at the end of the second movie. Also it's a big leap to go from killing a Jedi to wandering over to the Jedi temple and slaughtering children. Die Lucas seriously.

We are deprived of what could have been an epic battle on Kashyyk, Wookies and Yoda battling the Clones. Perhaps this was cut due to the four hour first cut you mentioned.

The fall of the Jedi sequence is quite good though, really sad actually. bit daft that the Jedi would be in the very front lines though and some of the Jedi could have put up a bit more of a fight.

Too many Lightsaber duel's too. I would rather have 1 meaningful duel at the end of a film than 4 or is it 5 even. Including one against basically a non force user. Just force push him off a cliff ffs Kenobi.

I'm not a fan of the final duel either. Too much CGI with ridiculous moments leaping around the lava without a scratch ending with the pathetic , "I have the high ground" nonsense. I think it suffers too by having blue vs blue Lightsaber. At times it looks like blue light flashing all over the place without aim.

I'm actually embarrassed for Lucas that the NOOOOOOOOOOOOO moment made it in. I mean it's just laughable.

As you say a fundamental flaw of any Prequel is that the result is known. Ooh Obi Wan is nearly falling into the lava, well actually he made it to Episode 4 so I'm just feeling no suspense. Mace Windu well he didn't so obv gonna die.

4/10