Rodent's Reviews

Star Trek 7: Generations



Year Of Release
1994

Director
David Carson

Producer
Bernie Williams, Rick Berman, Peter Lauritson

Writer
Gene Roddenberry, Rick Berman, Ronald D Moore, Brannon Braga

Cast
Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Alan Ruck, Whoopi Goldberg, William Shatner, James Doohan, Walter Koenig and Malcolm McDowell

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Picard enlists the services of Kirk, who is presumed long dead but flourishes in an extra dimensional realm, to prevent a madman from destroying a star and its planetary system in an attempt to enter that realm.


What started as an anticipated movie comes an odd turn of events that left the audience wondering why.
It's more of a novelty act really. After audiences had gotten used to The Next Generation on their TV sets and the fact that The Undiscovered Country had been made and released when TNG was already going, the filmmakers decided that a handover between Kirk and Picard was needed for the stake in the movie franchise.

Ok the movie as a whole works, but it feels more of a “written for the sake it” movie in certain parts.

The action and choreography is top notch though and you can't help but get excited when Kirk and Picard are fighting alongside each other for the greater good, but it's the circumstances leading up to the pact, and the circumstances surrounding Kirk's actual presence that let the movie down.
It works to an extent, in the realms of Star Trek's Universe the audience has seen much more unbelievable things and have accepted them as they happened.

It is fun to see the crossover and the general story has that element of the outlandish and fantasy based essence going on… but to be completely honest, it would have worked without having Kirk involved. As I said, it’s more for the sake of having Kirk in there to make the handover.

The acting is highly recognisable though. The regular crew by now knew their roles inside out and the cheesiness of the first few episodes of TNG’s TV series have been ironed out by now… and the cast are making the best they can with their screen time.
It’s great to see the cast on the big screen in a big budgeted story.
Malcolm McDowell makes for a decent villain. He starts out quite mysterious and isn’t seen a massive amount throughout, but as his character is revealed, his unbending quest to get what he wants becomes quite a disturbing series of self-obsessed shenanigans.

The effects are absolutely top drawer though. It’s extremely hard to not get excited and drawn in while watching.
This time round we have cutting edge computer effects (cutting edge for the time) mixed with model and miniature work and it gives a huge edge over the first 6 Trek films. It also manages to tie in with the original films and the TNG TV series as well with general style.

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All in all, more of a passing of the torch kind of movie. Sadly though, it almost didn't work. It’s nice to see the physical handover, but it could have worked without it.

Still though, Generations is worthy of the Trek title and has fantasy based outlandishness in bucket loads mixed with decent effects, exciting action and well written characters.

My rating: 82%

Rodent's Reviews: Delivering The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly In Film

Rodent's Reviews: PART DEUX!

Rodent's 1950-Present Sci-Fi And Futuristic Fantasy Movies

Star Trek 8: First Contact



Year Of Release
1996

Director
Jonathan Frakes

Producer
Marty Hornstein, Rick Berman, Peter Lauritson,

Writer
Gene Roddenberry, Rick Berman, Ronald D Moore, Brannon Braga

Cast
Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Neal McDonough, James Cromwell, Alfre Woodard and Alice Krige

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The Borg attempt to enslave humanity in the past, before First Contact between Terrans and Vulcans; Picard must fight his demons from his assimilation into the Collective as he leads the Enterprise-E back in time to ensure that Zephram Cochrane's first warp test and subsequent meeting of the extra-terrestrials take place.


Sadly, this movie pushes close to mediocre.
The plotline could have been super-exciting, especially involving The Borg going back into the past and changing things around but sadly all the audience got was a small scale actioner that's laden with badly written humour; namely seeing Counsellor Troy drunk and Zephram Cochran being more of a comedy relief once Data is captured by The Borg.

The added extra of Picard and his past dealings with The Borg could have been worthwhile too, but, it wasn't really utilised very well. It just boils down to Picard looking for revenge rather than to bury demons of his past.

The places that work though are the general storyline and plot and the writing overall when it comes to emotions of the characters. Having The Borg try their best to change Earth’s past by time travelling, it makes for a tense situation that the audience can get behind and cheer on Picard and his crew.
The dialogue and more sombre scenes, particularly between Picard and Lily Sloan make for some nice scenes that portray Picard as a little more human than he’s ever been seen before.

Which brings me to the acting.
It’s more about Patrick Stewart facing his Borg past and James Cromwell becoming something he doesn’t want to be. Cromwell however is a completely different character to the Zephram Cochran we saw in the TNG TV series. He’s also annoying at times; which is not good for a main character really.
Stewart holds it together well though and we at last see him lose his temper more than once while Picard gets stressed by the whole situation.

Alice Krige though is the standout role as The Borg Queen. Krige is absolutely on top form as a half living half machine entity that tries her best to twist Data against his roots. Krige’s natural ability to be disturbing without even trying is perfect for the role.

Sadly, another downer is that the effects seem low in budget. In fact, even lower than the TV series.
Most of the film is based in a forest on Earth, so there's no real area for a budget to be spent and some of the sets are as wobbly as the original 1960s TV series.

When seen though, the computer and miniature effects departments worked out of their socks to get the shots needed. It’s just a shame that the sets and general setting was a let-down.
Another thing, is that, how did a bunch of hermits living in tents in a forest manage to build a 300ft space vehicle that has warp capability?

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All in all, the weakest of the series but could have been magnificent.
The storyline was used relatively well, and there are tons of character driven plots going on that make First Contact probably the most personal and interpersonal film of the lot, even over Wrath Of Khan.
The acting is also top notch.

Sadly, it ended up looking low in budget, had some annoying characters and the occasional plot that makes no sense at all, even for a Trek film.
It’s also not as exciting as it should have been given the premise.

My rating: 71%

Star Trek 9: Insurrection



Year Of Release
1998

Director
Jonathan Frakes

Producer
Marty Hornstein, Rick Berman, Peter Lauritson, Patrick Stewart, Michael Piller

Writer
Gene Roddenberry, Rick Berman, Michael Piller

Cast
Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Donna Murphy, Anthony Zerbe and F Murray Abraham

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The crew of the Enterprise launch a rebellion on the Baku home world against Picard’s superior officer, Admiral Dougherty, and his Son'a cohort, Ru'afo who want to relocate the Baku to gain possession of the medicinal cosmic radiation that floods their planet.


This is more like it. The filmmakers gladly learned from their mistakes and actually wrote a proper story this time round based solely on the premise of The Prime Directive.
It's pretty simplistic but certainly imaginative, has many never before seen ideas, and original characters involved throughout that add depth to the story being told raher than just having them there for the sake of it.

The other thing is use of ideas that we are all familiar with but used in ways that make us raise an eyebrow as well, namely with the use of Holo-deck Technology.

The other plus point is the expanded relationships between the crew members and Picard finding a love interest.
Seeing Picard make a more emotional and traditional connection with a member of the opposite sex is a really nice touch to the story that adds a real connection to his character.
Other characters are built on too… Data and his learning of how children play and how youngsters view the world and Riker and Troy having their relationship built on and so on.
It feels much more like a soap style script that builds character rather than just having our beloved cast being all samey again.

Jonathan Frakes seems to have learned a few lessons as well from directing the previous film First Contact and has improved somewhat considerably.


Some standout roles are Patrick Stewart and Donna Murphy in their blossoming love story. They’re highly engaging and have massive charisma.

The main standout role though is F Murray Abraham as villainous Son’a leader Ahdar Ru'afo. His role isn’t just that of a basic bad guy for the sake of it either, his role comes alive in the third act that gives more depth to his reasons for his villainy.


The action is a touch more toned down for a Star Trek movie, it's more about small skirmishes and running and hiding but it's the story, and especially the acting involved that make the movie watchable.

This was the first time as well that Star Trek used full on CGI effects while the outer space sequences were put together, there are no models or miniatures used at all. The thing is, also, you can’t tell. They’re smooth, rendered extremely well and never fail to impress.

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All in all an improvement, still not perfect but they're getting there.

The broadened character writing and a little playfulness on behalf of the cast make Insurrection probably the most universally watchable of the series, and the overall premise makes for some nice audience-character connections.

My rating: 84%

Star Trek 10: Nemesis



Year Of Release
2002

Director
Stuart Baird

Producer
Marty Hornstein, Rick Berman, Peter Lauritson

Writer
Gene Roddenberry, Rick Berman, John Logan, Brent Spiner

Cast
Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Ron Perlman, Dina Meyer and Tom Hardy

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Picard and company must thwart a seemingly familiar enemy, who has become leader of Romulus and is bent on obtaining DNA from Picard, at the cost of the captain's life, as well as the Federation's and Earth’s destruction by using a new and immensely deadly weapon.


Once again, another Marmite movie for fans.
Nemesis is certainly more action orientated but contains a nice little twist in both Picard's past, and his fate.

The main plot of the film revolves around haunted histories, bettering yourself and has oodles of sentimental value. It's written perfectly though, it doesn't go into the 'cheesy' territory that The Undiscovered Country went into.

A lot of people have slammed Nemesis for lack of originality and bad dialogue. It’s true, the dialogue is unbelievable at times, but the overall premise that deals with almost a family feud is, I find, the most interesting aspect of Nemesis. It also adds a nice touch of mysticism into things that have happened in the past with Picard and his adventures.

Another thing with the film is that director Stuart Baird had never seen any Star Trek episode and it does show quite a lot. The overall feel of the film has little resemblance to the Treks we’ve all seen before.
It’s not an awfully bad thing though, it makes the movie stand apart with the darker and more brooding set pieces seen throughout.


The overall acting from all parties is another plus point. They successful encapsulate their characters in the strange set of circumstances and show the humour, and especially the tragedy, absolutely brilliantly.

What really stands out in the film though is a young Tom Hardy as the antagonist and his right hand man played by Ron Perlman.
They're absolutely brilliant throughout and very good as villains. Hardy in particular shines in the near-dual-role.


The effects are absolutely top notch too. Some of the action scenes are very exciting and you can finally, at last, see where the budgets were spent too.
The CGI has been improved a hell of a lot, even over Insurrection.

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All in all, a rather downbeat but almost inspiring end to The Next Generation's legend. Still not perfect but definitely, personally for me, the most exciting of TNG's films in story and action.

My rating: 84%

Star Trek



Year Of Release
2009

Director
JJ Abrams

Producer
JJ Abrams, Bryan Burk, Jeffrey Chernov, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof, Roberto Orci, David Baronoff, David Witz

Writer
Gene Roddenberry, Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman

Cast
Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Anton Yelchin, John Cho, Simon Pegg, Eric Bana, Bruce Greenwood and Leonard Nimoy

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When Vulcan is destroyed by Romulan thugs from the future, led by Nero, young Kirk and Spock must set aside their differences to prevent Earth from suffering the same fate.


Upon hearing about this movie I was extremely dubious. Before seeing the film I had the impression of it being a big middle finger to all the stalwart fans of Trek's history.

What the audience has been given though is a massively impressive rewrite of Star Trek lore and a brilliantly pieced together movie.

What makes the biggest impression is the cast involved. Chris Pine as Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Spock and Zoe Saldana as Uhura are extremely natural in the well-known roles and certainly don't let the viewer down.

The story though is relatively simple. It's the typical Trek Time Travel plot but it's extremely well written and effective.
It also adds more depth to the viewing when you realise the effect that the time travelling has had on the main character's lives.

The effects are absolutely bang on the money too. It's almost entirely CGI backgrounds and green-screen but it's handled with such style and substance, it gives the movie its own aura.
The action too, though pitched at regular intervals isn't too over the top and certainly not boring either. It's balanced just right.

The nostalgic elements are another plus on the writing front. The film is very loyal to the Trek everyone knows and loves.

By far the stand out piece of the film is Eric Bana as Nero. He's brilliantly evil and really threatening as a baddy.

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All in all a massive surprise, but definitely in a good way, very nostalgic and loyal, and an exciting movie when the action kicks in.

My rating: 97%

Into Darkness



Year Of Release
2013

Director
JJ Abrams

Producer
JJ Abrams, Bryan Burk, Jeffrey Chernov, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof, Roberto Orci

Writer
Gene Roddenberry, Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof

Cast
Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Anton Yelchin, John Cho, Simon Pegg, Peter Weller, Bruce Greenwood and Benedict Cumberbatch

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After Kirk loses command of The Enterprise through Spock’s by-the-books ways, a dangerous and unstable adversary appears on the horizon and makes it his mission to wipe out the Heads of Starfleet.
Kirk and Spock must reconcile their differences and Kirk must take genuine responsibility for once in his life and find out who this mysterious enemy is before he causes Starfleet to go to war with the Klingons.


Ok, starting out immensely strong with Star Trek (2009), JJ and his team of writers have decided the best thing to do is not just completely rewrite history, which is kind of warranted given the premise, but they have taken the olde backstories of Trek and mixed the timelines up completely.

There has been a ton of complaints about Into Darkness and the lack of originality involved and the lack of imagination too…

I say though, ID is as strong as, if not stronger and definitely braver than the original 2009 film ever was.
The way I view the overall story is that the timelines and fate itself, are trying to resort themselves after Nero, the villain in Star Trek, messed things up so badly by time travelling.

The filmmakers have taken a ton of recognisable elements from almost every original episode of Trek and from the 6 original films too and mashed them together into a joy filled cake of action, thrills, spills and some of the most emotional scenes I’ve ever witnessed in Trek.

They’ve also added some nice character arcs throughout too, mainly with Kirk and his lack of respect for authority and with Spock always doing things by the book.
There are a number of scenes with the message that these guys need to get their heads together… a fault sometimes is that they do occasionally get too thick at times with the message, it occasionally feels forced.

This film is a lot less humorous than the 2009 outing though. It’s a more serious take on the Trek Lore but never bombards the audience too much with action and explosions.


The acting is bang on though again. The actors are much more comfortable this time round and have warmed to the roles brilliantly. Simon Pegg has improved massively too.

The standout role though, has to be Benedict Cumberbatch as the villain. I was dubious to start with but Cumberbatch’s natural professional theatrical style has massive impact when set against the new actors in the roles of Kirk, Spock, Scotty and the rest of the crew.
They play off each other brilliantly and tbh, if it wasn’t for Cumberbatch, this film probably wouldn’t have worked as well.


The effects though, as with the last outing in 2009, are top of the game; highly exciting, immensely well rendered in the CGI stakes and full of detail.
The action as well is top notch and extremely well choreographed and there are a few surprises thrown in as well in terms of character fates.

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All in all, more exciting than the 2009 film and a story that makes an incredible impact. Lacking in originality at times, but done purposely to make the premise recognisable and it makes it exciting too.

An improvement over Abrams’ original though? Only ever so slightly, so I’m keeping with the same rating for this one.

My rating: 97%

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

What was initially set as a stand-alone movie under the title of Star Wars, it has become something that has shaped the movie world forever. It’s hard to imagine how big the movie was at the time of release but it broke the mould in many unbreakable places.

Set in and around an ongoing war between the evil Galactic Empire and a group of Rebels, a young farm boy called Luke Skywalker dreams of leaving his hum-drum life and heading out among the stars to fight the evil Empire.
Holding him back is his uncle, Owen. All Owen wants is for Luke not to end up like his father, Anakin.

Upon buying androids (C3PO and R3D2) from some Jawa (alien) traders, Luke is plunged into a world of mystery when R2D2 suddenly plays back a recording of a woman in distress and is asking for the help of somebody called Obi Wan Kenobi. Luke makes an assumption that Obi Wan may be related to Old Ben, a kind of old hermit who lives not far away.

The following morning, R2D2 has vanished and Luke and C3PO go looking for him, in the process they stumble across Old Ben. Ben watches R2D2’s recording and asks Luke and his droids to help him in fighting the Empire. Luke turns down the offer, but forces outside of Luke’s control push him into following Ben out into the stars and off to grand adventure.
Along the way, Ben has told Luke about the truth of who his father was and that he will teach him about an almost extinct way of life, the life of a Jedi and how to harness and use the powers of a mystical force known simply as The Force.
By the end, Luke joins the Rebels and pits himself against the Empire’s greatest weapon, the Death Star.

The movie is a benchmark for not just sci-fi, but any and all adventure and action films.
The story and the characters, the setting and settings, in fact the entire universe that George Lucas created when making the movie is incredibly realised. It’s dirty, grimy, well used, old and feels very real.

Almost every detail has been thought about, from the sounds to the creatures to the vehicles. It’s incredibly original.
It’s as the movie’s start sequence says, "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away".

It’s small at the start and grows into something far grander, then grows some more.

The movie contains hits of humour too. Mainly between Han Solo and Chewbacca as a soul-mate duo and between the droids C3PO and R2D2 as another soul-mate buddy couple. The droids in particular are laugh out loud at times, especially when they argue.

The special effects in the movie add another depth to the story, they’re extremely well developed. Even today, they hold up against most CG films.
The acting in the movie is exceptionally well directed. Lucas had the gumption to hire unknowns in the lead roles, with the exception of Sir Alec Guinness as Old Ben and Harrison Ford as the space pirate/smuggler Han Solo.
Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher were moments of genius. Hamill’s naivety as an actor makes the character’s naivety work even better and Fisher is absolutely perfect as the young but educated Princess in distress.
Alec Guinness as the old, wise wizard is a marvel. He encapsulates the character and lifts it from the page wonderfully.

Initially, Harrison Ford was only hired to help the casting director with reading lines for the other applicants, thankfully, they saw something in him and took him on as Han Solo. He does a tremendous job as the dashing, cocky, self-assured yet occasionally bumbling, loveable space pirate.

Ford and Fisher’s on screen chemistry is wonderful too. They start out hating each other, but you know deep down they fancy each other. They bounce off each other brilliantly.
As for characters, Darth Vader, who made it to #4 in my Top 40 Villains is an absolute icon of the well made and realised movie character. He is the epitome of theatrical evilness. With James Earl Jones voicing Vader, he has the screen presence that rivals anyone else.

A fault with the movie? Hmm. Not a lot really.
There are times you can tell that the film is the first of it’s kind. The odd show of naivety from the filmmaker/s shows through in the writing and direction, but it’s so easily missed, it barely makes a difference.

What makes the movie really hit home though, is when it’s tied in with John Williams’ brilliant, unforgettable and iconic soundtrack.

All in all, one of the finest sci-fi/space movies made. Everything about it shaped the genre and is still held in many respects as the God of modern film.



My rating 100%