I remain very much in the minority, but I still feel that this is a pretty damned good movie.
The first 20 minutes – the Enterprise-B prologue – remains fanfuckingtastic. On its own, it is the greatest short film of the 1990s. The two big problems everyone’s got with this film are real, however.
1) The Nexus – it makes no sense. How is Guinan there? How does Picard find Kirk? How do Picard and Kirk leave? Why don’t they stop Soran at a different time, if they can go anywhere, instead of when he is armed and about to do damage? Why must Soran divert the energy ribbon to the planet and not fly a ship into it (he was in the El Aurian transport the first time, right?) Data says that the ribbon would destroy the ship but a) what does Soran care? and b) he was on a ship the first time – WTF?!!?
2) Kirk’s death. Sledding down an incline on a footbridge? Fuck you. You wanna kill Captain Kirk he better be at the epicenter of a supernova. Come on.
Okay, with that out of my system, it is a good movie. It keeps moving and has lots of nifty effects that hold up 14 years later. And poor Malcolm McDowell – he does a good job here and no one ever bothered to thank him.
