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Star Trek Insurrection is the second Star Trek film in a row
to be little more than an example of wasted potential. This is not to say
the ninth Star Trek feature is not an enjoyable diversion. I thought
it was a good deal of fun. But it could have been so much more.
For a franchise which prides itself on it's characters, there is not much
characterization in this picture. Perhaps the creators feel that after
seven seasons and two previous motion pictures, there is no more character
development to be written. I disagree. And not only could the crew of the
Enterprise
used some fleshing out in this film, but the supporting cast as well. Donna
Murphy (who appeared in the Ally McBeal - The Practice crossover
and in the forthcoming film The Astronaut's Wife) plays a character
who could have had so much more depth and much more of a connection with
Picard (Stewart) than she does. The "live in the moment" thing seems more
a parlor trick (one she "teaches" to Picard with no problem whatsoever)
than an emotional and spiritual state, which is what I believe they were
aiming for. Also, her relationship with 
Picard
is glossed over as if it were unimportant. It's vaguely implied that they
make love, but that is all. I was disappointed with that. God forbid someone
other than Riker (Frakes) has sex on the Enterprise. Another wasted
opportunity was that of Academy Award winning actor F. Murray Abraham playing
the one-dimensional villain of the film, Adhar Ru'afo. Abraham (who won
for Amadeus) does a fine job, but couldn't Piller have written a
more interesting and three-dimensional character for such a distinguished
and honored actor to play? And Admiral Dougherty (Zerbe), the Starfleet
Admiral who at first supports Ru'afo but then backs down, could have been
so much more interesting and complex. Why was he so 
adamant
about supporting Ru'afo and the Son'a? There could have been some wonderful
character development with the Admiral, had Piller taken the time to write
it (and had a better actor, Gene Hackman, perhaps, played the part. Zerbe
bugs me). And finally, Worf. Worf, Worf, Worf, Worf, Worf. Worf (Dorn),
who was such a wonderfully diverse and interesting character on The
Next Generation and in "The Way of the Warrior" episode of Deep
Space Nine (the episode where he first arrived on the station), has
become on DS9 and in
Insurrection a source for simply comic
relief and a boost of testosterone. They even managed to combine both of
these elements into a single moment, when Worf swings his phaser rifle
to destroy an incoming drone-thingie and then shouts "definitely feeling
aggressive tendencies, sir!"
can
only escape by ejecting the warp core (another could-have-been-great moment
lost - we don't even see the core eject, we simply see it's tiny silhouette
as it falls into the subspace tear thingie), and we have Riker (steering
the Enterprise with a joystick?) spraying some sort of volatile
gas out of the warp nacelles, which the Son'a happily fire into, destroying
themselves. Tricks and gimmicks. What I wouldn't give to see a Return
of the Jedi style space battle in a Star Trek movie, or even
a Wrath of Khan style space battle. Also: the special effects. They
looked impressive in the theatre, simply because they were big, but on
the small screen it's apparent that the visual effects in Deep Space
Nine and Voyager are of a much higher caliber. Maybe next time
the producers will be willing to spring for Industrial Light and Magic.
I mean, the last time they didn't was Star Trek V. Don't they learn
from their mistakes? (I guess they do; William Shatner hasn't directed
a movie since then)