Grade: C

Verdict: Pretty much Trekked out, but the cast's commitment is admirable.

Details: Starring Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner and Tom Hardy. Directed by Stuart Baird. Rated PG-13 for violence and an implied scene of virtual rape. One hour, 48 minutes.

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DVD notes: The DVD includes a director's commentary track, deleted scenes, a photo gallery and four mini-features, including one on the filming of the action sequences.

Review:

When you review a "Star Trek" movie, you aren't just writing about that particular movie. You're also writing about every other "Star Trek" movie, every other "Star Trek" spinoff, every other "Star Trek" parody, every other ... heck, you're writing about that priceless "Saturday Night Live" sketch in which William Shatner tells fans at a "Star Trek" convention, "Get a life!"

Ironically, "Star Trek's" nemesis (you might say) has been its own success and longevity. But that's not what the title refers to in "Star Trek: Nemesis." That's Shinzon (Tom Hardy), a younger clone of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (the redoubtable Patrick Stewart). Shinzon was designed by the villainous Romulans as a potential weapon against the Federation (the good guys, non-Trekkies will want to know), then discarded and sent to the heinous mines of the Romulans' lesser brethren, the Remans. Shinzon has nature vs. nurture issues. Will he gravitate toward a base need for vengeance or toward the good man he could be?

Screenwriter John Logan — with a healthy assist from Brent Spiner, who plays the chalk-white android Data — kicks things off with the wedding of First Officer William Riker (Jonathan Frakes)to Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis).q It's a clever and comforting way to bring all the key characters together. Though the attempts at humor are embarrassing — Worf (Michael Dorn) with a hangover and Geordi (LeVar Burton) trading quips with drop-in celeb Whoopi Goldberg — the celebration works as both a reunion for Trekkies and as an introduction for everyone else. From there, it's back to business, i.e., saving the universe and occasionally quoting Shakespeare. The overall feel of the film is pretty cheesy, but there's still a real sense that the "Star Trek" tradition has been honored as best it can, given the embarrassing script and weak direction.

The picture's most interesting theme is the idea of a doppelgänger, i.e., a kind of twin. There are Picard and Shinzon, first of all, but also Data and a childlike earlier model known as B-4, and then the Romulans and Remans themselves, their names a reference to mythical twin founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus.

But most of the movie, alas, doesn't aspire to the same lofty ideas. Director Stuart Baird spends an inordinate amount of time staging shootouts in the cheesy metallic corridors of either the Enterprise or Shinzon's Scimitar. And while shots of the Enterprise floating intrepidly through space may be a "Star Trek" tradition, three or four would've sufficed.

Speaking of tradition, you have to admire the inclusion of that timeless "Star Trek" custom whereby the crew member who isn't one of the regulars gets about three lines of dialogue and is then summarily knocked off.

Tradition has always played a big part in the "Star Trek" phenomenon. With that in mind, Picard's admonition to Shinzon — that change is a good thing — seems to speak to the heart of Trek-dom. Though the movie's tagline, which mentions a "final journey," suggests that "Nemesis" is an end to "Star Trek," there are plenty of inventive loopholes that would easily allow for an extension of the franchise.

Still, if this is a goodbye, the words of Mr. Spock must be invoked. Whatever happens to "Star Trek," it has lived long and prospered.

— Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution