STAR TREK: NEMESIS

After a four year hiatus, Captain Picard and the gang are back in a brand-new motion picture adventure. This latest offering from Trek head-honcho Rick Berman and first-time director (of a Trek film) Stuart Baird left me slightly disappointed and wanting more. Don't get me wrong, for the most part I enjoyed it! But this being allegedly the last Trek film with the cast of "The Next Generation", I was hoping for...well...a little more.

Of course, being a Star Trek film, Nemesis has plenty of action, balanced with a generous amount of moral and ethical allegory. The special effects are among the best to date in a Trek movie. Patrick Stewart once again delivers a stellar performance as Captain Jean-Luc Picard, and the rest of the cast regulars continue to give us what we expect of them. The new main villain, played by Tom Hardy, also measures up with some solid acting. The storyline is...decent.

In Nemesis, Picard and his band of merry men (and women) this time come face to face with the new praetor of the Romulan empire, who has risen to power with a coup, Shinzon. Shinzon has been raised mostly on Romulus's twin world, Remus, by a race in slavery to the Romulans called---you guessed it---the Remuns. And now, with the Remuns, he intends to fully conquer the Romulan empire, then the universe (of course!). To Picard's great surprise, Shinzon is human, not Remun, and on top of that, happens to be a clone of....him! (created in a long abandoned ploy by the Romulans to infiltrate the Federation)

Shinzon seems friendly at first, but it doesn't take long for him to reveal his true intentions and all heck to break loose. The starship Enterprise ends up in a dogfight with Shinzon's powerful ship, the Scimitar.

This film's biggest problem really isn't its fault. It is the product of a huge franchise that now consists of five series in syndication and (now) ten big screen ventures. With such a huge legacy, it is difficult to still be original and fresh. Nemesis could be best summed up as being like a good two-part TNG television episode. As a movie, it unfortunately lacks a certain pizazz.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS

A year ago, like most people, I went and saw the first installment of The Lord Of The Rings trilogy: The Fellowship of The Ring. I hadn't read the books, so I only had a basic idea of what to expect. I came out of the theatre satisfied, my 13$ well spent. But I wasn't blown away by it. Little did I know that the second installment would do just that! I came out of this one raving about it. Indeed, on the way back, all that I and the two friends that I went and saw the film with were talking about was "The Two Towers". This newest chapter is quite literally a feast for the eyes, combining awesome special effects with a fast-paced, exciting plot and breathtaking backdrops. Some of the new CGI characters are a sight to behold, particularly the Ent (tree-like being) character, Treebeard, and the treacherous Golem. (Golem has such a wide range of facial expressions that he looks almost real!) And the battle sequences are spectacular.

The story picks up exactly where the first film left off, as the fellowship continues on its journey, now split up into three separate groups, each one encountering its own adventures. The all-powerful Sauron and his "right-hand man", Saruman, (Christopher Lee) loom menacingly in the distance, and a huge army of dark, powerful creatures is slowly being amassed to conquer Middle-Earth. The only thing that can stop the oncoming darkness is the young hobbit Frodo (Elijah Wood), who must take the Ring of Power to Mordor and throw it into the fiery depths of Mount Doom. The entire fate of Middle-Earth depends on this.

If the first two films of this trilogy (and particularly this one) are any indication, this could turn out to be THE fantasy film trilogy of all-time, an unsurpassed adaptation of a much-loved litterary work. It is with impatience that I must now wait for the final installment, "Return of the King", to be released in roughly one year from now, in December 2003.