Star Trek: Insurrection

Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)

Image From IMDB

I always really enjoyed Star Trek: Insurrection in my younger days. It felt like an extremely good Next Gen two parter. Not as cinematic as First Contact, or something like Undiscovered Country, but a solid entry in the Star Trek Movie franchise. Years on, my opinion hasn’t changed.

Insurrection lacks the grandure of other movies in the series, but not the story telling. The initial setup is great, and while it then takes a little while to fully get going, the moral and ethical dilemmas that make Trek Trek then really come into play. The idea of the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few is something Trek has talked about in the past, and I like it being front and centre in the wrong way.

The story revolves around the Son'a, who have recently become Federation allies, wanting to relocate the peaceful Ba’ku from their planet which has magical healing properties. But, after Data malfunctions and Captain Picard gets involved, the full extent of the Son’a deception is unveiled, and Picard and Crew must battle to save the Ba’ku.

Like I said, it’s classic Trek. Picard is having none of the Son’a plan, and won’t believe that the Federation would be okay with forcefully removing a race from their planet. It goes against the Prime Directive, and everything the Federation stands for. This is the type of ethical dilemma story that I ate up as a kid. I loved seeing opposing arguments play out. Something we’re sadly not able to discuss anymore without it turning into full scale hatred and viciousness. (Thanks for that internet)

Frakes is once again on double duty directing Insurrection and kicking all kinds of Son’a ass as Riker. The scene with the Enterprise battling the Son’a ship in the nebula was once again fantastic, and I loved how aggressive Riker was. His direction was clean as always, with the shots on the Ba’ku homeward looking particularly gorgeous (helps when you shoot on location)

Everyone gets to have their moment again with some great exchanges between Picard and Wolfe. Data and Geordi both having strong arcs, and Crusher and Deanna getting to fight for the Bu’ka.

Insurrection is just a good movie for me. It lacks that spark to make it great, but it’s such an easy enjoyable watch. The story really is classic Trek, and I love these characters. There’s enough action for the pace to be good, with the middle act being the standout section for me. Not the best Trek movie, but not close to the worse. If you want a true understanding of what Next Generation is about, I think this movie represents it best.