While the crew of the Enterprise prepares to bid farewell to Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Counselor Troi (Marina Sirtis), who have married each other, they find the remnants of an android resembling Commander Data (Brent Spiner) on a planet close to the Romulan Neutral Zone. Reassembling the android, it reveals its name as B4 (also Spiner), a predecessor to Data.
The ship is then directed by Starfleet on a diplomatic mission to Romulus, the homeworld of the Romulan empire, which has undergone a coup and is now in the control of a mysterious young man named Shinzon (Tom Hardy). Shinzon proves to be a clone of Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart), who has some nasty plans for both the Romulans and the Federation.
The second arc involves Data meeting - after a fashion - his opposite number in B4 (he has previously encountered another double of himself, Lore, who is genuinely evil; B4 is simply uneducated and misguided). Data eventually makes the ultimate sacrifice to demonstrate his humanness, and his emotional growth and maturity combined with his reactions to the events around him are the most touching moments of the film.
Thematically, Nemesis is yet another example of power corrupting and the need for vengeance driving an individual over the edge to his doom (as best exemplified in the series by Khan in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan).
Brent Spiner had reportedly wanted this to be his final appearance as Data, in part because he was 16 years older than when he first appeared as the android, whereas Data presumably is ageless. B4's existence, however, leaves open the possibility that he may return in a future installment.
The film, as with Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, was cut by about a third from a much longer running time, and that the integrity of the story suffered as a result. Many scenes were deleted, including a second mind-rape scene and much of the ending involving characters disbanding.
This movie's gross domestic income was the worst of all the series at $43,119,879 as of March 2003. It earned $97,500,000 worldwide on a budget of $70,000,000.
The previous film in the series was Star Trek: Insurrection.Synopsis
Themes
The film has two major story arcs: Picard meeting his opposite number in Shinzon, and having to think his way out of his usual patterns to out-fight himself. As such, the experience of seeing Picard meet a younger, nastier version of himself (reminiscent of several older Star Trek TV episodes, most notably "The Enemy Within" from the original series) doesn't amount to much more than a rousing space adventure with a grand battle at the end. Hardy was widely praised for his acting skills opposite Stewart, however.Notes
The film was directed by Stuart Baird. Music was scored by Jerry Goldsmith, who had scored several earlier Star Trek films.