Movie Review: Star Trek First Contact

    I’m not just a contrarian when I say that Wrath of Khan (generally considered the best of the franchise) is not my favorite.  This movie is.  Though the argument could certainly be made that First Contact is the Next Gen cast’s Wrath of Khan.  If Khan is Kirk’s great nemesis (I would argue he isn’t, but…) then the Borg is/are certainly Picard’s, and here he battles them on operatic, cinematic proportions.  But unlike Wrath of Khan, there’s actually a lot going on here, including time travel, the first warp-ship launch, a Borg invasion, and the temptation of Data.

    Unlike the weak and silly Generations, this film takes the cast of The Next Generation into a real cinematic adventure.  It’s grand in scope, dramatic, funny, scary, action packed, and with some really top notch guest actors, yet still plenty of time for the main cast to get their moments in the sun.  And I think it manages to get at the heart of Star Trek, the heart of Next Gen especially, and the heart of the Borg.  Like the best of the original cast movies, this features a strong relationship between the crew, especially Picard and Data, with some early hints of the triangle that would include Worf.  It made the Borg scary and alien again.  I reject the idea that the so called Borg Queen made them too human.  In fact, I’d say it made them even more alien.  As she warns, you’re thinking too three dimensionally.  She isn’t a being, not a single thing or even a program, not a leader; she is a personification of the essence of a species.  The Borg is a collective, a mass mind; she is an aspect of that mass mind.  As my face is not me, only what you see of me, she is the face of the Borg.  And the malevolent, invasive sexuality she oozes reminds you that on an interstellar/civilization scale, the Borg are like rapists, forcibly blending with those they find, and taking everything from them.  But they are also the dark reflection of ourselves, the worst case scenario view of what we could become, the ultimate consumers who have abused technology to the point that they’ve become monsters.  Unlike so many straight-up anti-science messages in the Trek films, the Borg still feel like a warning, not a condemnation.

    The look of the film is impressive, with good effects, excellent costumes and set design, and good cinematography.  The acting is great.  James Cromwell manages to inject uncomfortable amounts of humanity into his Federation hero.  So often, when you look at the lives of famous people (explorers, presidents, etc.) they seem like one dimensional characters.  But the reality is they were people, like anyone else.  Gandhi was a racist.  Richard Francis Burton liked to bone.  Hitler liked Disney films.  I like that Zefram Cochrane was  a genius inventor motivated by making a buck and retiring to a tropical island, not some staid, stiff upper lip historic caricature.  Patrick Stewart gets to Shakespeare the hell out of half this movie, spitting out lines from Moby Dick, hissing insults, and bellowing rage.  His normal cool is broken by the memories of what the Borg did to him, what they represent.  Like a 70s exploitation film, he’s a rape victim on a quest for revenge, the bloodier the better.  But this is Trek, and Picard is the ultimate Trek hero, curious, honorable, intelligent, compassionate, and ultimately just.  I can’t really talk about the actors in this film without giving a special shout-out to Alice Krige, who has that same devil-woman magic Lena Olin has.  Even under all that latex and Vaseline, with her voice alone she can worm her way into my brain and make me do things.  Were I in Data’s place, I know the choice I’d have made.  She delivers all the menace and allure of a classic femme fatale, giving the Borg a gut-level terror they hadn’t possessed since the introduction of that blasted Hugh (CURSE YOU, HUGH!!!).

    Like the best Trek movies before (Wrath of Khan and The Voyage Home), First Contact is a completely watchable film, even if you’ve never watched an episode of the show.  Sure, some things won’t have the emotional resonance, but a new viewer shouldn’t be lost.  It’s like I’ve said on numerous occasions, first make it a good movie, second make it a good Trek movie.  For an example of what not to do, Star Trek V is a good Trek movie, but a bad movie.  It’s heart is in the right place, but nothing else is.  I’ve made this argument before, too.  First Contact should have been the first Next Gen cast movie.  Generations, besides being a crappy movie, acted as a ‘send-off’ by the original cast for the new cast.  But Picard and crew had already enjoyed seven seasons (that’s four more than the originals).  They didn’t need a send-off.  First Contact is a much stronger start.  And, I would further argue that the next film should have been an alternate universe story (with them traveling back to the wrong timeline at the end of First Contact), possibly some sort of Mirror Universe tale.  With their third movie being something along the lines of Insurrection, a light hearted and fun story.  This could have echoed the trilogy within the original cast films (II, III, and IV), and given a much better arc for the Next Gen crew.  Also, Data should have died at the end of First Contact.  Totally.  None of that B4 BS.  In the aftermath of the loss of Data, perhaps a triangle of Picard, Worf, and Riker (or Crusher) could have been forged.  Anyway, that’s all hindsight complaints.  The movies are what they are, and Generations and Nemesis exist.  Nothing I can do about that now.  But at least the Next Gen cast, like Pierce Brosnan as Bond, got two good movies.

-Matt

Eat it, Ensign Lynch!

Two Fistfuls of Sexy Women! (Matt’s Picks)

    OK, so the recent poll that awarded Jennifer Aniston the title ‘sexiest woman of all time’ got me to thinking.  What!?  Are you flippin’ kidding me?  OK.  OK.  I know taste and beauty are totally subjective.  But hang on.  What?!

    So, after bouncing the idea off co-Dork Brad, we decided to put together our individual top ten lists of sexiest women (that’s right, a special double-Fistful this week).  Hard as it was, I left off my first crushes.  Erin Gray, Lynda Carter, Nichelle Nichols, Karen Allen, and Lea Thompson will have to wait for another list.  I also had to skip long time crush Angela Bassett, because my feelings for her are based almost entirely on the film Strange Days, and that’s not enough.  Same with Mathilday May from Lifeforce.  Just to help narrow the field, I restricted myself to movies and TV (no music, models, etc.).  Give me another ten years for some perspective, and newer potentials like Olga Kurylenko and Shu Qi, might end up on the list.  Time will tell.

***

10.  Cate Blanchett:  OK, yeah, so Australian accents have always done something for me.  But, getting beyond that, Blanchett’s strange beauty has been fascinating since I first saw her in Elizabeth.  She has consistently turned in interesting, frequently strong performances, which can be all too rare for women in film these days.  She even played one of my all time favorites (and number 9 on this list), capturing not just her mannerisms, but her fire.

9.  Katharine Hepburn:  Though many of her most famous roles came when she was older, and had segued from young firebrand into tough spinster, young Katharine Hepburn was actually a strikingly beautiful woman who oozed confidence and style.  Her screen persona is exactly the kind of woman I like, powerful, willful, and maybe a bit brash, but soft in all the right places.

8.  Lena Olin:  OK, I admit it.  I’m a square.  I’m one of those suckers that gets in over his head in a classic Noir film.  That’s one reason I recognize the danger of Lena Olin.  She has some femme fatale power that punches through my ‘good guy’ ways and makes me want to do bad things.  From her voice to that deadly predator look in her eyes, I don’t know that I’d do any better than Depp if she wanted something I had.  Even if she cut off her own arm (seriously, this woman has played some crazy characters). 

7.  Jennifer Connelly:  I kind of grew up with Jennifer Connelly.  She’s about my age, and has been acting for a long time.  As a kid, I connected with her in Labyrinth (and yes, had a crush on her).  As an adult, I enjoyed her retro-fueled performances in The Rocketeer and Dark City.  And was weirded out by scary stuff like Requiem for a Dream.  With classic, almost timeless features, a willingness to take chances, and a pretty wide range, Connelly may not have the tabloid glitz of many modern starlets, but she’s got what counts.

6.  Gloria Grahame:  I’ve said this before, but never has a woman so not my type been so my type.  Usually bottle blond, with an upturned nose and a bit of a sour face, she manages to burn with a volcanic rage in one film and radiate innocent sweetness in another.  Her sly cleverness and dangerous curiosity in In a Lonely Place alone would have been enough for me. 

5.  Pam Grier:  The Queen of Blaxploitation, Pam Grier is a powerhouse.  With a career that has spanned decades, she’s had ups and downs, highs and lows.  But she’s always brought the goods.  From Coffy to Jackie Brown and beyond, Ms. Grier will always hold a special place in my heart.

4.  Michelle Yeoh:  A marginal actress who was only kinda cute, Michelle Yeoh could have faded away, becoming a footnote on the history of 80s martial arts films.  She got married.  She retired.  Forgotten.  But, she didn’t stay gone.  After separating from her husband, she came back to acting in a big way, and age had been more than kind.  Year by year, she grew more and more beautiful, while honing her skills as an actress, not to mention as a martial arts movie extraordinaire.

3.  Jenny Agutter:  Perhaps not classically beautiful, Agutter is extremely cute and devilishly sexy at the same time.  Giant eyes, sexy accent, and, well, she’s never been shy about showing it all off.  To top that off, she's a very talented actress with a lot of cool and weird movies to her name.

2.  Rachel Weisz:  She’s been acting for a long time, and I saw her in many movies without much thought.  But as time went on, I noticed her more and more, until I realized she had become one of my favorite active actresses.  Weisz has a quiet charm and dignity, combined with an earthy approachableness that makes her somehow both ethereal and real at the same time.

1.  Monica Bellucci:  A Mediterranean goddess, Bellucci has Gong Li’s almost inhuman ability to look sad, and to make you want to do something about it.  Constantly taking chances in the roles that she picks, unfortunately, she often ends up in not-so-good stuff.  However, for a model turned actress, she’s actually quite good, and when that occasional good part comes along, she shines.  Also, like the proverbial fine wine (and like the above Michelle Yeoh), she only seems to grow more beautiful with age.

-Matt