"A Generation's Final Journey" may actually not quite be as final as we've been led to believe...

Star Trek: Nemesis once again moves further away from the original formula of the Star Trek series of movies. This one is darker, moodier and more sinister, and plays out with a heavier dose of dramatic (perhaps almost operatic) sequences than any of the other Star Trek movies. And to the most part, it benefits greatly from this new approach.

In a nutshell, Nemesis follows the Next Generation crew, headed up by Captain Picard (Stewart) and First Officer Riker (Frakes). On their way to Riker and Troy's wedding, Starfleet calls on the Enterprise and explains that the Romulans want peace with the Federation. Picard gets to be the lucky one chosen to be emissary, and is sent to meet up with Shinzon (Tom Hardy), who ends up being very different from what Picard was expecting. Shinzon, far from wanting peace, turns out to be a dangerous villain, on a mission of revenge against the Romulan Empire and the Federation. The ending may shock some Trek fans, as a main crew member gets killed off.

The most striking thing about Nemesis missing from the other movies, is the superbly dramatic and tense scenes between Picard and Shinzon. Watch out for a sequence near the beginning, where you are first introduced to Shinzon. This is quite possibly the most well-directed scene in the entire movie. Tom Hardy captures Picard's little personality traits well, and is very convincing as a bitter and twisted version of the Enterprise captain.

It might be a different and brave direction for Star Trek to take, and whilst this sort of dark, moody atmosphere might not work in a TV series, it works faultlessly here, both for fans and non-fans. Give it a try before you pass judgement.

The DVD comes with a healthy selection of featurettes and deleted scenes which are all of respectable length, and the picture and sound quality are well up to scratch. Paramount has done a good job of giving the movie a fine presentation here.

See also: Patrick Stewart; Stuart Baird

A vast improvement on Insurrection, Nemesis oozes atmosphere and has some great tense scenes. Engage!