This is definitely the best of the TNG films, which generally don't live up to the excellent television series. It's my second favourite "Star Trek" film after "The Wrath of Khan", which is likewise a sequel to one of its respective series' best episodes.
Patrick Stewart is even better than usual as the atypically vulnerable Captain Picard. Like Khan in the aforementioned film, he becomes obsessed with destroying his foe and, in both films, comparison is drawn with Captain Ahab of "Moby Dick". Unlike Ahab and Khan, however, he is brought back from the brink before his obsession can lead to his death. The interesting thing is that this is not done by Riker or Beverly or one of the other main characters but by Lily Sloane, brilliantly played by Alfre Woodard. She is the best new female character in any film in the series since Saavik in "The Wrath of Khan". I think that she can say the things that she does because she is an outsider who is not privy to the so-called "evolved sensibility" of the 24th Century, which is deconstructed well in the film in a manner more typical of DS9 than TNG.
The rest of the TNG cast is as good as ever, particularly Brent Spiner. Marina Sirtis has fairly little screen time but, as the drunk Deanna, gets the funniest scene in the film and one of the funniest in the character's 15 year history. James Cromwell is a great addition to the cast as Zefram Cochrane, who is not the legendary, selfless figure that the Enterprise crew believed him to be. He is a good man but a flawed one. He feels very much like a real person. I love that the film takes this approach as in reality many historical figures, even those who were alive within living memory, are mythologised and become paragons of virtue even though they were deeply flawed. That is not to say that they were bad people. They were just normal.
The Borg were used brilliantly. In the entire franchise, I think that they were only better used in "Best of Both Worlds". Jonathan Frakes does an excellent job as director. One little thing that I really liked about this film was that it did a very good job of explaining the backstory for the benefit of people who weren't familiar with it. I've been watching "Star Trek" since 1995 so I didn't need the backstory filled in for me when I first saw it, let alone now, but a problem that I had with "Generations" was that it didn't explain who Lursa and B'Etor were. B'Etor's name isn't even mentioned in the film.
Patrick Stewart is even better than usual as the atypically vulnerable Captain Picard. Like Khan in the aforementioned film, he becomes obsessed with destroying his foe and, in both films, comparison is drawn with Captain Ahab of "Moby Dick". Unlike Ahab and Khan, however, he is brought back from the brink before his obsession can lead to his death. The interesting thing is that this is not done by Riker or Beverly or one of the other main characters but by Lily Sloane, brilliantly played by Alfre Woodard. She is the best new female character in any film in the series since Saavik in "The Wrath of Khan". I think that she can say the things that she does because she is an outsider who is not privy to the so-called "evolved sensibility" of the 24th Century, which is deconstructed well in the film in a manner more typical of DS9 than TNG.
The rest of the TNG cast is as good as ever, particularly Brent Spiner. Marina Sirtis has fairly little screen time but, as the drunk Deanna, gets the funniest scene in the film and one of the funniest in the character's 15 year history. James Cromwell is a great addition to the cast as Zefram Cochrane, who is not the legendary, selfless figure that the Enterprise crew believed him to be. He is a good man but a flawed one. He feels very much like a real person. I love that the film takes this approach as in reality many historical figures, even those who were alive within living memory, are mythologised and become paragons of virtue even though they were deeply flawed. That is not to say that they were bad people. They were just normal.
The Borg were used brilliantly. In the entire franchise, I think that they were only better used in "Best of Both Worlds". Jonathan Frakes does an excellent job as director. One little thing that I really liked about this film was that it did a very good job of explaining the backstory for the benefit of people who weren't familiar with it. I've been watching "Star Trek" since 1995 so I didn't need the backstory filled in for me when I first saw it, let alone now, but a problem that I had with "Generations" was that it didn't explain who Lursa and B'Etor were. B'Etor's name isn't even mentioned in the film.