Star Trek: First Contact Movie Review

Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

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Written by: Gene Roddenberry (television series Star Trek), Rick Berman & Brannon Braga & Ronald D. Moore (story), Brannon Braga & Ronald D. Moore (screenplay)
Directed by: Jonathan Frakes
Starring: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Alfre Woodard, James Cromwell, Alice Krige
Rated: PG-13
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Plot
The Borg travel back in time intent on preventing Earth's first contact with an alien species. Captain Picard and his crew pursue them to ensure that Zefram Cochrane makes his maiden flight that would alter the future, reaching warp speed.

Verdict
This is a huge improvement over Star Trek: Generations (1994). While the preserving the past story element isn't all the original, the fight against the Borg works really well as a compliment with personal stakes for two of the characters. This will be more enjoyable for a fan of the series, but it's not inaccessible if you haven't seen the show. It's a fight to protect the future in two locations, on the ground and on the ship, against an enemy that's nothing less than scary, always imposing. This movie doesn't need to lean on the Star Trek name.
It depends.

Review
This is the eighth Star Trek movie and second featuring The Next Generation cast. It's also Frakes' feature film directorial debut.

In seasons three and four of the series, in two of the highest ranked episodes, the Borg captured Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and assimilated him before he was rescued. The Borg are cybernetic species assimilated with one consciousness. Picard still has a connection with the Borg, and this movie opens with Picard enduring a Borg nightmare.

Michael Dorn, Jonathan Frakes, Patrick Stewart, LeVar Burton, Brent Spiner, Marina Sirtis, Gates McFadden play Worf, William T. Riker, Jean-Luc Picard, Geordi La Forge, Data, Deanna Troi, Beverly Crusher 

Starfleet receives a threat that a Borg ship is near Earth, but they order Picard and the Enterprise to patrol the neutral zone. Picard can't do that, refusing orders and heading to Earth. He plans to fight the Borg and defend the planet using his unique knowledge.

Unaware of the Borg's intentions, a temporal anomaly develops near Earth. The Enterprise follows the Borg into this anomaly and go back in time to the period when Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell) created and tested the initial warp drive which led to first contact with aliens. The Borg want to divert this moment and in turn take over Earth. The Enterprise must stop them.

William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) are the ground crew to ensure engineer Cochrane completes his warp drive test and ensures the future of humanity. If the Borg alter this event, it would be disastrous for the future. The Borg have also infiltrated the Enterprise, assimilating the crew. In just half an hour this is already better than Star Trek: Generations (1994).

Cochrane wrestles with his legacy as a hero when his intention to was to develop the drive and sell it. The Borg capture android Data (Brent Spiner), extorting his desire to be more human for information. They offer him what he's been desperately seeking, but he must betray his friends and crew.

Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner play Jean-Luc Picard, Data

Saving the future is certainly a worthy endeavor, and that's paired with Picard's personal struggle. He hates the Borg, but he also understands them better than anyone else. To stop the Borg, he enables the Enterprise's self destruct. This movie stands on its own even without the Star Trek name. This takes the silly Data plot line from Generations and actually provides it with depth, as opposed to using it as comic relief. Instead of stopping a mad scientist, the adversary are the Borg. These silent and deadly cyborgs are led by the unnerving Borg Queen (Alice Krige). This is everything Generations should have been, and I'm glad this doesn't try to use the original series actors for clout. It's not needed.