Damn, I forgot how much I enjoyed this movie. It's just so much better than Generations and is right up there with some of the old Trek films. I could not find it streaming on either Netflix or Amazon, so I had to rent the streaming version for 1.99. Well worth it.
Here is the basic plot. The Enterprise goes to Earth to help stop a Borg invasion. They blow up the Cube but get sucked into a vortex. The Borg are traveling back in time to stop first contact between Earth (Zefram Cochrane) and the Vulcans. Picard and crew must prevent the Borg take over of 2063 Earth. Right off the bat, I love the idea. Yeah, time travel is so over played in Star Trek but It still hooks me in every time.
Here are some observations. The acting gets a bit corny. Especially James Cromwell as Zefram Cochrane. I like Mr. Cromwell, he has had a variety of roles in TNG, DS9 and Enterprise (as Cochrane) as well as American Horror Story and Boardwalk Empire... he is great in bit roles ... he just sort of sucked in this movie. It however was interesting to see how Zefram was just a self serving a-hole and not some kind of hero. Interesting note: Tom Hanks was asked to play Cochrane and he really wanted to, but he already was obligated to another film. Now imagine if that.
The Earth women that ends up on the ship, Lily was her name, I hated this character. She would not shut the hell up. I did enjoy Data getting human skin grafts and then getting laid by the gross yet sexy Borg Queen.
The movie kept you in a constant state of anxiety. There is something scary about the Borg and how they are so calculating. If they are occupied, you can walk right by them un-phased but you never know when they will go after you. The most frightening part was their ability to adapt on the fly. They can overcome just about any attack by altering themselves or their tactics within minutes.
Visually the movie looked great, especially the scene in which they walk on top of the Enterprise dish. The acting was decent (mostly Patrick Stewart and Spiner), script was great and I highly recommend you watch it. While Generations felt like a really long TNG episode, First Conflict actually felt like a movie.
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I love this movie on a purely emotional level, even though it's a mindless action film whereas the TV series was very cerebral and intelligent. Also... the whole plot about how Picard wants to murder the Borg makes no sense, considering how this episode took place after he decided to set Hugh free and not kill the Borg, but whatever.
And, yeah, James Cromwell is a phenomenal actor but he was a little miscast. He's not really good at playing wacky.
I did not buy into that Picard angle at all. They could have made the same movie but not had him be irrational and hell bent on revenge.
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