If you're a diehard Trekkie, you might expect the new film, "Star Trek: Insurrection," to be awful. It is, after all, an odd-numbered "Star Trek" movie.
(The "Star Trek" movie curse theory holds that the odd-numbered films, such as "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" and "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier," are doomed to be worse than the even-numbered ones, including "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" and "Star Trek: First Contact.")
And to be honest, "Insurrection" isn't nearly as good as "First Contact." But is a far cry from the first of the "Next Generation" movie adventure, "Generations."
It helps that the film is such a deliberate departure from its predecessor. The concentration this time is on characters, which occurs through surprising romances and some well-written humor scenes.
Admittedly, Trekkies will probably enjoy the jokes (and consequently, the movie) more than neophytes, since some of them are in-jokes specific to the "Next Generation" television series or the other two movies.
Like "First Contact," the action comes fast and furious this time, as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the Enterprise crew are sent to stop the android Data (Brent Spiner), who has gone berserk during a survey mission on a backwater planet.
When they arrive on the planet, Picard and his away team manage to restrain their fellow crew member. He also discovers that the villagers there, the Ba'ku, are living in a virtual Shangri-La, where the planet's "regenerative radiation" keeps these multicentenarians youthful.
Even more shocking is the secret behind the surveying mission: Pug-ugly Federation allies the Son'a want to relocate the Ba'ku and claim the planet and its restorative powers for themselves. Picard chooses to disobey the orders of his superiors and leads the fight against the Son'a, who are led by the vain Ru'afo (F. Murray Abraham).
As mentioned, the film benefits from a more light-hearted tone, which allows cast members to show off some surprisingly comedic skills. Also, to no one's surprise, Stewart makes a great romantic lead, as demonstrated when Picard (briefly) romances one of the planet's elders (Donna Murphy).
Then again, not all of the "Next Generation" cast are as lucky. Some of the secondary cast members get short shrift (in particular, McFadden and Burton are woefully underused). But that's necessary in an ensemble-type film.
Besides, Jonathan Frakes, who directed and co-stars in the film, keeps the action moving at such a clip that many moviegoers probably won't notice that — or a couple of plot deficiencies, for that matter.
"Star Trek: Insurrection" is rated PG for violent phaser attacks and brief brawling, gory makeup effects and a couple of mildly vulgar jokes.