"Overcoming Moral Dilemmas"
| None | Light | Moderate | Heavy | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Language | ||||
| Violence | ||||
| Sex | ||||
| Nudity |
Watch:
What You Need To Know:
STAR TREK: INSURRECTION has plenty of action to keep fans of the series enthralled. It also lets each of the main characters have their delightful moments in the cinematic sunshine. Finally, it has a moderately moral worldview of self-sacrifice and good battling evil, plus a morally redemptive element where one of the villains eventually decides to help the good guys. Only a brief bubble bath scene between two heterosexual characters, three mildly obscene words, some violence, and a few mildly scary aliens rate this movie a caution for younger children
Content:
(BB, Re, H, Pa, L, VV, N, A, M) Moderately moral worldview of self-sacrifice & battling evil with a morally redemptive element as well as minor humanist & pagan elements; 2 mild obscenities & 1 moderately strong obscenity; moderate action violence such as laser weapon battles in outer space & on land, evil beings hunt down people from peaceful village, rock slide, explosions, hand-to-hand combat, & man uses special machine to stretch man’s face & skull to murder him; no sex but man & woman sit together in sexy but short bubble bath scene & man lays head in woman’s lap on futuristic couch/bed; implied nudity in brief bubble bath scene; alcohol use; and, a few mildly scary aliens & moments.
More Detail:
One of the most important themes and story devices in science fiction is: Man goes into outer space to discover more beautiful or more terrifying beings. This is the basic theme and story device in the phenomenon that is known as STAR TREK, seen in many television programs, books and movies. And, this is exactly the basic theme and story device used in the new movie, STAR TREK: INSURRECTION, the ninth film in the series.
This time out, Captain Picard and the gang from the starship Enterprise learn a disturbing and puzzling fact. A cultural survey team reports that their android friend, Lt. Commander Data, played once again with charm by Brent Spiner, has gone berserk while the team is studying a peaceful race of humanoids called the Ba’ku. When Capt. Picard investigates, he finds something strange and wonderful about the Ba’ku. He also uncovers an evil plot behind the survey team, which is led by an aging, dying race of humanoids known as the Son’a. In an important plot point, the leader of the Son’a, Ru’afo, played by Oscar-winning actor F. Murray Abraham of AMADEUS, uses artificial means to keep himself younger, as well as extend his life. That life is nearing its end, according to his doctors/plastic surgeons.
Picard confronts his superior, Admiral Dougherty, with what he learns, only to find that Dougherty and the top leaders of the United Federation of Planets, Picard’s bosses back home, are part of the evil scheme. Soon, Picard and his crew are forced to choose between disobeying a direct order and violating the Prime Directive of the Federation. The Prime Directive is the basic moral principle of the space-exploring Federation. The Prime Directive orders its people not to interfere with the societies of people on other planets, especially weaker, less technologically advanced cultures.
STAR TREK: INSURRECTION has an interesting story and plenty of action to keep fans of the series enthralled. It also lets each of the main characters, including Data, Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes), Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), and Lt. Commander Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), have their delightful moments in the cinematic sunshine. Capt. Picard, played by Patrick Stewart in another commanding performance, even has a romantic interest this time, a Ba’ku woman named Anij, played by the beautiful, Tony-winning actress Donna Murphy. (It was also good to see long-time TV actor Anthony Zerbe make one of his all-too-infrequent appearances as Admiral Dougherty.)
Just as importantly, INSURRECTION has some provocative story themes and moral motifs that also make for a positive experience at the movies. Picard’s moral dilemma of disobeying his superiors or following one of his society’s basic moral principles is enriched by a moral allegory in the movie. That allegory clearly has implications for international affairs in places like the Bosnia area of the former Yugoslavia, where some ethnic groups are being displaced by other ethnic groups. In the movie, the Federation is secretly moving the population of 600 Ba’ku off their planet to help billions of other people, not just the Ba’ku, enjoy the healthful, regenerating qualities of that world. Picard objects: If people can be forcibly removed from their homeland, destroying their way of life, where does it end? There may be only 600 Ba’ku, but how many would it take to become wrong? A thousand? A million? Picard and his crew lay their own careers on the line to defend a moral principle. Can many people today say the same?
Regrettably, one of the few things in this movie that mitigate the moral thrust of its story is a short scene where two of the officers of the Enterprise, a man and a woman, are shown enjoying a bubble bath together. Because of that, three mildly obscene words, the violence, and some mildly scary moments, MOVIEGUIDE must give this enjoyable movie a caution for parents with younger children. This is still a better rating than the last movie of the series, FIRST CONTACT, which rated a caution for older children as well. And, it is better than some episodes of the more than 400 STAR TREK episodes on television. Such episodes sometimes have immoral, anti-biblical, anti-Christian, humanist, and pagan worldviews, contents and themes.
- Content: +1Share:
- Content: +1