Star Trek VIII: First Contact (1996)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1996
	Director: Jonathan Frakes (Star Trek IX: Insurrection)
	Actors: Patrick Stewart (X-men 1-3), Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, James Cromwell (Babe, I Robot)
	Country: USA
	Genre: SF
	Conditions of visioning: 16.09.2013, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: The Enterprise-E is following a ship of the Borg, worst ennemies of the Federation, to a time warp back to before humans made first contact with aliens.
Review: I was afraid the movie would follow the easy option of sending back the Enterprise crew to 1996 (present time when shooting it), like was done in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. But it is not the case, and the story rather sends them to a time critical for future space exploration, and it gave me the same feeling as when I watched Men in Black 3 (when agent J is sent back to 1969, just before Apollo 11 take-off). While the previous movies were quite independent from the TV-series, it is harder to start this one without knowing the background, but fortunately it is well summarized in the first half hour (basically Picard was captured by the Borgs and came back). This new enemy is a cybernetic organism that assimilates every living form or technology it encounters (it reminds me of the parody of such ability in South Park), and that have a collective consciousness. This idea is recurrent in SF movies, and seems to have been for a while the best original idea to describe alien really different from us, although the idea was already present at the time of the Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The special effects in 1996 stared to look good, so the (few) space battles look nice. I realize I didn't say anything yet about the quality of the movie! Well I liked it, thanks to the space exploration spirit it is filled with (like often in Star Trek movies), and the reflexion on individual vs. collective life. Patrick Steward is really invested by his role, and James Cromwell plays an excellent anti-hero, opening the path for Humanity to a bright Future, and I was touched by the first intergalactic handshake.
Rating: 6 /10