Though "Nemesis" opens with a brief destruction of the Romulan Senate, the story really begins with the wedding of Riker and Troi. From happy Alaskan nuptials Enterprise proceeds to Betazed, but passing positronic readings strip them from their naked duty (referenced many times too many). Picard leads a Rat Patrol away team to shoot up the natives and recovers B4, a dim-witted Soong prototype. Piling on the diversions, Starfleet orders NCC-1701-E to Romulus to receive peace overtures from Shinzon, the new Praetor, who surprises everyone with an admission that he's a clone of Picard (originally intended but abandoned as a weapon against the Federation).

It's all a dastardly trick however, as Shinzon appears in his uber-ship Scimitar on a mission to fry Earth with the same death ray earlier used to blast the Senate. Picard is kidnapped but a disguised Data arrives to free him; a big space battle ensues and a heavily damaged and overpowered Enterprise rams the Scimitar. This leads to a Genesis-torpedo-type countdown in which Data solves his Kobayashi Maru by sacrificing himself to save Picard. No bagpipes, and the curtain falls on the freshly refitted ship ready in drydock (minus a few prominent members of her crew).

And thus the final journey of a generation arrives as this filling if not completely fulfilling copycat's tale. It's clear the title "Nemesis" was selected after realizing "Attack of the Clones" had already been taken. That's clone(s) plural, since this feature featured several: Picard's (Shinzon), Data's (B4), weddings (his and hers), Goldsmith's unexceptional score, and of course largely all of the plot highlights ("The Wrath Of Khan"). That latter "homage" is sadly unflattering - sorely missing is the in-woven literacy of "Khan" (or even "First Contact"). Meyer used a germane training scenario to setup his stage; Baird handles his with a heavily edited wedding irrelevant to the eventual plot (which I happened to enjoy though apparently I missed Pulaski).

Similarly even the "involuntary dissolution" of the Senate matters little to this storyline, though a Romulan coup might have made a better movie altogether. The audience is left gasping for clues behind the Romulan-Reman relationship. As leader of a pitiable slave rebellion Shinzon is not evil, only broken. I understand early versions explored Shinzon as Picard's lost son, with perhaps more dramatic interest given Jean Luc's wistful interest in "his life that could have been" - could have even named him David. And all of this doesn't help overturn the objection that the actors employed just don't look like each other.