I think you'll find some debate about that on another thread. For myself I always assumed the Dominion War was going on. The film was released during the early to mid 7th season of Deep Space Nine when the war was still raging and I just assumed the film took place at the time it was released. Berman era Trek was pretty consistent in that the time periods corresponded across the shows and movies (within a few weeks at most). Nowadays we're used to time periods being variable but that just wasn't done during the Berman era. If the movie was released during the 7th season of DS9 it's probably safe to assume that's when Insurrection took place. To be honest until someone posted the thread I never realized there was a debate about that. They even mentioned Dominion negotiations going on--which I thought was their brief nod to the war as on Deep Space Nine we do know that negotiations were taking place (which isn't all that unusual even during war time).
I like it more than most apparently. The concepts are important ones, and it's more philosophic than other trek movies.
I do too. Now I always say it's 4/4 for me among the TNG films and 12/13 overall, but that being said that doesn't mean I hated it. I liked all the Trek films at least to some degree. Insurrection probably would have fit better in some ways in the TV series. But I enjoyed it well enough which is the first thing I judge any film by.
Things I loved about this film--the music (of course) and I always say it had some of the most beautiful cinematography of all the films.
And I read some complaints about the story itself, about 600 mostly European looking aliens facing peril. But I don't know, I just never looked at it that way. They were trying to draw parallels to the American Indians being driven off their land. Now maybe the filmmakers made the lazy choice in how the aliens appeared but I look a bit deeper than that. And Picard's impassioned speech about when is it wrong is classic Picard. And I know there has been some debate about would you move 600 people for the benefit of the entire Federation (ignoring how the aliens appear which is irrelevant to the question really)--it does lead to a debate which is what Star Trek does well. It does make you ask questions. So in that sense it's classic Star Trek if it makes you ask questions.
Then they add another layer with the Son'a being the children of the Ba'ku.
I liked the characters as well. And one thing I loved.....no Earth for a change.
And it was competently made. It'd probably be 13/13 but Star Trek V's special effects are so under par compared to other Trek films that drags TFF down for me. Insurrection's special effects, while not awe inspiring, were competently done. And, well, the cinematography. Insurrection ranks near the top of the Trek films at least in that one area.
It has it's flaws for sure. I wish there was a bit more acknowledgement of the Dominion War other than a throwaway line. And while I get they wanted to make a film that did not require film goers to be DS9 watchers I always thought they could have still done a Dominion War film that did not require any foreknowledge of the war.
At the time it was released I was a bit more bothered by the lack of acknowledgment of the Dominion War outside one or two lines---but as time passes and we get further away from when the film was released I find that bothers me less and less.
