I think both are awful. But I agree that NEM is worse.
INS, indeed, feels more like a weak two-part episode from the show. I was actually rather excited by the idea of Picard standing up against Starfleet. But it turns out all he's doing is standing up to a moronic admiral.
The Baku and their village were (I agree there with others) really, really annoying. It's Trek's typical portrayal of a the perfect world - everybody just running around all day having fun in the sun. I've simply never found that to be the least bit convincing the way it's portrayed here.
Also, instead of interesting character moments all we seem to get are lame jokes at the expense of the characters - either because it makes them look silly (the whole 'boobs' thing) or because they seem out of character (the whole shuttle thing with Data and Picard).
The villains really aren't very interesting, I think, which is a real shame since they had Abraham as the main villain. One of the problems, I think, is that they're simply too one dimensional. They're essentially bad and power hungry, and that's it. Or at least that's how they're portrayed throughout the film. It would have been IMHO much, much more interesting had we known more about their history with the Baku from the start rather than getting little more than an afterthought on the subject later on in the film.
Another problem I have is that I just don't find them very attractive visually. I know they're not supposed to look good. But somehow they end up being repulsive in a way that simply makes me not want to see the film.
And, yes, the joystick was really, really bad.
INS was one of very, VERY few movies I almost walked out on. I tend to be very patient at the cinema. Which is why, so far, I never actually walked out.
Now, I was wise enough (for my own good) not to go see NEM at the theater. Because it probably would have been a really hot contender for a film I WOULD have walked out on.
I don't know if NEM is just a little worse or a lot worse than INS, but I do feel it is worse. And that's quite an achievement since, at the time, I couldn't really imagine how things could get much worse than INS.
There are so many problems in NEM, really, so I'll just try to list what I felt stuck out most.
For one, Shinzon didn't look or (more importantly) feel like Picard one bit. I think that's really important because anything that could, potentially, have been interesting about Picard encountering himself or a person he could have been totally falls apart because of it. In other words, one of the major character building blocks of the movie doesn't work one bit, I think.
Also, as others have pointed out, the whole 'plan' doesn't make much sense at all. When they got Picard's DNA to create the clone he basically was a nobody. So why pick him and go to all the trouble of cloning him? The whole plan is based on so many 'ifs' and 'whens' and 'possiblys' that it comes off looking plain silly - which is the last thing I consider the Romulans to be.
Also, the Romulans do not strike me as the kind who would let someone like Shinzon rise to the kind of power he achieves. They simply wouldn't. They're too smart for that, and they're too bent on control and power to let that happen. Even if you figure in the blow to the Tal Shiar back in DS9's third season (which you don't have to since the movies hardly ever bothered recognizing the show anyway
) I think it just doesn't work. It seems out of character for the Romulans IMHO.
Speaking of being out of character, that's really one of the hallmarks of this film I think. To me, anyway, nobody in the film really feels like the crew we came to know from TNG. Picard, in particular, strikes me as way out of character. I don't mind Starfleet having dune buggies (though I don't know why they'd have them in the first place). But I do feel Picard racing around in one like a 16 year old just does not work, plain and simple.
And the way the whole Riker and Troi business is played is just, uh, cringe inducing, I feel. The whole wedding is not about the whole thing being a special occasion - it's about cheap laughs, really. And that makes it many things but certainly not a special occasion.
In terms of the story, again, there's a very important element I think simply doesn't make much sense, and that's B4. Again, this is a plan based on so many 'ifs' that, really, only a moron would even consider it.
What's worse is that the crew of the flagship actually falls for it. They went through the whole thing with Lore, so why on earth would they just happily reactivate B4? Didn't they ever think, even for a moment, that they might be getting themselves into trouble YET AGAIN?
In the end, it actually turns out that the whole thing is even worse than it initially seems. Not only is it an unconvincing plot point, it's also setup for one of the most disappointing character deaths since it's basically saying, Data's dead - but not really!
It's not surprising, then, that Data's death (and I'll leave it after this) has no emotional impact whatsoever. It certainly had none for me.
For one, his death seems avoidable the way it's filmed (I don't remember the details, but that's what I remember thinking at the time). And secondly, B4 guts any kind of true emotional payoff (or fallout, if you will) from the death.
So, to conclude: I think that NEM is worse than INS. I also think this is quite an 'achievement'.
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