Far and away my favorite TNG film, and one of my top 3 or 4 Star Trek films. I always liked the Borg and were happy to see them get a film. Also this film and Nemesis were the only 2 TNG films that felt like theatrical productions. I liked a lot of Generations but that felt mostly like an episode of the TV series, as did Insurrection.
The insertion of the Borg Queen was not my favorite. My guess is they were afraid the Borg were getting a bit one dimensional and she was added to bring a different feel to the Borg. In an odd sort of way it made sense. The Borg were consistently stated to have a 'hive' mind and like a bee hive, they had their own queen. But it did take some of the mystique away. But I loved how the Borg were portrayed in this film. They were always creepy but somehow in the movie, with the makeup work and the camera shots they actually managed to make them look even more menacing. Sometimes it was something as simple as how the camera would focus on their eye(s) and you'd see them look at a character in a certain way that would send a chill up your spine. Almost like a monster suddenly seeing you hiding in a closet.
And I agree with Vger in his initial post. They managed the A/B plotlines very well in this movie. It was never distracting. The scenes on Earth were done is such a way that it offered a brief respite from the more stressful on ship scenes. It was like the filmmakers knew just when to give you a bit of a breather at just the right times.
I still like the deflector dish scenes. I know they are a bit slow and clunky, but they are outside the ship with gravity boots. That doesn't lend itself to quick action sequences. I liked how the Borg were not wearing space suits there as well. I figured the Borg's shielding would protect them (almost like the life support belts in the animated series).
Now that's not to say there weren't some substantial plot holes. I admit I was a bit shocked and almost appalled at Picard's seemingly ignoring the 'temporal prime directive' and basically giving Lily a history of the future. I know the Borg basically sabotaged the future by their actions and the Enterprise crew had to take action to fix things as best they could, but yeah, there were some unnecessary reveals by the crew. I do like Picard's and Lily's confrontation in the observation lounge. Picard was painting a rosy picture of the future, and in many ways it is, and humanity has improved, but humans were still imperfect beings and Lily exposed that in that scene. She basically filled in for Riker in that scene. He would normally be the one, possibly with Troi, that would bring Picard back down to Earth (pardon the pun), but they weren't there to remind him of that.
There were other plot holes as well. Sometimes they took liberties to move the story along. But the good far outweighs the bad. When you make an engaging, entertaining film with just the right amount of action and dialogue, and of course another top notch score by Jerry Goldsmith, it makes it easier to forgive some of the films faults.
And that's how I look at First Contact. I still love watching the movie. It strikes a perfect balance. And I came to love TNG as a show and am always glad they were able to make at least one blockbuster film.
