STAR TREK: Nemesis (Test Footage vs Final Cut)

Tom Hardy Before he was Bane, he started out in Star Trek 

STAR TREK HAD BANE!!

Tom Hardy face to face with Patrick Stewart

Star Trek: Nemesis is not a good movie by any means.

The film is the worst reviewed filmed in the Star Trek franchise, and it is the one film that “trekkies” would want to forget. It released on Dec. 13, 2002 and it ranks as the lowest-grossing Trek movie by far, with a pitiful $43 million take in the U.S. and $67 million worldwide. The film effectively killed Trek as a feature film franchise until J.J. Abrams’ proved to be the franchises saving grace seven years later.

Tom Hardy in Star Trek

However the cast of the Star Trek film deserved much better, especially a young little known actor named Tom Hardy.

Thanks to a screen test for the film that’s going viral on the Web, however, I was reminded that Nemesis does at least have one unequivocal good to its name: It introduced Tom Hardy and Tom Hardy’s lips to a worldwide audience.

Hardy starred as the film’s Big Bad, a genetic clone of Capt. Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) named Shinzon for no discernable reason, and turned evil after a lifetime spent among the Romulan slave caste known as the Remans. That’s a strong (if convoluted) premise, but the promise of the character was never realized — he was all creepy make-up and silly costumes, and no real substance. In his B- review, EW’s Owen Gleiberman called Shinzon a “hissy-fit fascist,” and that’s just about right.

However, when you watch the screen test, you will see that Tom Hardy brings something quite remarkable to the role that makes you wonder what could have been. It clearly shows that sometimes a director can direct the life out an actor’s performance and for the most part maybe there are times when a actor looks bland or emotionless but not because they talentless, they were just directed out of a good performance.

However, everything turned out good in the end for Tom Hardy, as this little blimp at the beginning of his career never upended his career.

Check out the scene below, and then decide for yourself. Which Tom Hardy Star Trek performances do you like better — the screen test, or the feature film?