Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - Review

1979's Star Trek: The Motion Picture was seen as something of a disappointment. While not totally without merit, the film was criticized for it's tedious pacing, reliance on effects, and for doing away with most of the traits that made the TV series so endearing. While it made some money at the box office, it's numbers weren't what the studio had hoped, and as a result, they were reluctant about making a sequel. After series creator Gene Roddenberry was booted off the project (as he was generally blamed for the problems with the first film) and a significantly lower budget was provided, the sequel was green-lit and went into production. The movie, titled Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, while technically a canonical sequel to the 1979 film, generally ignored the previous film's events, and instead was more of a follow-up to Space Seed, a first season episode of the TV series. The film once again managed to recruit the series' primary cast members, but wasn't able to recruit the same prestigious behind-the-camera crew of the first, instead hiring the relatively unknown director Nicholas Meyer. Despite the cut budget, a lack of interest from the studio, a less prolific director, and the still bitter reception of the first film, the film was released to theaters in 1982... and Star Trek has never been better!

Taking place in the 23rd century, years after the USS Enterprise completed it's "five year mission," some of the ship's original crew have gone their separate ways. The Enterprise itself has become a Starfleet training ship, with Spock (Leonard Nimoy), the ship's former Commander, now serving as the Captain and primary instructor to his Commander-In-Training, Lt. Saavik (Kirstie Alley). The aging Admiral James T. Kirk, former Captain of the Enterprise, boards the ship one last time to oversee a routine training mission before he settles down from space missions. After reuniting with most of his original team, including Spock, McCoy (DeForest Kelley), and others, the mission becomes anything but routine when Kirk faces off against a former enemy. Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalban), a genetically altered "superman" once defeated by Kirk, returns seeking vengeance and universal domination. With time as a factor, Kirk and crew must hurry to defeat one of Starfleet's deadliest enemies.

Many fans (and non-fans for that matter) generally consider Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan to be the best entry in the Star Trek movie series... and honestly, I'm right there with them. Not only is Wrath of Khan the best Trek movie, but it's arguably the best "thing" in the whole Star Trek franchise... dare I even say, even one of the best Sci-Fi movies ever made! I know that might seem like a bit generous, but every time I watch this movie, my admiration for it continues to grow. The plot is solid, the themes are interesting, the characters are well developed, the villain is unforgettable, the pacing is near-perfect, and the action is memorable. It took all of the best elements from the TV series while taking advantage of it's expanded movie run-time and budget to further explore some interesting themes and dynamics. After the mixed reception of it's predecessor, some thought that the Star Trek franchise was dead, but this film proved that it still had plenty of life left in it and rejuvenated the series... and after watching the movie, it's easy to why.

When all is said and done, Wrath of Khan mainly succeeds on the strength of it's story. Most of the film is centered around Admiral Kirk, as he deals with age, regret, and overcoming his past. Despite the fact that this movie is 30 years old, I still won't spoil anything, but I will say that the way his past life is explored is legitimately moving and interesting. The past rivalry between Kirk and Khan fits in perfectly with such themes, adds a great hero/villain dynamic, and never comes off as overly dramatic or schmaltzy. The filmmakers took some real chances here too, adding some legitimately moving dramatic moments that sometimes moves people to tears... again won't spoil anything, but I really have to get them credit for trying something so risky. There are also some great interactions between Kirk, Spock, and Bones (something that was often neglected in the first film) that gives the film some much needed levity and explanation. As mentioned, the Hero Vs Villain face-off scenes are near perfect, with Kirk and Khan having some suspenseful and nail-biting interactions. Oddly enough, neither Kirk or Khan are ever in the same room with one another, instead limiting most of their communication with each other via communicator or screen. It would have been cool to see them face-off in person, but whatever, what works just works!

The effects this time around are notably of a lesser quality compared to the grandiose visuals from it's predecessor, but they still work. Honestly though, the lavish visuals from the first probably did more harm than good, and if that film was evidence that visuals don't make up for a lacking story, this film is solid proof that the opposite is true. A visually dynamic but narratively empty film can only get you so far, but if a film has a solid script, characters, and pacing, some sketchy visuals are easy to look past. Still, that's not to say that movie looks bad, in fact I think it has a pretty good visual aesthetic. The production design, namely the look of the ship interiors, is memorable and detailed. The models used to render the ships still do their job as well. Ultimately, the filmmakers just knew how to put their lower budget to good use. The effects certainly don't have the first film's "epic" feel per se, but they're shot from well-chosen angles, the editing is swift and fluent, and none of the effects are overblown or overused. The first space battle between the Enterprise and the Reliant is an awesomely suspenseful and exciting bit of action and one of my favorite scenes in all Sci-Fi movies. It's one of the more action packed films in the Trek series, and hits pretty much all the requisite action beats it needs to. The film also featured one of the first instances of CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) that, while more than a bit dated, is still pretty cool to look at. Compared to today's cg-laden blockbusters and effects driven monstrosities, it's unlikely that these effects will blow anyone away, but like I said, that doesn't really matter. The effects work when they need to, and even when they don't, you can always fall back on the film's important strengths (of which there are plenty).

The only weakness the film truly has is the quality of some of the acting. Once again, the producers managed to recruit many of the series' original actors, and they are all of different calibers. Many of the returning actors are so set in the respective roles that they're able to reprise them with ease. William Shatner (mostly) once again reigns in some of his typical scenery-chewing tendencies and gives a relatively restrained performance. He's not always perfect but he shows strong emotional range during some of the movie's more dramatic scenes. Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley are solid once again as their renown characters, no complaints there. In a surprise casting choice, Kirstie Alley plays the Vulcan, Lt. Saavik. It's odd to see a comedic performer like herself in a Star Trek movie, but she does the whole emotionless Vulcan schtick fairly well, no real complaints. With all that said, there is one stand-out performer, and that is Ricardo Montalban, who absolutely owns every single scene as Khan. His intense and brooding performance just sells every ounce of hatred and rage lying within the character, and contributes a great deal of the film's most memorable moments. His role has become so iconic, that he's not only often considered the series' greatest villain, but one of Sci-Fi's greatest villains period. The rest of the cast is hit and miss, but even when the acting isn't totally up to par, there was never a point I was totally taken out of the movie.

So Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan... it kicks ass! Even with a few dated effects and a handful of flawed performances, the film scores huge thanks to a strong story, great character development, memorable action, and an iconic villain. There are tons of fans and audiences that will forever consider this the best film in the Star Trek series, and while it's always possible one might come along and take it's place, the film has got it's work cut out for it. If you haven't seen this one, do so!

My Score: 4.5 out of 5!