Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Year:
1982
Directed by:
Nicholas Meyer
Rated:
PG
Country:
United States
Runtime:
1 hr. 56 min.
Production Company:
Paramount Pictures
Written by:
Harve Bennet
Jack B. Sowards
Starring:
William Shatner
Ricardo Montalban
Leonard Nimoy
DeForest Kelley
Similar Films:
A strong villain and a huge ending. Don't miss this one.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is a rare sequel. Not only is it a sequel to Star Trek: The Motion Picture (ST:TMP), but it is also a sequel to the Original Series episode Space Seed (in which Captain Kirk and the Enterprise crew find a spaceship from 1996 containing a group of genetically engineered supermen and women who try to take over the Enterprise). It is even more uncommon in that it is one of those few sequels that is better than the first film. While ST:TMP is not near as bad as it is often made out to be, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is quite possibly the Star Trek series' best installment. Combining excitement, humor, and character exploration (and an unforgettable villain) in a way that few Trek films have, Star Trek II does indeed stake a good claim to a "best of series" crown.
As the film begins, we see that Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) is now captain of the Enterprise, which is serving as a training vessel for Star Fleet Academy cadets.
Admiral Kirk (William Shatner), meanwhile, is going through a midlife crisis, wishing that he were still young enough to adventure through the galaxy as easily as the cadets. However, Kirk's past is about to come back to him violently when the starship Reliant discovers Khan Noonian Singh (Ricardo Montalban) on planet Ceti Alpha V. Khan is a twentieth-century genetically designed superman whom Kirk had left behind some fifteen years before, along with his wife, who had once been a member of the Enterprise crew. Burning with rage after having lost his wife, Khan takes over the Reliant, determined to avenge himself upon Kirk and anyone who gets in his way.
The Wrath of Khan may be the perfect Original Series film. Director (and un-credited co-screenwriter) Nicholas Meyer has created a film that acknowledges that our heroes must age as the series progresses. He has also re-created a villain with a simple but burning desire for revenge that drives the plot of the entire film. This film feels like classic Star Trek much more than ST:TMP. It is not a grand sci-fi epic like its predecessor, but it is intimate and charming, very much like an Original Series episode decked out with all the trimmings of a feature film.
When it comes to its characters, this is one of the more analytical Trek installments. From its opening scene (with the welcome return of Alexander Courage's ten-note Star Trek fanfare) this film tries to get beneath Admiral Kirk's skin and probe into his feelings about growing older. At one point he has a discussion with Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) in which it is so obvious that Kirk hates aging that Bones exclaims, "Other people have birthdays, why are we treating yours like a funeral?" Kirk's outlook on his age is reinforced, to him at least, when he is caught unprepared by Khan in their first encounter. Later, when confronted with David (Merritt Butrick), a son that he never met, Kirk tells his old flame Carol Marcus (Bibi Besch), "I feel old ... worn out." Fortunately, however, Meyer and screenwriter Jack B. Sowards don't let Kirk wallow in self pity. When he regains himself, Trek fans will recognize the old James T. Kirk, with his tactical abilities and skill at deception. The Kirk we see in The Wrath of Khan is an older and wiser Kirk, who still possesses the character's brashness and cleverness but that has had much of his former cockiness and self-confidence pruned away.
The other familiar characters are in good form here as well. Leonard Nimoy offers a magnificently subtle performance. He plays Spock in the same quiet, thoughtful way that he always has, but it is obvious that Spock has taken the lessons he learned from V'ger in the first film to heart. He openly admits his friendship with Admiral Kirk, and he doesn't put down emotions the way he used to in the Original Series. DeForest Kelley is brilliant as Bones. Since the character has always seemed very comfortable with himself, he doesn't change his performance much, but he plays McCoy with warmth and gusto. His debate with Spock over the morality of the Genesis device, a torpedo that can almost instantly terraform or destroy a planet, is an absolutely classic Spock-Bones debate that not only examines a serious question but provides some welcome humor. Spock dryly comments, "I was not attempting to evaluate its moral implications, Doctor. As a matter of cosmic history, it has always been easier to destroy than create." Bones, in expressing his disgust at the idea of the Genesis device, exclaims, "Not anymore, now we can do both at the same time. According to myth, the Earth was created in six days. Now watch out: here comes Genesis. We'll do it for you in six minutes!" Anyone who loved the Original Series will get a smile out of this classic exchange. The three main characters are extremely well served in this movie.
