Film #136 - Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is the single greatest piece of Star Trek material ever created. I say that without fear of serious contradiction. It does everything that made the original Star Trek television series work and engages in none of the excesses and fanwank that marked later films and series.
And it all starts with producer Harve Bennett. Brought in to try and take the box office success that was Star Trek: The Motion Picture and produce a superior sequel. With very little knowledge of the show, Bennett watched every episode of Star Trek and recognized the potential of “Space Seed” as fodder for the new film. Carrying on from that episode, he brought in Ricardo Montalban, then best known as Mr. Roarke on Fantasy Island to reprise his role as Khan Noonien Singh, despotic leader who had tried to take over the Enterprise and, then, the Galaxy.
One big reason that Khan works so well is that it is a sequel to The Motion Picture in name only. It makes no mention of the events of that film and picks up as if it was the first time we’d seen these characters since the original show. In fact, you can ignore The Motion Picture and Khan works perfectly as the reunion film that The Motion Picture should have been.
We find the main characters in positions much more (ahem) logical than where we found them in the last film. Kirk (William Shatner) is an Admiral who longs to return to the command chair, but his need is more realistically portrayed. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) is in command of the Enterprise, a much more understandable development than seeking meaningless accolades on Vulcan. The others are basically where The Motion Picture placed them (except Chekov, who’s go-get-’em nature fits with the notion that he’d have moved on) but they seem reasonably older.
And the themes of Khan are much stronger and better developed than those in The Motion Picture. Khan speaks to the nature of growing older and how we deal with loss. It begins with the opening training sequence, where young Lt. Saavik (Kirstie Alley) learns a hard lesson in hopeless causes. It continues through Kirk’s awkward birthday celebration with friend and colleague Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) and plays out over the course of the whole film, right to the devastating conclusion. The Motion Picture, with it’s very Roddenberry-like touchy-feely hippie sentimentality has nothingby which to compare.
Khan also works on the level of a straight action film. There are plenty of exciting and suspenseful moments, even a touch of horror. The dangers the crew face seem very real and Khan is a legitimate and palpable threat. No villain before or since has ever seemed to be so clearly Kirk’s equal and the price that his actions ultimately demand is like nothing Kirk ever faced.
The performances are universally excellent. William Shatner gets a lot of flack for his supposed lack of acting skills (though he’s had less of that since he won two Emmys). Khan proves that when given good material, he can more than rise to the occasion. The scene near the end, when Kirk finds himself eulogizing his closest friend, is one of the most powerful moments I have ever seen in any film, let alone a Star Trek product. He gives the moment such reality that it really irks me when his skill is dismissed out of hand. (Yes, he’s given bad performances. Heck, The Motion Picture was a pretty bad outing for him. But he’s hardly the hack he’s been made out to be.)
Nimoy gets some great moments as well, including an absolutely stunning death scene (and even a pretty good one earlier on, too). The Spock we see here is much more fully realized than the one in the previous film. It’s probably at least partially because he was better settled back into the role than he had been on the first film, but I think it’s mostly because the writers got the character better than Roddenberry ever did. (I’m sorry if I seem to be coming down heavy on the “Great Bird of the Galaxy”, but his personal contributions to the world of Star Trek were always among the weakest. I’m not sure he ever understood the universe he was creating.)
DeForest Kelley gets some great scenes as well, showing the depth of understanding that McCoy has after his years with Kirk. There’s a lot of his curmudgeonly self, but it is tempered with a humanity that Kirk and Spock lack. It’s a good example of why they worked best as a trio.
Walter Koenig gets the best of the rest of the cast. Chekov’s position as the unfortunate victim of Khan’s plans allows him a greater chance to shine than any supporting character would get for the rest of the series. It is to Koenig’s credit that he makes the most of the opportunity. James Doohan gets a few good scenes, including another example of tragic loss, and also makes the most of them. The rest are solid, but don’t get much of a chance to do anything exceptional.
Kirstie Alley makes an amazing debut as Saavik. It’s a real shame she didn’t want to be typcast and so declined the opportunity to return. As far as I’m concerned, only Nimoy, Mark Lenard (who plays Spock’s father Sarek on the show and in this movie, among others) and Alley have effectively portrayed Vulcans. All the rest (Tuvok, T’Pol, etc.) just seem to be doing Spock impersonations. Alley is able to give the standard Vulcan character a unique aspect. (This may be because her backstory states Saavik is half-Romulan, but that is unsupported on-screen.)
And then there’s Montalban. He apparently had some difficulty shedding his Mr. Rourke personality, but once he did, he made Khan the greatest villain in Trek history. Using the parallels to Moby Dick’s Captain Ahab, Montalban is able to portray Khan’s obsession with Kirk with an inner fury and a desperate need that allows him to rise above the dozens of otherwise comparable enemies Trek captains have faced over the years. When Khan was made, the gold standard of villains was, of course, Darth Vader. Only Khan could give him a run for his money.
Yes, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is another film that I could go on and on about. I haven’t even mentioned the stunning, ground-breaking computer special effects done for the film by Industrial Light & Magic or the utterly brilliant score by James Horner (the only Trek score I’ve ever bothered to buy on CD) or even the snazzy uniforms that replaced The Motion Picture’s footy pajamas. On every level, Khan improves on The Motion Picture and it set a standard that, frankly, Star Trek has never again reached. (Though not for lack of trying.) Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is absolutely perfect.