MUBI

If this is considered the best, I’m already feeling a little disappointed. I re-watched the episode that introduced Khan and I do agree he is a great character and a challenging villain for the Enterprise crew to face. It is disappointing that the wrathful Khan and the farsighted Kirk never physically face one another. They spend nearly the whole time on their respective federation ship bridges. Though I can see that in arm to arm combat after 15 years it would be an uneven fight. With no character who offers muscle like Warf from NG on this crew, Kirk sadly feeling sorry for his old age, and the ships both being greatly damaged, the battles seem to finish before they really get good.

Chekov was not around when the Enterprise crew first meets Khan, yet Khan claims he recognizes Chekov and uses him to get close to Kirk. The alien slugs that Khan uses on Chekov and the captain of the Reliant seemed dangerous but ended up being more dastardly and ineffective. The Genesis device is obviously a big inspiration for the show Firefly. This movie is generally an improvement over the first feature. I just didn’t think it excelled. I wanted more character development and drama than the previous movie, but Dr. David Marcus and Dr. Carol Marcus being Kirk’s son and a woman he had romanced back in the day was not what I had in mind. I don’t think the writing of the scenes between them were very strong. Saavik was good as a new character, but again was not developed too well. All of a sudden Khan’s crew are all young blond men and women. They are all supposed to be genetically engineered like he is, but they have not aged like him at all. Meyer admittedly wasn’t interested in sci-fi and wanted to up the references to the Navy. The costumes were better and some of the ship procedures were ok with this heavier influence, but where was the diversity in the crew. There were some meaningful exchanges between the triangle of Kirk, Spock and McCoy, but the scene where Kirk speaks to the radiation poisoned Spock through glass lacked its full impact for me.

A flawless Star Trek film IMO. And even if you’re not a Star Trek fan, Wrath of Khan is an incredible sci-fi adventure all on its own. Amazing performances by Shatner and Montalban (especially since they were technically never in the same room together to feed off of one another). Just as incredible is how the film maintained perfect continuity with two complex characters who last interacted 15 years prior; this film is a continuation of the 1967 Star Trek Original Series ep: Space Seed, complete with the passing of time which makes Khan’s vendetta against Kirk very believable as well as understandable.

Speaking of the Captain, an important character trait is illustrated early on when Kirk recounts how he famously cheated on the Kobayashi Maru test, which is sort of like a final exam in Starfleet Academy that is designed to test an individual’s character in the face of a no-win scenario (in the Star Trek reboot, you actually get to see how this incident transpired). This ideology is put to the ultimate test as is Spock’s trademark logical reasoning character trait (“the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few”). From start to finish, the narrative is a memorable one filled with memorable lines that resonate (“how we deal with death is at least as important as how we deal with life”).

Wrath of Khan is quite possibly the first film I ever remember viewing (it’s a toss up between Trek II and Superman III, 2 films with drastically different levels of quality). I still vividly remember the fear I felt as a toddler while watching the disturbing Ceti Eel scene. And today I still get emotional during the final iconic scenes of the film between Kirk and Spock and most especially during Kirk’s eulogy for his dear friend. Because of all these reasons, I truly feel that Wrath of Khan is the greatest chapter in the entire Star Trek canon.

As good as Star Trek gets. It has wonderful art direction, memorable performances (who will ever forget Shatner reciting the word: KHAN!!!) & a touching reflection on life & death. Yet Meyer’s flaw was to deny attention to the aesthetics behind his complex story. His screenplay was a perfect candidate for a movie that could blend art with commercialism but never came to be.

The Wrath of Khan is (in my opinion) the best of the Star Trek movies. Star Trek XI was lacking in moral dilemmas, ST IV was lacking in a strong narrative (it sure provided plentiful gallons of humour). The other Star Trek movies are not so memorable (exception: Star Trek VI).

But what Khan had was everything that made the TV series so special: a cheesy voyage, reflections on social dilemmas, chemistry with the crew & a few laughs to go with the adventure. & with it came one of the greatest science-fiction screenplays that could’ve made the movie a masterpiece had Meyer attended to its details. Meyer gave us the look & feel of the fruit without giving us a taste of its true flavour (corny metaphor but it provides my point).