Star Trek II - Der Zorn des Khan

I've heard some Trekkies argue that The Wrath Of Khan is the best of the Star Trek big screen productions and I'm for one am inclined to accept that. Of all the Star Trek films it's the only one to have origins directly from the cult television series.

And the origin is from the episode Space Seed where the Eneterprise finds a ship floating in space with cryogenically frozen people of all kinds on board. Their leader is Khan Nooriam Singh played by Ricardo Montalban. What they are is a group of genetically enhanced human beings who back in the day tried to take over. Earth justice at the time being what it was, they were not killed, but frozen and were out there in space for several hundred years.

William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk had a close run battle with this crowd again and they were sentenced to a different kind of exile, on a barren planet where they would have to struggle to maintain life itself.

Fifteen years later Khan is down, but not out. He's out for blood now because the wife he took from the original Enterprise crew is dead and he blames Kirk. Khan's also after bigger game as well, something called the Genesis Project, a thing that scientists Bibi Besch and Paul Winfield have been working on. A method of generating life itself on a dead world.

Khan's a genetically enhanced being both physically and mentally which makes him maybe the most dangerous foe Kirk faced on the three year run of the television series. He hasn't lost a step, but even a genius can't think of everything even if he's taken over a starship of his own.

With both the television episode Space Seed and the film the Wrath of Khan it could well be argued that Ricardo Montalban got his career role, maybe he's known for playing Khan better because of Trek fans than for being the inscrutable Mr. Roarke on Fantasy Island. All the Star Trek regulars are in their accustomed and comfortable parts.

I'll let you in on a secret, The Wrath of Khan is my favorite of the Star Trek films and it will be your's if you see it.

I've always held a special place in my heart and mind for this second installment in the "Star Trek" movie series. Mostly, because this is a movie that appeals to both places.

Not only is this movie loaded with the original characters from the series, it also touches on such subjects as revenge, family, duty, age and, of course, sacrifice. That was the best thing about the series - that it touched on topics that were (pardon the expression) universal, no matter the species.

Everyone is uniformly fine right down the line, especially Montalban's Khan (returned from the "Space Seed" episode of the original series); all hatred, vengeance and single-minded of desire to see his enemy laid out before him. Namely, Kirk.

Alley is rather fetching as Saavik and it's a shame she wasn't carried over to the next film. I can't help but, seeing her on TV anymore, to expect her to raise an eyebrow in contemplation. Buttrick makes a complex character out of David, the son Kirk never knew he had. Hurt feelings and resentment meld somewhat explosively with a new-found father/son relationship.

And what can one say about Spock, Bones, Sulu, Chekov, Uhura and Scotty? They are characters all of us grew up with and, pivotal to the plot at hand or not, it's always good to see them.

For anyone who hasn't seen the movie, I won't discuss it in great detail. The story is simple enough (scientists find way to rejuvenate life on dead planets; Khan finds escape from prison planet, vows revenge on Kirk), but there is one plot point that will, if you are unfamiliar with it, blow you away. Suffice it to say, never has friendship been elocuted so well in this or any movie before or since.

Ten stars and a special Kobuyashi Maru simulation for "Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan". Watch it: it'll make you feel young again.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is a classic action film. It has heroic characters, a nasty villain and a sweeping adventure that is both engaging and entertaining. This is top-notch filmmaking, which just happens to be told via Gene Roddenberry's sci-fi world of Star Trek.

Acting: Shatner and the Enterprise crew are all in top form. It just so happens that this is the best material they have ever been given to perform and they execute it with class and style (a quality later incarnations of Star Trek lack). Also, Ricardo Montablan is the ultimate Star Trek villain as Khan Noonian Singh.

The special FX are also well-done. In this age of CGI it is refreshing to see the ingenuity and creativity of old-style model effects being used so effectively. And just to make this statement even more clear: ST II has THE BEST space battle sequences in film history. That's right, the best. It's not about the scope of a battle that makes it fun to watch, it's all about the pacing! This film exhibits the best cat and mouse battle in my mind and its well worth your time.

Go see this movie.

I don't think that I'm exaggerating with that title. "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" made a lot of money from people who were happy to see the gang re-united, but that turned out to be a pathetically weak movie. Another sub-par effort would surely have killed the franchise, but this instalment was anything but sub-par, and led to two directly related sequels.

The idea was great. Take a popular episode of the TV series ("Space Seed") and update it. Use the main guest star from the TV series (Ricardo Montalban) and have him reprise his role as Khan Noonian Singh, the late 20th century warlord who was cryogenically frozen and then "rescued" by Captain Kirk and ultimately stranded on Ceti Alpha V after trying to seize control of the Enterprise. Here we see Khan taking his revenge on Kirk for the events of 15 years before.

The cast in general is excellent in this one, although - and I find this typical of the movies - both DeForest Kelley (Dr. McCoy) and James Doohan (Scotty) seem to have some trouble reprising their roles. There are some interesting new characters (Saavik, played by a very young Kirstie Alley) and the Drs. Marcus (Bibi Besch as Carol and Merritt Butrick as David - adding some new context to Kirk's life as his ex-lover and son, respectively.) It's a tense movie filled with all the fun stuff that we expect from Star Trek, and a very good climax with the appropriate open-endedness setting us up for the inevitable sequel.

It isn't without its problems, mind you. How do Khan and Chekhov know each other? Chekhov wasn't part of the crew in Season 1 when "Space Seed" aired (or at least Walter Koenig wasn't part of the cast.) William Shatner (as expected) goes a bit over the top at times (his anguished cry of "KHAAAAANNNNNNNN!" while shaking with fury comes to mind.) It seems strange to me that no one would have checked on Khan after his stranding on Ceti Alpha V, that no one seemed to know that Ceti Alpha IV had exploded (when the Reliant came within scanning distance of the system shouldn't someone have said "uh, Captain Terrell, there's one less planet here than there should be) and that it didn't even seem to have occurred to Chekhov (who apparently and inexplicably knew Khan so well) that this was the system where Khan had been stranded.

Still, it's a fun movie that made Star Trek worth watching again.

7/10

William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForrest Kelley. and the rest are back with a rather exciting installment to the "Star Trek" franchise. The writing is inspired, so the plot twists and turns are credible and the viewer doesn't get lost. The use of the "Kobayashi Maru" test exercise as a part of the situations encountered by the characters throughout the movie was well-thought and complemented the action well. Spock and Kirk make a classic heroic team in this movie, and use guile more than brute force to engage their enemy, the "Khan" of this movie. Ricardo Montalban is delectable in his role as the villain, and is a perfect counterpoint to Kirk as an adversary.

This movie, more than any other "Star Trek" movie, inspired a multitude of parodies, which ranged from making fun of Montalban's accent to Shatner's over-the-top scream when Kirk is trapped inside of a planet: "KKKHHHAAANNN!" To be fair, it's not as over-the-top as Daniel Day-Lewis screaming "DRAINAGE!" in "There Will Be Blood," but watching Mr. Shatner's face scrunch in mock-anger is still a classic scene of cinematic melodrama.

Fans of science fiction will enjoy "The Wrath of Khan." It's more intelligent than the "Star Wars" movies, and the action is more subdued, but the cast's acting and the plot are still engaging and entertaining.