Review of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) by Kai82 — 07 Mar 2020

The best Star Trek movie that each new movie will be compared to. They took a darker approach with elements from Moby Dick, Shakespeare, Paradise Lost and it has a lot of character development. It is about past mistakes, grief, obsessions and dealing with harsh situations.

The Kobayashi Maru scenario / test / trope became popular from this movie. The acting is so good. The whole crew delivers their best performance. Spock and Kirk especially. The last scene with Spock is the most emotional moment in the whole Star Trek franchise.

Kirk has to deal with past decisions and a problem he never truly overcame. Scotty, Mc Coy, Uhura, Sulu and Chekoy do also well. For the new characters: Saavik is an interesting character. Did you know that she married Spock (Non canon).

She is at the beginning of her career and is struggling with some experiences that came along. Carol and David Marcus are something that show how Kirks live could become if he took another route in life.

Khan is also the best villain in franchise history. He is so driven by his revenge that the comparison to captain Ahab is natural. He rightfully deserved a place in pop-culture history and is present in many top villain lists.

Then there is the story. It is exiting and entertaining for the whole movie. The final is still unbeaten today. They took so many good ideas in this movie and executed them well. Nothing feels forced or unbelievable here.

Overall this was a masterpiece that you can even recommend to non Star Trek fans. Also it is seen as most influential Star Trek movie and for some in the Top 10 for Science Fiction movies. Extra Knowledge: After Kirk some cadets have also beaten the Kobayashi Maru scenario.

Mac Kenzie Calhoun had the most interesting approach. He destroyed the Kobayashi Maru. He argued that this was a trap. A cargo ship with so much passengers, far off their route in an ideal intercepting position and no response from the Klingon's yet.

Even when this was not the case a fast dead was better than imprisonment by Klingon's (Confirmed in Star Trek 6 for me).