Review of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) by Andrew J — 14 Mar 2011

I'll get this out of the way first: The Wrath of KHAAAAAN is a vast improvement over The Motion Picture. VAST. Producer and story writer Harve Bennett, who was "bored" of the aforementioned Motion Picture, was challenged to make a better Star Trek movie, and he did. The Wrath of Khan successfully saved the Star Trek franchise not only for fans, but from Gene Roddenberry himself.

After meddling with the story for The Motion Picture, Roddenberry (creator of Star Trek) was bumped to executive consultant. Now acting in a background role, Star Trek could finally get back on track, and the follow-up to the Khan episode from the Original series, was a great choice to wash the awful V'ger taste out of all Trekkie's fans mouths!! Khan is ruthless, menacing, pure genetically created evil. The dick-wielding battle that ensues between a vengeful Khan against Kirk makes the whole movie worthwhile. The Wrath of Khan is also unique, as its the first part in a trilogy, despite being the second movie released commercially.

The movie has its flaws though. The two men never actually meet face to face. Some twists such as a surprise in-person confrontation would have made Wrath of Khan even better. The battle between a damaged U.S.S. Reliant and the Enterprise, especially the part where they are chasing each other around the giant asteroid/planetoid is silly. Also, the ensuing space battle in the nebula isn't quite as satisfying as it should be. Having Khan limited by his time period truly limits his potential as a true nemesis to Kirk, something that Picard and the Borg would later go on to demonstrate to a further degree in TNG and First Contact. Khan is merely a mosquito to Kirk, one that eventually gets squashed like all the other Trek villains. There are very few inner demons left by Khan that truly make him a memorable villain.

Nonetheless, Shatner and Montalban (the grandpa from Spy Kids in case you're too young to know who he is) have great chemistry, and the rest of the cast feed off this. Also, the shocking death of a crew provides Trek with one of its most heart-breaking, emotionally-powerful moments.

Fans of Trek already know that this movie is one of the best in the series. Out of the eleven Trek films, its probably in the top three. It's got a great story, a deadly cat and mouse chase and a quote-worthy script. For people just learning about Star Trek and want to watch all the movies, do yourself a favour and start with this one. Just watch 2 through 11. The Motion Picture is a waste of time, unless you need to catch up on some zzzzzs then it might serve some purpose. Otherwise, The Wrath of Khan is a great parallel tale to Moby Dick. Fans have already rejoiced. If you haven't seen this yet, take a chance and check it out. The beginning of the Genesis trilogy is a blast, four stars!!