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| The Enterprise, on a routine mission about to go badly wrong... |
THE PLOT
The USS Reliant, under the command of Capt. Terrell (Paul Winfield), is scouting planets to find a suitable test subject for the top-secret Genesis Project. They need a world that's absolutely devoid of life and appear to have found it in Ceti Alpha VI. Terrell beams down with Commander Chekov to investigate a minor sensor reading. But they discover that this world is actually Ceti Alpha V - the planet where the genetically engineered renegade Khan (Ricardo Montalban) and his followers were exiled fifteen years ago.
Meanwhile, Admiral James T. Kirk and his old crew are overseeing a training flight aboard the Enterprise. A class of trainees will crew the ship under the guidance of the old hands. A routine flight - until Kirk receives a garbled transmission from the scientists behind Genesis. He takes command and orders the ship to the research station.
What he discovers is Khan, in command of the Reliant, waiting for him. Khan's purpose is as single-minded as it is deadly: Revenge!
Admiral Kirk: Has settled into a sort of bureaucratic semi-retirement. Inactivity doesn't suit him, something both Spock and McCoy readily pick up on. Both of his friends tell him in their own ways that it was a mistake for him to accept promotion and that he should get back to command of a starship. Command is his "first, best destiny," Spock says bluntly. "Anything else is a waste of material."
This version of Kirk, old enough to reflect on regrets but still young enough to take charge, suits William Shatner's performance perfectly. Director Nicholas Meyer reportedly did large numbers of retakes to sap the energy from Shatner's performance, enhancing this quality. But he does let Shatner loose at key moments, such as when Kirk takes charge in a crisis or the infamous (but, in context, perfectly judged) cry of "Khaaan!!!" Between the material, the actor, and the director's handling of the actor, the result is Shatner's best bigscreen performance as Kirk (probably his best performance, period).
Capt. Spock: Leonard Nimoy is equally good as Spock, providing a constant, low-key support to Kirk. He pushes the admiral to accept command when the crisis arises. He observes Khan's intelligence but also his lack of experience, and it's his observations which allow Kirk to defeat his opponent. His most significant scene comes at the end, when he takes drastic action to save the ship. His final scene with Kirk - Spock on one side of the glass, Kirk on the other, unable to touch during an emotional moment - is a great one.
Chekov: Actually gets something to do - rare enough in the television series, let alone the films. Promoted to a higher position on the Reliant, Chekov beams down to Ceti Alpha V with Capt. Terrell. When he sees the Botany Bay decal, he realizes who it is they've stumbled across and tries to get himself and his captain away. After Khan implants his brain worms, Walter Koenig lends a weak, hesitant quality to the influenced Chekov, showing us that something's not quite right without overselling it to make us wonder why the characters can't see the same.
Hot Alien Space Babe of the Week: A young (quite gorgeous) Kirstie Alley is Saavik, Spock's young Academy protege. She is clearly being groomed for command, and she seems suited for it. Her temperament is loose by Vulcan standards. She's composed, but not inaccessibly so. She obviously doesn't take well to failure, as she can't quite let go of the Kobayashi Maru test at the beginning of the film, pushing until Kirk reveals what his solution to the test had been.
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| Khan, a victim of his own self-destructive rage. |
KHAN
It is appropriate that in a film that sees Kirk reflecting on his regrets, the villain is a figure from his past. Ricardo Montalban's Khan was already larger-than-life in his first appearance, the first season episode, Space Seed. There, he was tightly controlled. He was no sadist. He would kill or torture as a means to an end, but not as a goal in itself. Above all, he wore a veneer of civility, as eager to fence with Kirk at the dining table as on the battlefield.
Fifteen years of hell have stripped that civility away. This Khan has kept himself and his people alive through a strength of will driven by rage. He has made Kirk the focus of that rage, blaming him for everything: The horror that befell his people, the loss of his wife, the conditions he and the survivors have had to contend with, his own fall from global ruler to ragged castaway. Every failing in his life now has one face and one name: Kirk.
It's a self-destructive rage, as his second in command (Judson Scott) sees all too clearly. If Khan could abandon his pointless vengeance, he would have control of a weapon that would make him a galactic force. But that anger has burned so brightly that he cannot let it go. He consciously takes on the role of Capt. Ahab from Moby Dick, quoting or paraphrasing Ahab multiple times, including as he springs his final trap:
"To the last, I grapple with thee... From hell's heart, I stab at thee. For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee!"
ZAP THE REDSHIRT!
Redshirt count: Well... many, between the two battle scenes. But there are two worth noting. The first is Peter Preston (Ike Eisenmann), Scotty's eager nephew, serving in Engineering (of course). When Khan attacks Enterprise, the other trainees run for safety. Preston stays at his post, does his duty, and dies on Dr. McCoy's operating table with severe radiation burns as a result. It's his role to provide the consequences of Khan's violent revenge with an innocent human face.
Preston's death also foreshadows the death of Spock. Once again, Khan has prepared an attack, one which Enterprise cannot escape. The only hope is to restore warp power, but anyone who does so will be exposed to a lethal dose of radiation. Spock seals himself in, gets the engines back on line, and saves the ship. This forces Kirk to deal with death in the most personal way possible. Not through Kirk's own death - he's always been prepared for that - but the death of his closest friend. A loss he can't cheat his way out of.
At least, not until the sequel!
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| Kirk finally faces death. |
BACKGROUND
Though Star Trek: The Motion Picture was a significant financial success, reviews were lukewarm at best. Fans went into a lather convincing themselves that it was the Star Trek movie they really wanted to see... but as the dust settled, many began admitting that while the film had its virtues, it didn't really capture the appeal of the 1960's television series. The spectacle couldn't be denied, and the ideas were sound. But the warm tone and character relationships that had defined the television series had been almost entirely absent from the film, which instead opted for a cold, antiseptic feel ala 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The Wrath of Khan was greenlit because of the first film's financial success. Critics and, ultimately, fans may have been disappointed, but it was clear there was money to be made from the franchise. But the disappointment was noted, and the budget was severely cut. The first film racked up a budget of more than $40 million - astronomical, by late 1970's movie standards. The second was made for a much more modest $11 million.
It does get the advantage of re-using sets, models, and even some footage from The Motion Picture to make it look like a "bigger" film than it is. Despite this, and despite a genuinely exciting space battle at the climax, The Wrath of Khan is no spectacle. The Motion Picture tried to paint on an epic canvas. The Wrath of Khan goes for the other extreme, with a script that's entirely character-centric.
THOUGHTS
The plot may be driven by Khan and his hatred of Kirk, but the focus is squarely on Kirk himself. When we see him at the start, he's become almost as lifeless as his collection of antiques. He seems determined to not only act his age, but to act like someone twenty years older than he actually is! In an odd way, Khan does him a favor. By presenting a crisis, he brings Kirk back to life.
The conflict also demonstrates that age does not have to impair effectiveness. Kirk doesn't defeat Khan by rediscovering his youth; he beats him by making use of the principle advantage of age: Experience. Khan embodies the strengths and weaknesses of youth. He is physically stronger, passionately emotional, and quick-thinking. But Kirk has decades of knowledge. His familiarity with starship design allows him to escape Khan's first trap. Decades of practice with three-dimensional starship tactics allow him to defeat Khan during the space battle. The middle-aged Kirk has experience that Khan lacks, and he uses that to win out.
The other recurring theme is one of death. Kirk's first exchange with Saavik has him telling her that "how we deal with life as at least as important as how we deal with death." But as the film makes clear, Kirk hasn't really dealt with the concept of death. Sure, people under his command have died, including friends. But he has somehow managed to avoid being touched by this. He has always beaten the odds, generally at minimal cost, and his victories have kept him going:
"I've cheated death. I've tricked my way out of death and patted myself on the back for my ingenuity. I know nothing."
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| The Enterprise crew, in a contemplative moment. |
OVERALL
There are two versions of The Wrath of Khan that are widely available: The theatrical cut and an extended director's edition that runs about three minutes longer. Unlike The Motion Picture, it makes very little difference which version you choose. Save for an expanded role for the ill-fated Preston, there's no significant difference between the two cuts, and thus no difference in the final score.
The Wrath of Khan is the Star Trek movie fans had been waiting for: A good story, fast-paced and exciting, with the warmth of the character relationships that made the 1960's series what it was. Star Trek: The Motion Picture has its virtues as a science fiction movie, and in my opinion is severely underrated as such... but it's honestly not a particularly good Star Trek movie. The Wrath of Khan is not only a great Star Trek movie, it's a great movie full-stop.
Overall Rating: 10/10.
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I was astonished that they chose to end this movie by having Kirk say, "I feel young." Your best friend has just died, and you feel grand? WTF? The rest of the movie was good, but I thought their decision to end it on this note was a mistake.
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