Full Review: Star Trek II, The Wrath of Khan (1982)

Bob’s guide to Star Trek films, part 2:

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

Cast: First generation + Kirstie Alley and Ricardo Montalban

Basic Plot

The film opens at Starfleet academy where Capt. Spock is preparing a new crew for the Enterprise under the guidance of his former commander and friend, Admiral James T Kirk.  Elsewhere, the crew of the USS Reliant are on a mission to find a suitable planet for scientific research, namely for Project Genesis, a rapid terraforming device that transforms a dead space body into a living world.  During a ground search of the plant, Capt. Tyrel and Com. Checkov are taken prisoner by Khan, a former rival of Kirk (from 1^st generation TV show).  Khan steals their ship and sets out on his long awaited mission of revenge.

Meanwhile, Kirk sets out on an inspection/training cruise aboard the Enterprise and is soon met by Reliant and is attacked on sight, triggering the battle royale between Kirk and Khan.

My take

This is still by far my favorite of all the Star Trek films.  The makers of the film took to heart what worked and what did not work in the first movie and used this knowledge in making The Wrath of Khan.  What results is a movie where virtually every element comes together perfectly to create a great work of science fiction.

*Spoiler Alert*

The story is very well written and deals with “real” concepts, but without dwelling on them too heavily.  For example, Kirk is dealing with the fact that he is getting older and no longer feels the same sense of worth he once had as a starship captain.  He is ready to turn the Enterprise over to a new generation (which is the exact opposite of his mindset in the first film), but life shows him that he is not done leading a starship crew.

Overpopulation was another popular subject back in the 80s, as it is today with Earth’s population nearing 7 billion.  This is where the Project Genesis fits in.  It appears as a quick and easy way to deal with the problem, but with one (potentially) major down side.  If detonated on a dead world, Genesis creates life, but as Dr. McCoy and Spock speculate, using it on a living planet would destroy all life on that world.  This is the kind of warning that H.G. Wells was known for writing about.  For example, one of his main characters created a serum that made him invisible, but the result of process made him completely insane.  And we cannot forget the story of the time traveler who sees that industrialization will lead humanity to evolve into two subspecies; the stupid and the cannibalistic.  As for the Genesis technology in Star Trek II, it represents the best intentions of science, but being stolen and used by a mad man for great evil.

One of the most famous lines in Star Trek history is found in this film.

“The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.”  The basic plot of the movie illustrates the logic of this concept beautifully in the motivations of the two kings of the chessboard, Kirk and Khan.  Kirk, being a Starfleet admiral is concerned with the needs of the many, namely his crew of trainees, not to mention the safety of any world that could be threatened by Genesis - and this is what drives him to make his decisions.  Khan, on the other hand, is only concerned with the needs of the one, himself.  His first mate even brings up the subject by telling Khan that they have already won by escaping their exile and obtaining a ship; they do not need to defeat Kirk again.  But, Khan driven by anger and blind fury ignores this advice and puts his needs ahead of his crew.  As a result, his every attack is thwarted and his crew pays the price before he does.  Finally, in an ultimate act of this concept, Spock sacrifices his own life to enable the Enterprise to escape destruction, as a dying Khan had set Genesis to explode near the Enterprise.

The first scene of the movie the audience sees is a Starfleet test called the “Kobiashi Maru”, which puts the subject into a no-win scenario to test their character in the face of death.  Again, the actions of Kirk and Khan illustrate this concept very effectively as they face their death trials head-on.  In a way, the results of their respective trials match their motivations.  Khan is fully willing to sacrifice his loyal crew to get at Kirk, and they all die in the conflict.  Kirk is willing to do what it takes to get his crew free and clear of danger, and for the most part he succeeds, with the loss of two; Spock and Trainee Peter Preston, who we find out in the extended version of the film is Scotty’s nephew.

The performance of the cast in this installment is much more spot-on than its predecessor. We still get plenty of “classic” Kirk, Spock, and McCoy with some newly found drama in their reactions to the situation of the story.  We also get Ricardo Montalban, who gives an absolutely brilliant performance as Khan, whose character’s intellect and physique were genetically enhanced during the 1990s (the character was created in the 60s, remember.) Kirstie Alley does a good job in her debut role as Lt. Saavik.  One might think that Vulcans are easy to play given their logic-driven nature, but there have been actors who do not portray this quality well at all, while Alley does a good job mixing this with the youth of her character (slipping out of logic for a second or two at a time.)

This not just a great Star Trek movie, this is a great film in general, and should be in the collection of every single movie fan out there. I’m not exaggerating. Go get it.