Pros: The performances of Kirstie Alley, Ricardo Montalban and the late Bibi Besch
Cons: Certain special effects
The Bottom Line: STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN works as a suspenseful combination of action and sci-fi, as long as you overlook the cheesy special effects.
Kidnykid's Full Review: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
In many ways, this is my favorite of all the Trek movies. I remember seeing the TV episode upon which this and two subsequent movies are based, and this is a worthy update to that episode.
Ricardo Montalban was either starring in or had just stopped starring in Fantasy Island. He has stated in interviews (most notably on EWTN's The World Over newsmagazine) that this role was far more enjoyable for him to play than his Fantasy Island role of Mr. Roarke, because he actually gets to play a role with which the fans are familiar. Mr. Roarke, by way of contrast, seems to do little more than exposition, explaining what all the other guests are doing on the island and teaching them their lessons at the end of the episode.
This enjoyment shows on the screen in Montalban's performance. Like Helen Mirren in Excalibur, Montalban here (in his guise as Khan Noonian Singh) is evil because he is obsessed in a very human way - in this instance, with getting even with Capt. Kirk for stranding him fifteen years earlier. Nothing else - not getting the Genesis effect, not his saner associates, nothing - stands in his way. He won't let it.
The late Bibi Besch is also notable for her performance as Capt. Kirk's former lover, the mother of what appears to be his only son, and the scientist who developed the Genesis effect. (If I explain what it is, I'll ruin the plot for you.) I found it believable that the two could have been lovers at one time. I also found it surprisingly believable that the two of them could be attracted to one another. (If you have not watched much Star Trek before this, Kirk is written in the TV series as something of a ladies' man. During the time of the original series - and even to a certain extent in the 1980s, when this was filmed - "ladies' men" were often portrayed as "falling for" women with less intelligence than the men, and certainly women with less intelligence than Carol Marcus (Besch), who was a PhD level scientist in this movie.)
This film introduces the by-now-famous Kirstie Alley, who plays Saavik, a by-the-book Vulcan who is a bit too fond of the book by which she lives, seemingly quoting Starfleet regulations at every possible opportunity. This quirk of her character's is delightfully humorous, although it must be horribly annoying to live with daily.
My only complaint is that some of the special effects just don't work on the big screen - you have to see it on video for said effects to work. Watching it on DVD the other day, I noted that some of the effects no longer work even on the small screen. For example, the starships seem to me to be obvious models superimposed on an animated background. (Yes, they were models, and yes, they probably were superimposed on previously-drawn animated backgrounds, but I would have appreciated less-obvious effects here.) Also, certain shots in which the Enterprise is backlit seem to me to be obvious attempts to backlight the model of the starship with a light bulb or some similar device. Less-obvious methods of backlighting a model are available, and probably were at that time.
While out on routine training maneuvers a starship encounters a powerful and supposedly exiled foe from the distant past: Khan. Only Kirk can stop the...More at Family Video
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