I can’t properly define my love for The Wrath of Khan without also describing how much I despise the film that preceded it. Star Trek: The Motion Picture was ponderous and hokey, like a bad episode of the original series stretched out with an Ambien and four gin and tonics. The proto-CGI was bad, but the stilted dialogue was even worse. It was like a valentine for people who hate Star Trek, where all the franchise’s flaws get bundled into a bouquet of wilted roses. If the series had been laid to rest after that film, I think many would’ve regarded it as a merciful death.
Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed. The Motion Picture made a heap of money, mainly from fan goodwill, but it also cost a heap of money. This prompted Paramount execs to wrassle control away from franchise creator Gene Roddenberry and reassess where the series should boldly go from here–if anywhere. They brought in Harve Bennett, a mercenary producer who proclaimed that a Star Trek movie should be, you know, entertaining. For that audacious declaration, Bennett was given the keys to the kingdom and a simple mandate: Deliver a marketable Trek film at a reasonable budget.
Three years later, here we are. Bennett kicks things off by bringing in Jack B. Sowards and Nicholas Meyer, a rock-solid writer and director. Together, they make all the right choices: First, Bennett scanned the OG episodes and identified Khan as the series’ most potent villain. In the hands of Ricardo Montalban, the genetic superman was the perfect blend of silky and sinister, right out of an old serial matinee. Next, the script shifts the cast to their appropriate ages. While the first film caked makeup on Shatner and company and pretended no time had passed, this one immediately makes it clear these are middle-aged people left insecure about the march of time. Right away, we have relatable heroes and hissable villains. Things already look promising.
The next key boost comes with content and pacing. Where The Motion Picture moved like molasses in a deep freeze, Khan hums with a steady beat. Meyer wastes no time with blathering treknobabble or soul-crushing stretches of 8-bit CGI. Right from the jump, this has the feel of a classic adventure tale.
Khan‘s story is a sequel to “Space Seed,” a classic episode of the original series. (It helps to see that episode, but the filmmakers do a great job bringing you up to, ahem, speed.) In that episode, the Enterprise crew stumbles onto a derelict spaceship from the 20th century. (Such cute naivete that the writers thought the 1990s would already see manned missions to interstellar space.) They find Khan and his crew in suspended animation. Khan is revived, and he soon proves to be charismatic and dangerous. Turns out, Khan is an engineered super-being with a pronounced streak of megalomania. He tries to hijack the Enterprise, fails, and gets exiled to remote planet. See, now I’ve caught you up as well!
As Khan begins, Chekov (Walter Koenig) and Captain Tyrell (guest star Paul Winfield) get mixed up and lead an away mission to the wrong planet. They stumble onto Khan and his marooned crew, somewhere on the swirling dunescape of Ceti Alpha V. Khan is a clever man, and he’s been preparing for this opportunity for years. With two fresh captives, he immediately plans to get revenge on Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and his stalwart crew.
At the same time, Kirk settles into life out to pasture. Now an admiral, Kirk and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) train the next generation of Starfleet adventurers. They run simulations on a fake Enterprise bridge. The opening scene finds Kirk on his birthday, moping at another year away from “galloping around the cosmos.” Dr. McCoy is worried about his buddy: “Get back your command. Before you really do grow old.” Kirk is too proud to admit it, but this is all he really wants.
Well, to paraphrase Oscar Wilde: When God wants to punish you, He answers your prayers. As will become cliche, a galactic calamity has broken out and the Enterprise is the only ship in range. Kirk and crew warp into the crisis, only to find themselves tangling with an old nemesis. On a personal front, things get even spicier for Kirk when Khan’s evil plans involve Dr. Carol Marcus (Bibi Besch), an old flame of Admiral Kirk. She and her son (Merritt Butrick) have built a device than can terraform planets, but could also be altered into a doomsday weapon. Now Kirk must race to keep it out of Khan’s hands, whatever the cost.
From that outline, we get some truly peak science fiction. At its core, Khan is a battle of wills between the relaxed confidence of Kirk and the billowing arrogance of Khan. When they tangle, the movie comes alive. Beneath that, the script also presents some surprisingly strong dramatic beats between Kirk, Besch, and Buttrick. Throughout the story, Kirk must reconcile his insecurities on aging with so many skeletons from his youth. Unlike The Motion Picture, Khan never forgets to tell a good story.
Everything falls into place behind that story: Meyer stages the battle scenes with nonstop tension and excitement. The wizards at Industrial Light and Magic set a new bar for cool space effects. (They would clear this bar the next year, with Return of the Jedi.) James Horner’s score tastefully borrows from John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith, resulting in an epic blend of sweeping strings and triumphant flourishes of brass.
Even better, Meyer gets choice performances from his cast. Nobody will ever confuse Shatner will Sir John Gielgud, but his work in this film’s final reel is some of the most deeply moving of his entire career. Of course, Montalban nearly walks off with the movie as the smarmy, velvet-voiced Khan. Few actors have ever chewed the scenery and been so charming about it. Finally, Kirstie Alley, in her screen debut, makes a strong mark as the rulebook-thumping cadet. All in all, this is one of the finest Trek casts ever assembled.
Really, everything about The Wrath of Khan clicks. Trek fans spent the 70s patiently waiting for more of their beloved franchise. This is the movie of their dreams. It proves that The Motion Picture was an aberration, and Star Trek could thrive on the big screen. For series newcomers, I’m gonna spoil this much for you right now: The Wrath of Khan is as close to perfect as you’ll ever get.
113 min. PG. Paramount Plus.
