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Star
Trek II:
The Wrath Of Khan
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8
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10 |
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10
= Highest Rating |
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Guest
Review by Rod
Barnett |
Star
Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan
is easily the most beloved of all the big screen Trek stories
and deservedly so. After the dismally dull first Trek film,
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
(nicknamed "The Motionless Picture"), Khan
was like coming home for fans of the original series. Gone was
the slow pace of the well intentioned but ponderous philosophical
exercise that was ST:TMP. In its
place was an energetic, fun but intelligent action story that
showed all the strengths of the series and almost none of the
weaknesses. At the time of its release in 1982, you could almost
hear the worldwide sigh of relief that they'd actually managed
to get this one right. Even the returning cast members seemed
to know that this was a much more worthy script; they turn in
good performances across the board. Almost all of them are given
a choice moment with James Doohan and Walter Koenig getting
a chance to stretch in their roles. Of course, William Shatner
as Admiral James T. Kirk takes the center chair and he shines.
I'm one of the first to criticize the Shat-Man's sometimes odd
acting tics, fraught with insane pauses and a tendency to project
to the cheap seats. But here he's very good with a script that
gives him some true depth to play. He's a lot less wooden here
than in the first film, and more than once managed to bring
an emotional tear to my eye. Director Nicholas Meyer (Time
After Time) may have seemed an odd choice to helm this
film but he shows himself an able, steady hand with the ability
to put the maximum excitement on screen while never cheating
the fans. Even though Trek II is
a sequel to an episode from the show's first season, the film
provides more than enough information for first-time viewers
to comprehend the characters and their motivations. Indeed,
one of the elements that make this Trek film so loved by non-fans
is that it doesn't require a strong knowledge of the series
to understand and enjoy.
That and the film has a great plot!
Mother and son scientific team Carol and
David Marcus (Bibi Besch, Merritt Butrick) have developed an
amazing terraforming process called Genesis. The Genesis device
can transform an entire dead world into a habitable biosphere
ripe for human colonization in minutes. Aware of the device's
ability to be used as a weapon the scientists are being very
careful. The Marcus team has Starfleet cruiser U.S.S. Reliant
searching for a planet on which to test the final phase of the
project when the ship's captain and first mate stumble across
Khan (Ricardo Montalban). Twenty years earlier, Khan and his
crew had been exiled by Kirk to an Earth-like planet. But in
the ensuing 15 years this world has become a deadly desert wasteland.
Khan recognizes the first officer as Chekov (Koenig), and when
he discovers that Kirk is still alive he forms a plan. Using
grub-like creatures which burrow into the victim's head via
the ear, he bends the two officers to his will then commandeers
the Reliant for himself. When the vengence-seeking Khan
attacks the Marcus team in an attempt to steal Genesis, Carol
contacts Kirk, who is at that moment overseeing an inspection
of the newly refitted Enterprise. Accepting temporary
command from Captain Spock (Leonard Nimoy), he sets course for
the Genesis scientific base. In route the Enterprise
is ambushed by the Reliant and is severely damaged in
battle. When Kirk learns the identity of his attacker and
that his old enemy intends to obtain the Genesis device for
himself he knows he must find a way to stop this madman before
he gains the ability to destroy an entire planet.
The
heart of ST2 is the "No Win"
scenario that begins the film. We are shown young Vulcan cadet
Saavik (Kirstie Alley) enacting training exercise that has no
possible successful outcome. After her failure to solve the
insolvable puzzle, she asks Admiral Kirk what value this test
has. His reply is flip but Spock's is prescient "How we face
death is at least as important as how we face life." This is
the lesson the aging man of action Kirk learns in this story
and it's a very hard one for him. He meets his unknown son in
David Marcus and faces death on a personal level, all while
dealing with a homicidal megalomaniac determined to kill him
and anyone else in his way. For the first time in Trek history
Kirk must confront death squarely in a contest that he can't
cheat or beat. Of course, at its core Star
Trek II is simply a revenge story done with style and
as such it requires a villain of epic scale. Khan Noonian Singh,
as played by Ricardo Montalban, is easily that epic villain.
Reprising his role from the 1967 Space Seed episode,
Montalban is brilliant giving a performance that I never tire
of watching. A genetically superior superman bred to rule the
late 20th Century Earth; Khan is a man of extreme passions.
Torn by grief and twisted by hatred, Khan is both admirable
and pitiable in his blind quest to kill the man he blames for
his loss. Khan is so strong and proud that his defeat is a sad
moment even knowing the horrors he's committed in his quest
for blood. If only all fictional villains were this complex.
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After
a long wait Paramount has finally given this film the special
edition it deserves. Paramount has a history of releasing their
films in crappy bare-bones editions and then doing them right
years later. It's a maddening fact but its best to just accept
it and learn to wait. Luckily when they eventually do revisit
their titles it's a big deal and this two-disc set is wonderful.
First, and perhaps best, is that the film is presented here is
a lengthier "Director's Edition" that puts a few excellent
minutes back into the story. Most hardcore fans are aware of
the important new bits from old TV broadcasts but there is enough
here to prick up even the pointiest ears out there. The film looks
very good although I did notice a few odd moments of visual blotches
even though I can't see why such a recent movie wouldn't have
pristine elements in the vaults. Still a solid 99% here, with
an anamorphic widescreen presentation, Dolby 2.0, 5.1 and French
stereo audio tracks. Rounding out the first DVD is a lively audio
commentary with Nicholas Meyer and a text commentary written by
Trek historian Michael Okuda. Both commentaries are worth checking
out but I warn against trying to do both at the same time information
overload!
Disc 2 continues this with plenty to see starting
with 3 roughly half-hour long documentaries. The
first gives a nice overview of the pre-production process and
how the cast and story came together with interviewees Meyer,
Shatner, Nimoy and executive producer Harve Bennett. The other
two are technical pieces that focus on the film's design and visual
effects. These shorts are meaty and entertaining providing a revealing
look at just how different the film might have been in other hands.
Next up is a ten minute bit of promotional interviews from 1982
that are only so-so but the production photos tacked onto the
end are very fun. After this is the 30-minute segment called A
Novel Approach. This interview piece is about the Star Trek
novels written in the past few years trying to tell the 20th Century
tale of Khan's past on Earth as well as the details of Cadet Kirk's
unique solution to the film's no-win scenario. Trek authors Greg
Cox and Julia Eckar are enthusiastic people and while I'm enough
of a Trek fan to have enjoyed this bit of geekiness, I have to
admit that I kept thinking, "There but for the grace of
God go I!" This piece is definitely not for the casual
fan of the film. Capping the extras is an extensive archive of
storyboards and the original theatrical trailer making for an
exhaustingly satisfying set.
4/02/04 |
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