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The Enterprise crew re-unite to face The Wrath of Khan |
Director: Nicholas Meyer
Cast: William Shatner (Admiral James T Kirk), Leonard Nimoy
(Spock), DeForest Kelley (Dr Leonard McCoy), Ricardo Montalban (Khan Noonien
Singh), James Doohan (Montgomery Scott), George Takei (Hikary Sulu), Walter
Koenig (Pavel Chekov), Nichelle Nichols (Uhura), Bibi Besch (Dr Carol Marcus),
Merritt Butrick (Dr David Marcus), Paul Winfield (Captain Terrell), Kirstie
Alley (Saavik)
After the overblown, slow and tedious The Motion Picture, you’d have been forgiven for thinking that we
had seen the Enterprise crew boldly
go for the very last time. If there was going to be a sequel Paramount had very
clear guidelines for what it wanted: more entertaining, exciting, don’t involve
Gene Roddenberry and above all make it for a fraction of the price. I think
it’s fair to say that the decision to bring producer Harve (“I could make three movies for the cost of that first
one!”) Bennett and above all writer and director Nicholas Meyer on board, saved
the franchise.
Neither Meyer or Bennett were familiar with the franchise in
advance. But they did what those involved in the first film should have
considered doing (looking at you Robert Wise!) – they went back and rewatched
all the previous episodes and tried to work out exactly what people enjoyed
about the show to begin with. And then tried to make a movie based around that.
So first and foremost they decided they needed a villain – so after running
through all the previous episodes they decided genetically-engineered superman
Khan Noonien Singh, left abandoned on a planet with his followers after the
episode Space Seed – was the best
pick. Giving the film a simple “revenge” structure, it became a taught battle of
minds and wills between Khan and the man he blames for all his problems –
Admiral James T Kirk (William Shatner).
Star Trek II opens
with an ageing Kirk, unsure of his place in the world while stuck in a desk job
and scared about getting old. Running a cadet training voyage with his old
crew, Kirk is called back into action after Starfleet loses touch with
Federation scientists working on the Genesis device, a terraforming rocket that
will help the Federation build new worlds and civilisations. The problems with
Genesis are directly linked – without Kirk’s knowledge – with Khan’s (Ricardo
Montalban) hijacking of the USS Reliant
after brainwashing the ship’s captain Terrell (Paul Winfield) and his first
officer Chekov (Walter Koenig). Khan blames Kirk for the disasters that have
taken place on the planet he was marooned on – and is determined to exact
revenge on Kirk no matter the cost.
Unlike the dry Motion
Picture, Wrath of Khan builds is
action around a compelling, emotionally charged, story that gives each
character a clear and relatable motive for their actions. Building a film about
revenge may not exactly be in Roddenberry’s ideal for the 23rd
century: but by heck it makes for a much better film. Because, if nothing else,
while we may struggle to understand what the hell V’Ger wanted in the first film, everyone understands the dangerous
obsession of revenge. It helps that the film has an excellent villain – a
scowling, unbalanced but still strangely honourable and decent Khan, played
with a grandstanding relish by Montalban who is clearly having a whale of a
time. Despite never sharing the screen (or even being on set at the same time)
Montalban and Shatner go at the rivalry and its impact on both characters with
a real intensity that makes for compelling viewing.
Meyer also tightened and refocused the entire franchise.
Roddenberry may have struggled with the increasingly naval view of Starfleet in
this film – it’s at least twice referred to explicitly as the military – but
Meyer recognised that if the franchise was partly Hornblower Ii Space, then why not redesign the film with that in
mind. The ship is run with naval precision, including yeoman whistling to
signal shifts and orders, uniforms that have a stylish naval formality to them,
a greater focus on the ship’s movements being described in strictly naval terms
– even the photon torpedo bays are prepped by enlisted men in what Meyer called
his “running out the guns” sequences. This makes the entire operation not only
easier to relate to, but interesting and entertaining in its own right.
It also adds huge tension to the duel that develops between
the Reliant and the Enterprise that plays out part naval
battle and late on – when battle turns to the Mutara nebula where systems and
sensors work only intermittedly – part classic submarine drama, with Meyer
practically throwing in depth charges. The battle scenes are filmed with
simplicity and economy – but because the personal clashes between Kirk and Khan
are so compelling and involving, they absolutely drip with tension, as these
two go through move and counter move.
Meyer’s film is lean, engrossing and thrilling, and superbly
well directed. It goes from skilled set-piece to set-piece, and never for a
moment overlooks character. Unlike the first film, we get the moments of
Kirk-Spock-McCoy discussing key themes together so beloved from the series,
while most of the main cast also get their moment in the sun, most especially
Walter Koenig who, as a brainwashed Chekov, gets more to work with here than he
got in the whole original series.
But this isn’t just an action adventure in space. Meyer’s
literate and intelligent script has far more depth and thematic interest in it
than the faux intellectualism of The
Motion Picture. Taking as its starting point Kirk’s fear of on-setting age
(the film opens with his 50th birthday, and McCoy’s gift of antique
spectacles), it expands into an engrossing mediation of how we react to the
impacts of our actions and lose-lose situations. Kirk has also to face the
mortality of age and the impact of past actions – like his son (Merritt Butrick
channelling Shatner’s impulsiveness) – coming back to bite him. All this while
flying a ship of young cadets round – who need to shepherded into the risks of
conflict. Khan meanwhile is confronted time and again with the damaging impact
of his choices to follow revenge and obsession rather than settling for a
winning hand.
Meyer gets his best work ever out of Shatner (allegedly
after realising Shatner over committed to early takes, he made Shatner take
multiple takes in order to focus his energy). This is a Kirk getting old,
dealing with inner resentments and made to face up to the consequences of his actions
– both with Khan and meeting the son he fathered. Shatner tackles all this with
a world-weary resignation and touch of sadness that many felt were beyond him,
while still making room for the fireworks that are his calling card (I suppose
the famous “Khan!” was Meyer’s one major indulgence of Shatner’s exuberance).
However the other element the film is well known for is of
course it’s tragic ending – the sacrifice of Leonard Nimoy’s Spock. Lured back
to the film, but not convinced about ever returning, Nimoy agreed to the final
reel shocker (although he enjoyed making the film so much he willingly agreed
to leave the door open for Spock’s resurrection). It gives the film an
emotional heft that none of the others in the franchise has. For the first
time, our heroes would not magically escape unharmed to fly off onto the next
adventure. Just as the film started with the cadets learning that sacrifice and
facing a lose-lose scenario is a part of command (a lesson Kirk cheated on in
his day, and a situation he has never faced or understood, as the film teaches
him), so the film ends on the same beat. The ship can escape – but only if
Spock takes a fatal radiation dose to restart the engine.
Both Nimoy and Shatner play the heck out of these scenes,
probably the most emotional in the franchise – a low-key but deeply affecting
moments of two old friends sharing their last moments together. It’s this
successful switch into showing the real cost and loss associated with
adventures like this that cap the thematic depth Meyer bought to the film.
Star Trek II
succeeds on every count. Meyer’s intelligent script quotes and riffs everything
from CS Forrester to Dickens via Moby
Dick, while giving both heroes and villains deep and rich character arcs.
It’s grippingly filmed – you wouldn’t believe how much cheaper it was than the
first film, as it looks ten-times better with not a penny gone to waste – and
hugely exciting. It carries real emotional force, and it’s hugely benefited by
a fantastic score by a young James Horner. Even now it’s still the high point of
Star Trek on screen – and probably a highlight of the franchise as a whole.
This has to be my favorite Star Trek film other than Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. The film score is one of the best I've ever heard, and the camaraderie, emotion, and commitment of the characters has always impressed and moved me. Truly a wonderful and exciting movie that I will definitely show my kids! A great place to start for newcomers to the Star Trek world.
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