Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

If you don't want to read it all:
Score: 5/10
Verdict: Better than the first movie, but still not quite what I expected it to be.


Some say that this is the best Star Trek movie, or at least the one that saved the franchise after the "disaster" that the first movie was. I might agree with the latter, but I hope it's not the best in series or this re-watch of mine is doomed.

I already said that I kinda liked the story (or at least the discovery of what posed the threat to Earth) of the first movie, but it was overly stretched. The Wrath of Khan seems to be the opposite - the story is weaker, but there's enough going on to cover its length. Why is the story weaker? The reason, in my opinion, is Khan himself.

Khan seems to be some kind of a favorite villain to a lot of Trekkies, but he doesn't impress me. He is genetically engineered and is supposed to be superior (both physically and mentally) to other humans, but he somehow manages to get defeated by Kirk... twice. The first time it happened was during the original series, in the very first season. Khan is originally from 20th century: he and his men were in a cryogenic sleep, following an exile from Earth after a war that overthrew them from power. Kirk and Enterprise encountered them in the mentioned episode and after the series of events, Khan and his people were sentenced to yet another exile - this time on planet Ceti Alpha V. In The Wrath of Khan (15 years after the events of the mentioned episode), the crew of USS Reliant beams down to a planet (for which they believed was Ceti Alpha VI) to test a powerful terraforming device called The Genesis. Long story short - Khan takes control of USS Reliant and lures Enterprise and Kirk to the space station Regula I where Genesis is being created.

This is what disappoints me - Khan is supposed to be super intelligent, yet he allowed himself to be defeated by his own thirst for revenge. It's just so... stupid and naive. It was SO obvious that he was about to meet his maker if he was to follow Enterprise into the nebula, but no, he wouldn't use his super intelligent mind to stop himself from doing the stupidest thing ever.

Overall, The Wrath of Khan IS better than The Motion Picture, but it's just extremely naive. The best, or maybe I should say the most shocking moment happens at the very end and increases the movie's value by A LOT, setting in motion a series of events that are about to come in the sequels.

Stay tuned.