Cheap Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (Video) (William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley) (Nicholas Meyer) Price

Related Products

Customer Reviews of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

The Best Trek Film Deserves A Better DVD Package
STAR TREK: THE WRATH OF KHAN (it didn't have the II in the title when it first came out) is far and away the best Trek film. William Shatner gives his best performance as Kirk, and Ricardo Montalban is incredible as the revenge obsessed Khan. The story is excellent and well paced, mixing small doses of humor in just the right places. The special effects are the best of the series up to INSURRECTION, and Nicholas Meyer's direction is excellent on all levels. The DVD transfer of the film is beautiful - by far the best version of the film visually. Sadly, however, the only extra we get is the original theatrical trailer (and it's not exactly a spectacular trailer - I seem to remember another trailer that was better...). They should have restored the film to include the footage seen on ABC when they broadcast the movie back in the 80's. That version has several extended scenes that help make certain angles in the story make more sense. They also should have done a documentary on the making of the film, like the documentaries on the James Bond DVD's. All that may yet happen, but until then this is still an excellent transfer of the original film, in it's original theatrical form. STAR TREK: THE WRATH OF KHAN is still most die-hard Trek fans' pick as best Trek film, and I would agree with that sentiment. Even though the lack of extras is disappointing, I would recommend this DVD to both Trek fans and non-Trek fans alike. One of the best Science Fiction films of all time.

---

At the End of the Universe, Lies the Beginning of Vengeance
Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan succeeds because it strikes the perfect balance of drama, action, humor, pathos, and depth. After the critical failure of the first Star Trek movie (which hit movie theaters before being properly completed), the producers took the trouble to view every episode of the original series to figure out what made it enduring. They replicated it successfully in The Wrath of Khan. Unlike the first film, the plot is driven by the actions and motivations of the characters. This is not a story about spatial anomalies or an excuse for technobabble and flashy special effects. This story is about the classic themes which have served drama well since ancient Greek theater: the quest for vengeance; lost loves; the alienation, anger and reconciliation of fathers and sons; and the realization of mortality. Of the many science fiction films I have seen, few have tugged at the heartstrings as deeply as The Wrath of Khan. The most powerful moments are the bittersweet reunion between Kirk and Carol Marcus, the death of Spock and Kirk's eulogy, and the long delayed embrace between Kirk and his estranged son David. These moments are so universal that any "science fiction" label for this film seems limiting.

The script is helped by what is undoubtedly William Shatner's finest performance as James T. Kirk. Shatner brings the perfect balance of bluster, brio, and vulnerability to the aging Admiral. Toward the end of the movie, Kirk, shattered by Spock's death, tears down his defenses and allows us to see the human being behind the uniform. Ricardo Montalban, in a blood thirsty, Ahab-like performance, proves that there is much more to his acting than what was seen on Fantasy Island.

The special effects, which are entirely at the service of the story, for the most part hold up remarkably well--two exceptions are the Ceti Eels and the Genesis Cave Waterfall, which look rather primitive by today's CGI standards. James Horner's crisp, vibrant score hints at the great things which were to follow from him--it's a pity he has not been used in more recent Star Trek fare.

This Director's Edition contains some additional footage which was not in the theatrical release. Among this are scenes which reveal why Scotty was so upset over the death of the Cadet in Engineering, as well as some minor additions. Unlike the DVD release of the first Star Trek movie, there have been no enhancements to the few dated visual effects, such as the Genesis Cave Waterfall. The bonus material features interviews with Shatner, Nimoy, Montalban, and Bennett, as well as several behind the scenes looks at the visual effects (this was the first film to make use of computer graphics) and production design. Less interesting is an extended look at the Trek universe as seen through various novelizations (which, as every Trekker knows, are not considered "canon.")

The picture and sound quality are identical to the earlier DVD release, a definite improvement over VHS and laserdisc, but not spectacular by DVD standards.

---

One for the ages
Back when "The Wrath of Khan" first hit the theaters, I remember thinking that Khan now ranks with the best movie bad guys of all time. I think Ricardo Montalban may have turned out the best performance of his career by bringing complexity, passion, pathos, and humanity all at once to the role of Khan. I'll never be able to read Moby Dick the same way ever again - "He tasks me, and I shall have him... I'll chase him 'round the moons of Nibia and 'round the Antares Maelstrom, and 'round perdition's flames before I give him up!" Sure, I'm an avowed lifelong trek fan, but I don't think I'm exagggerating this by much.

On a more objective note, the movie works very well at multiple levels...

The soundtrack itself is exceptional and, at the time, somewhat ground-breaking for the movie industry. This is evidenced by the fact that subsequent soundtracks in the sci-fi genre seem to have borrowed from Horner's original score. I think it was a shame that "Khan" was not nominated for an Oscar in the original score category.

The visual effects, which were state of the art at the time, still hold up over twenty years later. It serves as a good example and reminder that movies used to have good special effects even in the pre-computer era.

The acting was also superior. I already mentioned that Montalban may have given the performance of his life as "Khan", but I don't think it ends there. William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and DeForest Kelley also recaptured the feel of the cameraderie from the original series. I am aware that Shatner is often criticized for being overly-dramatic, but my opinion is that this may also rank among the top two or three performance of Shatner's career as well (including the TV show). One of the more memorable moments came following Khan's failed attempt to have Chekov and Terrell kill Kirk: [Kirk to Khan] "You've managed to kill just about everyone else, but like a poor marksman you keep missing the mark.", which was, of course, followed by Kirk's timeless "KHAAAANNNN!!!" exclamatory. The acting was so good, IMHO, that the audience doesn't really notice that Kirk and Khan never really meet face-to-face, and the movie doesn't suffer because of it.

The Director's Edition DVD comes with a well-produced disc of supplementary material (interviews, commentaries, etc.) as well. I particularly liked the recent interviews with the actors on their recollections from when the movie was being produced. My favorite interview was Ricardo Montalban telling how horrified he was upon realizing how much he sounded like Mr. Roarke from Fantasy Island when he started reading his lines for the first time - "This is going to be a disaster! The audience is going to laugh at me!" He then tells of how he fixed the problem by requesting a copy of the original TV show "Space Seed" where the crew of the Enterprise first encountered Khan, and watching it over and over again until he began to recall his original work with the character. Shatner also delivers a pretty good interview as he describes how he'll one day make Nimoy and Harve Bennett pay for not letting him in on the secret that by the time the movie had been shot that they already had plans to bring Spock back. Whether or not Shatner really knew is irrelevant - the interview is delivered w/ a deadpan that leaves the viewer in stitches. There is also a good piece about how the visual effects were accomplished.

Overall, I rate "The Wrath of Khan" as the best movie in the entire series of Star Trek theatrical releases, and one of the better movies ever produced in the sci-fi genre as a whole.