Well, almost as a way of apologizing for the previous two years, 2022 had two events I thought I might never get to experience. In June there was the Yes concert. I never would have imagined I’d get to see them play their album Close to the Edge in full. I’ve done a blogpost on that if anyone’s interested:
And the second was getting to see Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan in the cinema, which I did today. Star Trek is one of my absolute favourite sci-fi franchises, I’ve seen all of the films, and The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Picard, Discovery, and Prodigy in full, as well as most of the episodes of the original series. While I’ve seen Wrath of Khan countless times on my laptop, I thought I’d never get to see it on the big screen because I made the mistake of being born in 1985, I’ll be the first to admit that this was a colossal blunder on my part. But it worked out alright, because this year, to mark the 40th anniversary of the film, it returned to the cinemas. So I’ve decided to write about it while it’s still fresh in my mind. I don’t know if this is going to be a film review, or a talk about why I like going to the cinema, or why I love Star Trek, I’ve decided to just write, and whatever comes out comes out.
One thing I noticed right from the word go, this being my first time ever seeing a film from the eighties in the cinema, is how quiet it is. Not in a bad way, but nothing was overdone, there was no excess. Now don’t get me wrong, I love me some Marvel films where everything is so loud and bombastic (though they’ve also got some really good quieter scenes), but I really liked the opposite extreme also with something like Wrath of Khan. The analogy I came up with while watching it is that the Marvel films are like a giant bustling city, but Wrath of Khan is like a quiet village. The action scenes in Wrath of Khan were excellent, but they were used very sparingly, which made them have bigger impact when they happened.
Now let’s talk about dialogue. If there is one sentence that sums up this film, it’s quotability (I don’t know if that was a word before I said it, but now that I’ve said it it’s a word). This has some of the best film quotes in any film I have ever seen.
“Damn it Jim, what the hell is the matter with you? Other people have birthdays, why are we treating yours like a funeral?”
“Khan, I’m laughing at the superior intellect.”
“Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most human.”
If I was to write down everything worth quoting in this film I’d be here all day. (You might be confused by why I rate the second one so high but I’ll come back to it!)
One of the secrets to this film’s success is, (and of course the tv series and other films with Kirk’s crew), is that every actor is spot on for the roles they play. For the bad tempered doctor with a strong moral code, you can’t go wrong with DeForest Kelley. For the alien who’s way of life many don’t understand but is just as moral, who better than Leonard Nimoy? But let’s talk about the two actors who chew the scenery. No I take that back, that’s not quite right. The actors who mercilessly devour the scenery in almost every scene they are in. I am of course talking about William Shatner and Ricardo Montalban!
This wasn’t the first time Kirk and Khan met, this first happened in the tv series episode Space Seed. But whoever decided to have them face off against each other in a film deserves a medal. Every scene where they have screen time together is just epic. That’s why I love the “Khaaaaan!” quote that many others are derisive of. Subtle acting is great, but it is not appropriate for either the character of James T Kirk or Khan Noonian Singh in many contexts. Can you imagine “”THIS IS CETI ALPHA 5!” or “KHAAAAAAN!” said with subtlety? It would not work, at all, and these are some of the most memorable lines! But never the less, both Shatner and Moltoban were both able to dial it back when that was what was required.
There is a very memorable scene near the star of the film where Leonard “Bones” McCoy” played by DeForest Kelley, visits Kirk. They have a really memorable discussion about aging. Kirk is losing his confidence due to his increasing age, and has resigned himself to the comfortable but unadventurous life of an admiral. But Bones knows that Kirk’s heart is out in the stars, and he practically demands that Kirk get back in the captain’s chair. It was an excellent performance from both William Shatner and DeForest Kelley.
When one of Khan’s crew is troubled by Khan’s insane quest for revenge, he says this,
“We’re all with you, sir . . . but consider this. We are free. We have a ship, and the means to go where we will. We have escaped permanent exile on Ceti Alpha V. You have proven your superior intellect, and defeated the plans of Admiral Kirk. You do not need to defeat him again.”
And Khan responds with this, not loudly, practically whispering it at times:
“He tasks me. 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!”
One of the quietest deliveries from Khan, but one of the most effective lines in the whole film. I have often joked that if the only line of dialogue in the film was this it would still be one of the best films of all time! If he had angrily bellowed out the line like so many of his other lines, it would have been too much, but he says it so quietly, you know that he will never stop in his quest for revenge.
Now I’d like to talk about one of my favourite battle scenes in the film. Kirk’s ship enters a nebula and Khan’s ship follows, and the battle is effectively a battle between submarines, Khan losing because despite his “superior intellect”, he is inexperienced, Kirk is much better at three dimensional combat.
And Kirk is much better at manipulating his opponents. Many of his victories against Khan were achieved by exploiting his ego, or relying on the fact that Khan continually underestimates him.
And when Spock sacrificed his life to save the entire crew, we got the funeral scene, that scene was incredible.
“Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most human.”
When Kirk spoke this line, I started to tear up, and my eyes were even a bit watery after I left the cinema. Spock gladly sacrificed his life, not a moment of hesitation, because he so strongly believed that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
This post has been a bit more unstructured than some of my other posts, but I was hoping to capture my thoughts on seeing this film in the cinema so soon after I saw it. All of the times I have watched Wrath of Khan before, I never for one second thought I’d ever get to see it in the cinema, so this is one of the highlights of my year.
Ponderings Of An Autist 