Star Trek II - the Wrath of Khan (1982)

Star Trek II - the Wrath of Khan. Film review. They say, that the Star Trek series had a curse in which the odd-numbered serie of the films were inferior to the even-numbered ones. Having only seen the first film of the serie and now this, the second one, for the first time ever, i was having no doubt whatsoever that the curse was indeed largely in effect.

Having seen the first film a couple of days ago, and expecting or knowing nothing about whence the film is taking its direction, or rather, almost expecting it to feel almost like the first film (slow and meditating), i was pleasantly surprised that right from the first minute, this film's mood was entirely different than the first.

I had even read that some reviewers went as far as named this film as "the best film in the franchise and probably the best that it would ever be". With eight more films to go, i wouldn't dared to named this film in such a way. Not yet anyway. In the Wrath of Khan - i must say that i didn't really liked the title. I was puzzled, skeptical even that a film with such title could be really one of the better, let alone the best film in the franchise -, the NC-1701 USS Enterprise is back. And with it, its finest crew. But this time, much different from the first film, the crew of the Enterprise shown more chemistry than they were in the first film. Now this is coming from someone who hadn't seen the original Star Trek series, but i believed that this is a chemistry that existed in the original TV series and considerably missing in the first film. Right from the beginning, we see banters between Admiral Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Scotty which shown that they were more than just ship-mates bounded by respect cemented with professional hierarchy but instead a warm friendship. Shortly, where it lacked in the first film regarding with the Enterprise's crew chemistry, the second film had offered it generously.

As the title suggests, in this film, USS Enterprise would had an adversary named Khan. And he's not very much pleased. The one who keep rubbing him in every wrong places was of course, none other than our captain (now an Admiral), James T. Kirk. Khan had some grudge held against Kirk in a past, that leave him marooned in a distant sub-system and when the very first chance of revenge approaches him by chance, Khan was not in a mood to negotiate except to pursue Enterprise, rained her with every Phasers and all. Added to the equation, was a Genesis project which played its role at the final climax in the film. I couldn't help but made a comparison to Red Planet during the first few scenes even though in the end, i liked this film much better.

It was suggested - this, however, was the way i see it. I was, after all, had never seen the original Star Trek series -, that Admiral Kirk wasn't in charge of USS Enterprise having being named an Admiral. But, he was having some part of his life missing (a middle-life crisis, perhaps?) and time and again, he would return to Enterprise. But of course, when he boards the ship again intending for a training ride, he was up for a ride that put his and his crew's life at stake.

Although i've been said that the film was action-oriented, don't expect it to had a full-blast, high-octane action sequences. The film was pretty modest on a visual-effect usages that its climax battle scenes wouldn't be much appreciated to younger audiences having preferences and accustomed to the 21st century action films. This is after all, a film released in 1982. I'm not even a year old at the moment.

Next: Star Trek III - The Search for Spock (1984)