Starring William Shatner, Lenord Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Ricardo Montalban, James Doohan, Walter Koening, George Takei, Nichelle Nicholas, Bibi Besch, Merritt Butrick, Paul Winfiend and introducing Kirstie Alley. Music by James Horner. Written by Jack B. Sowards, based on a story by Harve Bennett and Jack B. Sowards. Directed by Nicholas Meyer. Budget $12 million. Running time 113 minutes.
Forty years old and still as fresh as a daisy. Time has left this extraordinary, note-perfect, movie utterly untouched, revealing no rough edges, plot holes or bum notes. And if you think different, then sod off.
It's 2285 and James T. Kirk, who's celebrating his 51st birthday, is finding getting old somewhat problematic (to wit this 58 year-old says 'pfff, man up, bitch.'). Desk bound, he spends his days bragging about his past exploits and indulging in a spot of work-place bullying by intimidating raw recruits with the dreaded Kobayashi Maru simulator. Meanwhile off in deep space, the crew of the USS Reliant are looking for a lifeless planet in the Ceti Alpha system to test a new device called the Genesis Device. Instead they stumble across a group of exceeding pissed off genetically enhanced survivors of the Botany Bay, a spaceship crew left on the planet 15 years previously by Kirk, as seen in the classic TV episode Space Seed. Led by the genetically enhanced super-man Khan Noonien Singh (played expertly by Ricardo Montablan, reprising his TV role) this group of super humans are looking to get off the wind blasted desert planet and ride the spaceways again. Wasting no time, Khan and his crew escape from their banishment and with Kirk in their sights sets off in the Reliant to have his revenge and the rest is ST:TWOK, not only the best film of the Star Trek movie pantheon, but in my opinion one of the best-ever science fiction films of all times. And if you want to make something of it, then why don't you step outside, through the airlock and we can discuss it in the space shuttle park.
Learning from past mistakes, or at least Star Trek: The Motionless Movie, Harve Bennett and Nicholas Meyer shunted Gene Roddenbery off to pasture and took Star Trek back to basics and in the process created this utterly thrilling, exciting and downright emotional sucker-punch of a movie! With not a single wasted second of screen time, this movie is an utter delight from beginning to end. It gives Shanter a chance to actually act and prove that he's got some chops on him and isn't the slab of ham everyone jokes he is. There are two stand out moments of acting from him, the first his rage at Khan, and the second his moving eulogy at the death of his friend at the end of the film, where we see Kirk literally choke back a single tear before it can roll. This is a masterclass in acting and Shatner deserves serious credit for it. Likewise, this film would be nothing without the death of Spock, which gives his character a deeply moving send off, his -'I have and always will be your friend.' line still chokes me up. Damn it, this film is good. Packed with superb lines of eminently quotable dialogue.
It's interesting to note that this is the second classic science fiction film I've seen in as many days and both are exceedingly enhanced by their respectively spectacular soundtracks, the first, E.T. by the incredible John Williams is matched here by James Horner and his nautical themed soundtrack brings real drama and depth to this film.
I used to watch Khan almost on a weekly basis when it first came out on VHS and find myself often returning to it ever since, so I know every beat and every word, but once again seeing it up on the big screen the film reveals its mastery, seeing the Enterprise glide past, as big as a house is a joy to behold. Films come alive in the cinema in a way that watching them at home can never match, perhaps one of the reasons I enjoyed E.T. more this time.
As of ST:TWOK, I adore it. It has a perfect three act structure, no plot holes and great performances from everyone. It's a film that's most certainly in my top ten of all-time favourite movies and I have lost count of the number of times I've seen it.
I love this film. 10/10
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