yakkowarner's Full Review: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
In my opinion, this is the best Star Trek movie. It is one of those movies I can watch over and over again. From the music to the story, I love every aspect of this film.
Captain Kirk has been promoted to admiral and currently works on Earth. Needless to say he’s not happy with his sedentary life and his friends let him know it. There is also a new captain of the enterprise and a new crew. For whatever reason Star Fleet has decided to assign a bunch of young trainees to this ship instead of seasoned veterans.
The Enterprise sets out on a training mission when they get a disconcerting call. The problem is that this is a training exercise, not a properly staffed star ship, so they are not ready to handle any problems yet. But they are the only ship that can respond so the Enterprise is called to investigate. That is where she gets into trouble.
The story telling of this movie is the true strength. It is the story of a man discovering what is important in his life. In the beginning of the movie he is a miserable old man. Throughout this movie he quickly realizes that there are certain things in his life that he cannot give up, and he must fight for them if he is to stay young. He also discovers something new in his life that he can cherish, only to lose it in the next movie.
I know I’m biased but I love everything about this movie. The writing, while not perfect, is very well done. For those of you that don’t know Star Trek will find that the character building in this movie is quite well done and will get you up to speed on most of the characters personalities fairly quickly. Character development is fairly important at the beginning but is performed throughout the movie. The new (or old if you rather) character Khan is built up as the story goes on. You feel his rage, his desire for revenge, and the loneliness he feels. And Ricardo Montebon does a masterful job of acting. My favorite Star Trek Villian.
The director’s name is Nicholas Meyer. He also directed Star Trek VI, which is why both of those movies have a strong military presence, something Gene did not want. And not surprisingly these are considered two of the three best Star Trek Movies by many fans. Nicholas has also been credited for saving Star Trek from an untimely death by making this movie.
The special effects are well done for the time. They used a lot of models and the models are beautiful. The special effects never get in the way of the story telling which is the strongest part of this movie. Instead they enhance the story by adding a little bit of dramatic flare and action to the movie.
The music is by James Hornocker. He also did the soundtrack for Titanic, Willow, Aliens, and many others. They all have similar aspects to them and they are all wonderfully done. He is my favorite movie composer and I fell in love with his style before I knew his name. I have even bought the soundtrack to this movie and I feel that any soundtrack from him is worth getting.
The flow and rhythm of this movie is almost perfect. You are almost never bored with what is going on screen. Now it isn’t action the entire time rather it is more like a mystery in space. You have 3 main action scenes that are well placed and the rest is through the eyes of Kirk as he tries to figure out what is going on and how to eliminate the threat that is posed against them.
There is also one other aspect to this film and that is sacrifice. Sacrifice on several different levels including both revenge and friendship. I can’t reveal what it is about without turning this into a spoiler but there is a great deal of emotion in this movie that is not equaled by any other Star Trek movie to date. Even the sacrifice that Data made in the most recent film didn’t come close.
Is it ok for children? I think it is fine for older children. There are a couple of graphic scenes that may give your child nightmares so I suggest you preview it first before letting your child watch it.
Rating PG
Additional material on the DVD Depends on the DVD you have. The original release only has a theatrical trailer as an extra. The “Widescreen Collection”, disk 1, has commentaries from Nicholas Meyers and a text commentary by Michael Okuda. Nickolas’ commentary is one of the best I have listened to and I learned a lot. On disk 2 they have… Captain’s log-Talks about how the concept of this movie came into being. It gives a great background of how the main cast members and director got involved in this film including some of the concerns they had before it was made and during the making of the film. (27 minutes). Designing Khan- Talks about how Khan became into being selected for the film as well as how several of the main ideas came into being. (23:53, minutes:seconds). Visual Effects- A featurette on the “state of the art” special effects of the film. (18:13, minutes:seconds). Original Interviews- Some original interviews used to promote the film. (10:56, minutes:seconds). The Star Trek Universe- (28:56, minutes:seconds). Storyboard Archives-You typical Static storyboards, it appears pencil drawn. (, minutes:seconds).
The key players Director: Nicholas Meyer Story by: Harve Bennett, Jack B. Sowards, and Samuel A. Peeples Screenplay by: Jack B. Sowards, and Nicholas Meyer Music: James Horner Produced by: Harve Bennett, Robert Sallin, Paramount Pictures
It is the 23rd century. The Federation starship U.S.S. Enterprise is on routine training maneuvers, and Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) seems ...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.