A sequel to the old TV episode Space Seed, Wrath of Khan sees the return of the genetic supermen that Kirk left on planet to make their own way. Things didn’t work out well for them and Khan has slipped from megalomania into just being crazy.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture aimed high, and missed. Wrath of Khan lowered the target, and hit a bulls eye. The scale is smaller and the themes are less, but it all works. The actors are sure of their parts and all the characters both fit their well known personalities and are given the opportunity to expand. Plus we have a new one in Saavik, whose only flaw is not continuing through the rest of the series. The pace is nearly perfect with plenty of drama, a bit of comedy, and as much good old fashioned adventure as anyone could ask for.
There are some nods to aging, but it is less a theme than a motif. If there is a theme, it is friendship, and don’t worry about that as there are submarine battles in space, witty lines fired off one after an other, alien brain parasites, romance, and heroic suicides (a pair of them). There’s no time for thinking till it is over, and then you’ll just want to see it again.
And of course there is Khan Noonien Singh. Who’d have thought the greatest Star Trek villain, and one of the great villains of all time, would be a mad, Indian, genetic superman played by a scenery-chewing Latin American. But Khan is everything you’d ever want in a villain and even though he is a racist, murdering, sociopath, it is impossible not to sympathize with him.
Yes, I like a bit more message with my Star Trek, but there is enough here. This is a duel is space and it is a lot of fun.