Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

3.5/4 stars

I grew up with Star Trek, and although I've never considered myself a die-hard fan (it's just a good TV show to me), I can remember seeing this movie for the first time sometime before age 10. I've probably seen it a few times after that, but long enough ago that it still surprised me. Star Trek II lived in my memory as being a kick ass entry in the franchise, a movie that avoided many of the cheesy pitfalls of its brothers, but it is more than just that. The Wrath of Khan is a tense, thematically complex and well constructed film; in fact, it may be the bar that No Country For Old Men fell short of.

Let me explain... It helps to remember that in the first place, I didn't find No Country For Old Men to be that good, hence my review. But in fact, the films are thematically similar. Both are about a man who feels old and tired, and his quest to bring to justice an enemy of profound evil. Both demonstrate the lawlessness and brutality that can exist in their worlds, and take the lives of many. In No Country For Old Men, those deaths are never resolved, and the only lesson the hero learns is one of despair. In this film, there are conscious acts of self-sacrifice that help put that evil to rest, the kind that Tommy Lee Jones' sheriff lacked the courage to make.

Science fiction fails when it's used as a flavor, a color scheme applied to generic action. Good science fiction, from Blade Runner to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, uses the possibilities of speculative science to explore important questions. Of course, the The Wrath of Khan does use the conventions of the genre for its setting; there are starships whose shields are either up or down at any given moment, and the teleportation technology that can only be used under certain circumstances, and all the other rules that fans of the series know so well. But futuristic technology also gives the film its two most effective symbols.

The first is the Kobayashi Maru. Aging and death are major thematic concerns of this movie, and the Kobayashi Maru mission, a training simulation that tests character by exposing would-be captains to an unavoidable catastrophe, provides a concrete basis for conversations about how the characters face the inevitability of death; discussions of bravery and sacrifice. It also provides the film's shocking introductory scene, which brings this theme to the forefront by portraying the simulated demise of each of the series' main characters (minus Kirk, an exception that proves significant).

The second is a device called Genesis which allows the near instantaneous terraforming of planets, replacing whatever is there with a predetermined pattern of life and growth. This gives humanity the mirroring powers of creation and destruction. Rebirth as a counterpoint to death comes up repeatedly, as does the motif of the death and birth of planets (notice Khan's description of how his own castoff planet became barren). The moral implications of these abilities, as well as the untrusting relationship between science and the military are played upon in the film.

That an entry in a popular science fiction franchise should be so ambitious at all will be a surprise to the expectations of many, but that these themes are all addressed articulately in the space of such a finely structured film is a marvel that should intrigue any viewer.