(Watched as part of a broadcast-order franchise group-watch. I went with the director's cut as it was easier to get ahold of and apparently the differences are minor.)
Another classy minimalist opening, though the font and the "In the 23rd Century" card make it feel a little less arty. The uniforms and sets feel warmer, too.
I like the Kobayashi Maru sequence. I wonder how fresh the 'psych, it's a holodeck (kinda)!' twist opening was back then, and how many people thought they'd just summarily killed off half the main cast in the first few minutes. It's given away a little by the lack of score.
They're back on the 'Kirk is old' thing from TMP, but I guess there's a twist on it here because rather than fighting to get back in the fight and being unequipped for it, here he's resigning himself to obsolescence. I hope not every one of these films does this for the first twenty minutes!
That first Khan scene is great. Frankly, I think they should have opened with it and either moved or cut the KM stuff. This movie is already feeling a little less focused than TMP. There it was 'there's a threat, Kirk is going out to investigate and pulling everyone along with him'. Here there's training exercises and inspections and fireside chats and clunky cutaways to scientists and stuff.
Also, I do wish they'd found a way to keep at least some part of those classic uniform colours. I guess it might have felt weird with them all being 15 years older, but they still look great in the Kelvin movies, and having everyone wear basically the same outfit is a bit dull.
Maybe I'm imagining it but the Enterprise bridge feels a lot more like a set here than in TMP, even a little cheap. Perhaps the same for the engine rooms as well. I guess the budget was going elsewhere on this one. They do at least take some time for nice exterior shots of the ship and a majestic launch sequence, glad they didn't bin that vibe completely.
Okay, the Marcus call to Kirk got things feeling focused again, I just think the opening was a little too diffuse. Really enjoying the dialogue scenes in this movie - not just the Khan one, but Kirk in the elevator with Saavik and then Bones, and then in Spock's quarters. Sharply written and delivered, amazing how many iconic lines are rapid-fired in that Spock scene.
Fun that Khan had Moby Dick in his book collection and is now going all Ahab on Kirk. Is this the first explicit allusion to that novel in Trek? I know there's a lot of it in First Contact, of course.
Yesss! James Horner puts his four-note danger motif into use once again, was hoping it would show up!
Interesting that they're talking about "the cosmic problems of population and food supply". Ties in with The Mark Of Gideon. I guess even with the entire galaxy at their disposal, civilisations still run up against the problem of most planets being uninhabitable. And the food replicator still isn't a thing? I suppose by TNG food supply is no longer a cosmic problem?
The costuming on the Khan lot all feels very TOS levels of cheese, it's weird to see them all on the Reliant bridge like that. Surprised the filmmakers didn't take advantage of the story to give them slightly more modern 'survivors on a desert planet' costumes.
You can certainly feel an ongoing tension between the original show and contemporary cinema in these first two movies. It's great that TMP redefined the property, but it does then feel a little jarring when it edges back towards the TOS vibe in this one.
It's great watching old movies and seeing everything done with models, all the space ships and stations here look great.
Also fun that the Genesis Cave is like a big-budget version of the 'paradise planets' they'd represent with a location shoot and a couple of shrubs on the show.
Ha, Spock has learnt another goose-based human idiom! What a great callback!
Wow, this really kept up the pace the whole way through once it got started. A very fun movie. I liked the theme of rejuvenation as well, it fit well with this more energetic take on the Trek movie franchise and justified the continued focus on the characters' ages.
The differences between this and TMP reminded me of the Mission Impossible movies, adapting a cheesy tv show by starting off with a classy, almost stately entry taking influence from cinematic auteurs, and then going the other way with a slam-bang second entry. Though Wrath Of Khan doesn't quite make the same swing to the opposite end of the spectrum as MI2 does; it's probably a combination of MI2 and MI3, blending the arty and mainstream modes together and providing a formula for the ongoing franchise.
Some criticisms - it's a shame they still can't find something for everyone to do, Saavik feels less Vulcany than Spock, and the Carol/David storyline barely has an effect on anything, it's quite an odd inclusion. I guess it's part of the rejuvenation theme, the crew are living on in their trainees and Kirk finds a use in old age by gaining a son even as his contemporaries die.
Some points of interest from the Trek fan wiki memory-alpha:
The budget was a third of TMP's
Saavik was referred to in cut dialogue as half-Vulcan, half-Romulan
The bridge uses the same set as TMP but it was repainted to feel warmer
I thought Carol Marcus was played by Dee Wallace! Turns out it was Bibi Besch, whose name I didn't recognise but whom I know from a great performance in a small role in Tremors.
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