To be clear, Iām not looking to debate whether this is the best Trek film. Rather, Iām asking why so many people see it as such.
I enjoy TWoK well enough, and certainly it is a good film overall. But consider: it is much more militaristic than any Trek before and more than most Trek since, and relatively violent compared to TOS; there is no exploration of strange new worlds; tonally, it is quite different from most Trek stories. (To be clear, Iām not suggesting that these qualities are required for a āgoodā Trek film ā Iām just noting a few obvious ways that TWoK is unusual.)
In terms of TOS episodes, TWoK is probably most like a combination of āThe City On The Edge Of Foreverā and āBalance of Terrorā ā which, to be fair, are beloved classic episodes, in part because they are somewhat exceptional compared to the rest of the series. So perhaps that gives us some clue as to why the film is so beloved.
In general, TWoK is ultimately about mortality. For all that the film professes to be about Khan, he really is just an Act of God (in the natural disaster sense), creating an unstoppable force that Kirk must humble himself against. The film is really about Kirk learning to confront death ā heightened by the contrast of the new life of Genesis and in his newly-rediscovered son. And that is something that the film did which was new: able to plumb the depths of Kirkās emotional journey at greater length thanks to the larger screen and the longer format.
But, againā¦ itās a great film, but I donāt know that itās obvious to me that Kirk learning to deal with the no-win scenario particularly epitomizes what āStar Trekā is (whatever the hell Star Trek actually āisā). In that respect, The Voyage Home seems like the most obvious candidate ā whatever Star Trek āisā, to me TVH āfeelsā more like it than does The Wrath of Khan.
So, why has TWoK earned such a place of acclaim?
(PS: I could write a similar post about First Contact, whose popularity also confuses me.)
Itās a great example of a science fiction action movie, with great character work, creative action, and a truly original doomsday device that doubles as a compelling philosophical what-if. Itās got a lot to say about the morality of revenge and about the futile attempt to evade consequences.
And of course itās exciting and suspenseful, too!
There are two things I actually donāt like about WoK:
Itās inspired too many āvillainā stories - Shinzon, Vedic, the Borg Queen, and Nero are trying and failing to be like Khan, and it drags down the stories around them. (I donāt actually think Khan in ID is a villain at all - heās a reflection of Kirk - but thatās a separate discussion.)
Uhura was given nothing to do.
But itās still a great movie that showed what Star Trek can achieve when it tries.
Removed by mod