Why 'The Wrath of Khan' is one of the last true 'sci-fi' movies

One of the most striking things about Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is how slow it is. It has a reputation for being one of the great space battle movies but really its a meditation on reckoning with life and death, with coming to grips with the aging process and making amends -- for better or worse -- with the past. Beyond its emotional content, it's also a movie about ideas -- involving a project to create newly habitable worlds for colonization -- a concept which has renewed resonance in the era of climate change.

It seems unthinkable now that this classic film -- widely considered the greatest of all the Star Trek films -- almost didn't get made 35 years ago. Its predecessor, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, was critically reviled -- and while it was a huge hit, it barely recouped its runaway production costs.

Producers reportedly were hoping to equal the success of Star Wars, but as any committed Trekkie will tell you -- this material was never meant for mass popular consumption. One of the biggest quibbles with the franchise since J.J. Abrams took it over is that they've become essentially big, bloated action movies, with only passing nods to the socially conscious, topical thrust of the original series.

Promotional art for The Wrath of Khan (circa 1982)

Watching The Wrath of Khan now, as I had the opportunity to do on the big screen this past weekend, I can't imagine how it would be received by modern audiences. There are virtually no young sexy heroes (unless you count an up and coming Kirstie Alley as an upstart Vulcan cadet) and it spends a lot more time exploring the malaise of middle age than bombarding you with high tech special effects.

It's ace in the hole is the brilliant performance of Ricardo Montalban as Khan, one of the greatest screen villains of all time. His silky voiced line readings (which owe much to Melville's Moby Dick) and formidable physical presence are still striking today.

But even he might seem dated to some modern viewers who are used to more generic scenery-chewing from their bad guys.

Looking back now, it's clear that this film represents the last gasp of a certain kind of sci-fi film. Even the later Star Trek films (with perhaps the exception of Star Trek VI) are less talky and faster paced. And virtually every major sci-fi hit its wake has more action and pyrotechnics than this film.

The fact that audiences flocked to it is a testament to how iconic the characters had become and how comfortable the actors were in their shoes.

William Shatner, while no one's idea of an Oscar caliber thespian, injects just the right amount of his own barely suppressed arrogance with a kind of unhinged gusto (his infamous "Khan!" scream is pure joy) to give a credible, even heroic performance. And the late Leonard Nimoy as Spock is the perfect ying to his yang.

Nimoy effortlessly possessed all the humor and charisma that Zachary Quinto's version of the character is sorely lacking. He can do more with a dramatic pause or a raised eyebrow than any line of dialogue can. And, his SPOILER ALERT, premature demise in this film is genuinely moving and emotionally satisfying.

The term space opera gets thrown around a lot but this is one film where the hyperbolic term genuinely applies. The stakes are huge, the characters are mythic and the action -- once it kicks in -- only elevates pre-existing tensions in the story instead of serving as a set piece to pump up its marketability.

Sure, there have been interesting little curios like Under the Skin and Ex Machina, that want to make you think more than they want to raise your blood pressure, but they are rarely the kinds of commercial successes that spawn multi-movie franchises.

This is part of what makes the Star Trek movie universe as it existed in the 1980s and early 90s unique and special. They defied ageism, stupidity and the limitations of low budget special effects to (almost) always tell engaging, smart, character-driven stories that happened to be set in space in a future populated by far out planets and imaginary cultures.

It's a refrain I return to a lot on this blog. They don't make them like this anymore. So all we can do is revisit these movies from time to time -- show our respect and relive the highs of what this genre can do when it wants to be both accessible and sophisticated.