Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (4K restoration)

Stars: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Ricardo Montalban, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig, George Takei, Kirstie Alley, Paul Winfield, Bibi Besch, Ike Eisenmann, Joel Marston

Director: Nicholas Meyer

Trekkies and Trekkers alike will not be disappointed with this second spin-off film from the iconic TV series, even if seems to deprive them of one of their favourite characters.

Kirk (Shatner) once again says 'Don't mince words, Bones - what do you really mean?' and the whole legend is cleverly camped up by the actors (and director Meyer), with many an arched eyebrow and amused twitch of the corner of the mouth.

Kirk's adversary here is Khan (played by veteran movie idol Montalban as the Demon King of Space, so much so that you almost expect him to appear in a puff of smoke), a renegade out for revenge after being cast away on a desert planet these 15 years before.

But the plot concentrates on character rather than action, although there's enough of that too. Effects are limited but well done and James Horner's Tchaikovsky-style music captures the spirit of the thing with tongue-in-cheek panache. In an uneven series, this one's a winner.

David Quinlan

USA 1982. UK Distributor: Paramount. Technicolor.
113 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: PG.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 0, Swearing 1.

Review date: 29 Aug 2022