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VAST SPACES

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was

Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Kahn (1982)

This is the second movie made off the teevee show which I couldn't stand. I watched a part of an early episode and bailed.

I am going against the grain here but things apparently got no better and, based on present evidence, the films aren't any better than the teevee.

Oddly, this is the second film not the first which somehow failed to make the 'Best' cut.

I suppose I missed a lot because I am not in tune with the Trek tropes. I find the whole Klingon thing very annoying. Amusingly, in this film, we have Kirstie Alley joining Leonard Nimoy as a Klinger. A scientologist Klingon who can't act.

The highlight of this one is Ricardo Montalban as Kahn, the villain. Very camp, over the top. A peroxide mullet.

I remember the young Ricardo who was a staple in the MGM musicals. Young and full of pep. Here, he is old and still full of pep. Always enlivening the proceedings. And look at those pecs. We wondered if they are real. When he leaned over, they sagged a bit.

These are minor amusements in a vast spacial vacuum of plot. A lot of soaring. A lot of piloting. A lot of William Shatner. Another bit of space. Did I mention that he is in it?

There are some space battles but they are listless. They emulate sea battles with none of the human element. Flashes of light don't make it somehow.

I tired melodramatic plot. Shatner's bastard son shows up. They bond.

I think I looked at my watch about ten times. That is not a good sign. But I did watch the whole thing even though I didn't like it.

That makes it a 2 out of Netflix5.

Labels: best films