Star Trek: Into Darkness - A Sad Parody Part 2

Posted by Benson

Spoiler Alert: This post contains spoilers for Star Trek: Into Darkness.  Read on at risk of having the essential points of an uninspiring plot revealed to you.

In last week's post I discussed why Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is a good film, which was a necessary precursor to explaining why I am so disappointed with Star Trek: Into Darkness.  Ultimately, I feel that Star Trek: Into Darkness  is a sad parody of The Wrath of Khan.  Into Darkness had the capacity to be a really good movie, but for reasons that I cannot fathom, J. J. Abrams decided to extend his reboot of the Star Trek franchise into the Khan storyline.

You see John, I just cut out all the boring parts and added more 'splosions.

The only thing I can come up with by way of explanation is hubris.  The Wrath of Khan is one of the best Trek movies ever made, and arguably the best in stiff competition with the likes of The Undiscovered Country, The Voyage Home, and First Contact (which I would rate in that order following Khan, if you were curious).  Khan is an iconic part of the Trek film franchise , not the least because it singlehandedly overcame the epic failure that was Star Trek: The Motion Picture.  J. J. probably just thought he would do it his way, which everyone would naturally think is better.

The problem is that J. J. went about it in a terrible way.  I was reading a Wired article about Into Darkness that summed up the point nicely by describing Into Darkness as "a Mad-lib of allusions with no real attention to the underlying machinery that makes them tick."  This is exactly the problem with Into Darkness, and is why a thorough understanding of The Wrath of Khan was a necessary precursor to this review. 

Genetically engineered to prefer ruffles on his coats

Into Darkness makes willy-nilly references to the Khan storyline, and direct homages to The Wrath of Khan, in a ham-handed way that reeks of attempting to disguise itself as a good film by reminding the audience of great moments in a genuinely good story.  The fundamental problem with this is that those moments were great because they were part of a well constructed film.  Divorced from that "underlying machinery," those elements become meaningless to an unindoctrinated audience and trite laziness to knowing fans.

 The Wired article claims that J. J. tried to put too much story into not enough film by jamming together Space Seed with elements of The Undiscovered Country and The Wrath of Khan, but I tend to disagree.  J. J. was clearly not thinking about story at all, but rather about cramming together one over-the-top action sequence after another.

I'll have him leap into a new scene through a plate glass window!

Into Darkness tries to raise the intellectual level of its action-packed shenanigans by doing a redoux of Khan set in J. J.'s bizzarro world Star Trek.  This had the potential to be a truly new story that took something familiar to Trek fans and turned it into something completely unexpected.  I expect that was what J. J. thought he was doing.  Instead, he merely turned the story upside down, crudely reversing powerful moments in Khan, such as Spock's heart-wrenching sacrifice. 

Quick!  It doesn't count unless you try to touch my hand!

Rather than doing something unique with the Khan character, J. J. started with his bizzaro Trek verse and tried to figure out how to jam in as many Wrath of Khan references as possible, including trying to include a meaningful message about the nature of revenge.

The point is that even if J. J. wanted to do something with the Khan character, there was no need to drag in so many of elements of The Wrath of Khan, especially if the run-time was going to be so heavily laden with action-sequences.  Those elements have to be attached to a story to make sense, and there simply wasn't room to build a strong story into the movie J. J. set out to make.

Hang on Kirk!  We've been fighting for 20 minutes, it has to stop soon.

 The Wired article generously presumes that J. J. tried to do too much story, but I think he tried to do far too little story.  If J. J. had been serious about making a meaningful reinterpretation of The Wrath of Khan, it would have to start down at the level of themes.  What were the themes of The Wrath of Khan, and how can I tell a different story with different themes using the same characters, which have already been established as being different from the incarnation of the characters in The Original Series?  That should have been the starting point.

A proper reversal of the Khan story could have been telling a story of young people coming into their roles as responsible adults, taking over from older, more experienced role models and learning about what it means to live a life in service of others, rather than themselves.

I'm sorry to do this to you, but it's the only way we can think to work in some exposition

Ostensibly, this is what Into Darkness tries to be, but J. J.'s attempt to do this is limited to finding ways in which to put his younger Enterprise crew into the same scenes that occurred in The Wrath of Khan, which requires a great deal less work, especially if you don't really care about telling a coherent story, which Into Darkness is far from.

The warp core needs to be realigned and someone has to go into an irradiated compartment to do it or everyone is going to die.  If your goal is to recreate that scene, all you need is some explosive catastrophe to happen on the Enterprise.  The scene is completely based on a sci-fi MacGuffin.  Do I know how a warp core works?  Hell no.  You tell me bla needs to happen, okay, bla needs to happen.  it is a movie after all.

Hmmmm...this looks a little boring...There's bright lights, but no green screens or wires

The Wrath of Khan built up to that scene which was the climax of the film.  The writers doubtless wanted to find some way for Spock to have to sacrifice himself for the good of the ship, so that Kirk could finally face the inevitability of death, deal with it emotionally, and grow as a person by coming to understand the purpose of a life well-lived.  Enter sci-fi MacGuffin.

...Yea!  Now this is a movie!  Let's tilt the camera to make it more cooler!

In Into Darkness, a scene that is so painfully similar is completely devoid of emotion (and is not the climax of the film).  I guess it is supposed to represent Kirk learning to not be a selfish dick, but the story barely supports this other than by Kirk sort of acting like an irresponsible asshole.  But does killing one's self represent accepting responsibility? 

In the beginning of Into Darkness, Kirk has to decide whether to let Spock die or save his life by violating the Prime Directive.  The Enterprise is trying to save a primitive civilization by surreptitiously preventing a world-ending volcanic eruption using some sciencey MacGuffin invented by Spock.  Spock is nobly self-sacrificing, accepting his death, but Kirk saves him anyway because a person's life is more important than being responsible, or something.  Okay fine.  Spock thinks Kirk is wrong, they have a fight and continue being frenemies. 

I'll at least get to die in a giant volcano, so that's something

Kirk is stripped of his command for violating the Prime Directive, and is bummed for a little bit until Captain Pike makes him his first officer about 10 minutes before getting murdered, then Kirk gets to be a captain again, which Spock recommends over himself...because something like that happened in The Wrath of Khan.  Spock is A) more qualified and B) has no real reason to think Kirk would be a good captain.  In fact, Spock really should think Kirk is a terrible captain as Kirk is impulsive, irresponsible, and full of incredibly illogical human decision-making which Spock has criticized for two films.

Kirk is sent on a secret mission to kill some bad terrorist dude that turns out to be Khan, who has been building amoral first strike super weapons that will allow the Federation to decimate the Klingons in a war some crazy admiral thinks is inevitable.  Khan's frozen buddies are hidden inside the super weapons...I don't know why, but there it is.  Kirk is also super mad because Khan was the dude who killed Captain Pike 10 minutes ago.

C'mon Kirk!  That torpedo is big enough to hide a person inside!

Khan pretends that building amoral first strike super weapons it totes bad and teams up with Kirk to fight the crazy admiral.  So Kirk, whose problem is with defying authority and breaking rules because it is the 'right thing to do', defies the authority of the admiral and breaks the rules because it is the 'right thing to do'.  But the admiral is doing it too, so two wrongs make a right, right?

Only it isn't the right thing to do because Khan is, like, totally leading Kirk on, and once they beat the crazy admiral Khan takes over the penultimate battleship like a megalomaniac, and it turns out that the admiral was, like, trying to kill Khan to stop him from being an uber-powerful megalomaniac.  But really, it is only one ship, not a weapon technology with ultimate power over life and death that can destroy worlds at the push of a button, so where's the fire?

Khan wants the amoral first strike torpedoes with his frozen buddies inside, but he wants them because they have his buddies inside, or is it because they are super weapons...Khan seems more concerned about his buddies, which is...really very reasonable when you think about it.

Wait, weren't we supposed to be shooting these at Khan?

Spock, however, tricks him by giving him the torpedoes minus frozen people and blowing them up inside Khan's new super battleship.  GOTCHA!  Because a super genius like Khan would super fall for that.  Super battleship and the Enterprise are both damaged, like, real bad and fall into Earth.  The super torpedoes didn't vaporize Khan's ship because...they weren't so super after all.  Scotty was concerned that even having them on board the Enterprise would be potentially fatal to the ship...but when you detonate them inside a ship...all 70+ of them...they only cripple it.

So this is where Kirk's heroic sacrifice comes in.  The Enterprise is falling through Earth's atmosphere and will crash unless somebody fixes it.  Kirk does the fixing, and Spock finds out that Kirk is dead.  Spock is suddenly really angry?  Spock yells KHAAAAAN! and then proceeds to follow Khan down to the surface of Earth to beat the snot out of him to get revenge.

So...you guys are going to use my blood to cure Kirk later, right?

BUT WAIT!  See, we learned earlier in a 20 second scene that Khan's blood has super regenerative powers, so we know, even as Kirk "dies," that they are going to use it to save Kirk.  Conveniently, Spock is beating the Hell out of Khan down on Earth, so Uhura beams down and tells Spock to get some blood before he beats Khan to death.

Kirk is saved and...learns something...about...let's just read the quote:

"There will always be those who mean to do us harm. To stop them, we risk awakening the same evil within ourselves. Our first instinct is to seek revenge when those we love are taken from us. But that's not who we are... When Christopher Pike first gave me his ship, he had me recite the Captain's Oath. Words I didn't appreciate at the time. But now I see them as a call for us to remember who we once were and who we must be again. And those words: Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Her five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before."

 So, forgetting for the minute that this is the stupidest oath ever (it sounds like the intro to a TV show or something), Kirk is supposed to have learned something about revenge, and how taking revenge is bad.  Kirk wanted vengeance against Khan for killing Captain Pike, but then decided to capture him instead so he could stand trial.  This turned out to be a not-so-good idea, sort of, and, against all attempts otherwise, Khan survived (70+ ultimate proton torpedoes detonated inside the hull of Khan's ship...Spock, didn't your Vulcan mind calculate the degree of overkill involved in that?).

See, Spock never yelled in the old movies, so this is totally original

I suppose the movie was really about Spock learning something...about controlling his emotions...because he get's angry at Khan and that's bad because that was what Kirk wanted to do at the beginning.  Kirk learned that being angry and emotional was bad, because when he was dying he asked Spock how you stop feeling, because he was, you know, scared of dying.  Only Spock told Kirk that he didn't know how to stop feeling. 

So maybe the movie was about emotions.  Khan was giving Spock some crap at one point about feelings...maybe that lets us know what the movie is about:

"Mr. Spock. The mind of the Enterprise. The fearless genius who ensures a calm force of intelligence guides their every mission. But look deeper and you will see an outsider who does not belong, a man of two worlds. This tears him apart, the constant battle between what he thinks and what he feels. What does he do? Does he follow his head, embracing logic and the path of reason? Or does he follow his heart, knowing the emotions he cannot control may destroy him? I will help him decide..."

I love you Khaaaaaan!  Wait...no...I...I'm so confused

 Well, maybe the movie was about the battle between emotion and reason that is in all of us, even a Vulcan?  Kirk is an emotional guy, and that's bad, except when it isn't, like when he saves Spock's life and the primitive civilization.  Spock is generally in control of his emotions, until he slips, and that's bad.  Khan is seemingly not very emotional.  I suppose he's just a cool-headed psychopath, like a total sociopath.  But he cares about his genetically engineered 'family' and is really super mad at the crazy admiral for threatening to kill them.  

It's all so confusing.  See, Into Darkness tries to be a twist on The Wrath of Khan.  The movie pretends to be about sacrifice and revenge, which is partly what The Wrath of Khan is about.  It parrots scenes from The Wrath of Khan, trying to act like there is a similar allegorical meaning to Into Darkness.

But there really isn't.  The movie is little more than a sad parody.  It is sad because it tries to be better than The Wrath of Khan.  It tries to give the audience a similar experience with a different type of poignant message.  But the only message it has is that it takes more than yelling KHAAAAAN! to make a memorable film.  It takes telling a good story, which is a lot of work, more work than J. J. was apparently willing to put it.

Meh, maybe next time guys...has anybody seen Spock, he seemed a little upset earlier?

All of this is incredibly depressing because Into Darkness had such potential!  The actors are so well cast, the budget was titanic, the acting is solid, there's room to creatively twist the Trek universe and play with audience expectations.  It could have been such a great movie.  It is merely an okay movie, like Star Trek: Nemesis.

Maybe the next one will be better. 

Star TreK: Into Darkness - A Sad Parody

Posted by Benson

Spoiler Alert: This post, of necessity, contains some Into Darkness spoilers and plenty of Wrath of Khan spoilers.  But seriously though, if you've never seen The Wrath of Khan...

I am a Star Trek fan.  I'm not a huge Trekkie or anything (wow, Trekkie is in this word processor's dictionary), but I quite enjoy Star Trek.  I was raised to love the Original Series, I adore Voyager, I watched plenty of DS9 as a kid, and I just recently finished re-watching the entirety of The Next Generation.  I am also a huge fan of the Trek movies, especially The Wrath of Khan.

When J. J. Abrams took the franchise into his hands I was dubious, but his first Trek film was enjoyable.  The actors were well cast, the costumes and set design were fresh but remained evocative of the Original Series, and the story was compelling enough to overcome the drawbacks of superfluous explosions and shaky camera syndrome.

And then there was Into Darkness...though I suppose it fits the theme of J. J.'s bizarro world Star Trek that the even numbered film is the not-so-good one.  Don't get me wrong, the movie was a fine enough action romp a-la Starship Troopers, but it was a very disappointing Trek film, not the least because it is ultimately a sad parody of The Wrath of Khan.

Whatever bra, talk to the hand.  My other one is too busy holding millions of dollars.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is, by any objective standard, an excellent film.  It is a film that has stood the test of time not only for Trek fans, but for the movie-watching public in general.  The story and film making are so good that you don't have to know anything about Star Trek to enjoy The Wrath of Khan.  In fact, I loved the movie long before I had even seen the Original series episode Space Seed, wherein the Enterprise crew encounters Khan for the first time.

Khan delivers a powerful, emotional, story about the meaning of life, the mysteries of death, and the nature of revenge.  It is replete with well-constructed allegories and deftly sidesteps the pitfalls of a potentially unwieldy franchise with tight writing and excellent direction.

And mysteries of Ricardo Montalbon's chest waxing

 In this post, I will explain why I believe The Wrath of Khan is a darn good movie, which is a tall task for one post all by itself.  Next week I'll contrast this excellent cinematic construction with Into Darkness.  The split is regrettable, but a proper comparison demands a thorough examination of The Wrath of Khan.

At the beginning of Khan, Kirk is suffering from a bout of ennui.  It is his birthday, and he is looking back on his life.  He has risen to the position of Admiral, he feels old, and he is beginning to question the value of his life and the legacy he will leave behind.  He is literally surrounded by antiques, and his old friend Dr. McCoy tells him that he needs to get back his command "before you become part of this collection."

Let's get plastered, and don't forget to pour one out for that green-blooded bastard.

Spock, the other half of Kirk's psyche, shares a very similar scene with Kirk, but with a distinctly different message.  Spock gives Kirk an antique copy of A Tale of Two Cities, and attempts to quote a poignant passage:

"It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known."

I trust you "poured one out for me," Admiral.

Below is the preceding paragraph from A Tale of Two Cities.  The passage forms part of the unspoken last thoughts of Sydney Carton, as he is about to be put to death at the end of A Tale of Two Cities, and it provides some context for not only Spock's chosen quotation, but for the film as a whole:

"I see that child who lay upon her bosom and who bore my name, a man winning his way up in that path of life which once was mine. I see him winning it so well, that my name is made illustrious there by the light of his. I see the blots I threw upon it, faded away. I see him, fore-most of just judges and honoured men, bringing a boy of my name, with a forehead that I know and golden hair, to this place—then fair to look upon, with not a trace of this day's disfigurement—and I hear him tell the child my story, with a tender and a faltering voice."

"It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known."

Spock's message to Kirk is clear: that Kirk has lived a full life and achieved great things; that he will leave a legacy to be admired, and has made the galaxy a better place; that sacrifice for the benefit of others is its own reward.

Bones speaks to Kirk of beginnings, Spock speaks to Kirk of endings, although Kirk was unwilling to listen at that time.  As the story begins, we see Kirk facing questions and challenges that we can relate to, regardless of the fictional gulf of time and technology that separates us from James T. Kirk.  Later, once we are absorbed into the story, we will face warp speeds, miraculous and deadly sci-fi weapons, alien mind bugs,and other arm's length challenges.  But for now the tale is simple and relatable (the dictionary has Trekkie but not relatable?).

Where were the rest of you jerks on my birthday?

Kirk and the former crew of the Enterprise are training a new, young crew to take over the ship.  They are passing on their legacy to a younger generation.  Mr. Scott, the engineer, even has his rookie nephew serving in the engine room.  And then there is the Kobayashi Maru scenario, the unbeatable test, the unwinnable simulator challenge that teaches aspiring starship captains how to deal with death. 

We find out of course that when Kirk was at the academy he reprogrammed the simulator so that the test was winnable, because in his words, he doesn't believe in a no-win scenario.  Kirk has never faced death, represented by his failure to listen to Spock at the beginning of the film as much as by his Kobayashi Maru solution.

I'll give you a hint if you tell me what the Hell this book is about.

Of course, during a short training voyage the Enterprise is called on to respond to an emergency, and Admiral Kirk must take command of a starship once again, this time with green crew, and facing once more the most dangerous adversary he has ever faced: Khan.

White hair is in right now, I totes live forever

And who is Khan?  We meet Khan when Commander Chekov is serving on the USS Reliant, looking for a planet devoid of life on which to conduct scientific testing.  Chekov and the Captain of the Reliant stumble upon Khan, who we learn, very succinctly, is an old enemy of James Kirk, marooned on a planet that turned into a barren wasteland and consumed by a desire for revenge.  We learn this because of course while Khan 'remembers' Chekov, Captain Terrell has no idea who he is.

See, Chekov really was on the ship in Space Seed

This is a time-honored plot device.  We, the audience, are in the position of Captain Terrell, and it makes sense for a character to explain to us, vis a vis Terrell, what is going on.  Through only a few minutes of menacing run-time we know that Khan is a frightening adversary, that there is a lot of baggage in his relationship with the Enterprise crew, and that there are two sides to the story of his encounter with Kirk.

See how genetically superior I am?  BTW, thanks for putting this nifty handle on your space suit.

This is communicated largely by the behavior of the characters, rather than with pure dialog.  We know Khan is powerful and uncompromising because he has managed to survive on a planet Chekov and Terrell could barely cope with while inside a space suit.  He lifts Checkov off the floor with one hand and ruthlessly implants parasites into the brains of his captives.  Chekov is terrified when he realizes he and Terrell are standing in the remains of the Botany Bay, Khan's old ship.  Chekov sums up the story of Khan by saying, quite simply, that Khan was a guest on the Enterprise and betrayed Kirk by trying to steal his ship and murder him.  Khan disagrees, saying that Kirk betrayed his promise and marooned him on a wasted planet.  Thanks.  I got it.  That's all I need.

"Captain Kirk was your host.  You repaid his hospitality by trying to steal his ship and murder him."

Khan discovers that Starfleet is working on a new device, called Genesis, that creates life where there is none.  It has great power to create and serve mankind, but untold power as a weapon, for before it creates life, it destroys life.  This is why Chekov was looking for a lifeless planet.  Ah, how it hangs together!  Khan, the megalomaniac, obviously wants to steal the 'weapon' and as a bonus kill Kirk along the way.  The emergency that Kirk's green crew responds to is Khan's attempted theft of the Genesis device.

Now, the final important bit here is that the scientist developing Genesis is an old flame of Kirk's, and the mother of his estranged son, who is also working on the Genesis project!

So let's recap.  Kirk is feeling old and wondering about the value of his life and career.  He has achieved professional success, but is unmarried and has a blond haired son whom he barely knows (...bringing a boy of my name, with a forehead that I know and golden hair...).  Bones was telling Kirk that he needed to reclaim his true purpose in life.  Spock was attempting to remind Kirk about his legacy and the value of a life lived serving just that purpose.

 

Those were the days

Khan is obsessed with revenge.  According the Chekov he was marooned on a lush world brimming with promise.  This world has literally turned into a barren wasteland and Khan's wife died because of it.  Khan's thirst for revenge is ultimately self-destructive, metaphorically reflected in the demise of his planet and the death of his wife.  Khan is a hundreds of years old genetically engineered "superior being" with a lifespan that borders on infinite, but he has squandered and destroyed this great potential.

Kirk, on the other hand, feels like he has not accomplished much.  He feels like his life was wasted, but it hasn't been.  His life was full, and although Kirk has made many mistakes and has regrets, the quality of his character and his willingness to sacrifice for others has has left a rich legacy and left open the possibility to improve himself by accepting his life for what it is and accepting himself for who he is: a starship captain, with all of the freedoms and responsibilities which come with that role. 

From the mind of J J Abrams

Kirk and Khan fight of course.  There is danger, suspense, cool space battles, plenty of explosions, death, and unexpected twists, like discovering Kirk has a son!  Kirk and Khan duel to the death, with Khan grinding down himself and his crew in his thirst for revenge and Kirk pulling out every trick he's got to keep his crew alive and prevent a madman from acquiring what could be the most deadly weapon of mass destruction the galaxy has ever seen. (Now that sounds more like a J. J. Abrams film, right?)  

Oh no, you can't get away.  At least I hope not.  I'm having trouble getting a tactical reading from this flaming bulkhead.

 In the end, Khan destroys himself, activating the Genesis torpedo in an effort to take Kirk with him, going so far as to quote Moby Dick, "To the last, I will grapple with thee..from Hell's heart, I stab at thee!  For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee!"  The Enterprise is stricken, and can't escape the impending explosion.  It is the Kobayashi Maru, the unwinnable scenario!  Scotty can do nothing to fix the Enterprise, but Spock sacrifices himself to fix the engines, allowing the Enterprise to escape.  Importantly, Kirk does not even know Spock is doing it.  When the engines come back online, Kirck actually says, "Bless you Scotty!  Go, Sulu!"
 

Kirk only later discovers the truth, and in one of the most heart-wrenching scenes in movie history he is forced to watch his friend die, completely powerless to save him.  We know the two are friends even without knowing anything about Star Trek.  Their interactions in the film display a deep familiarity and trust, from the beginning when Spock presents his gift to Kirk.  In fact, we know Spock is a good friend of Kirk in spite of Spock's emotionless Vulcan affect because Spock presents his gift to Kirk in a scene that is mirrored by Bone's gift to Kirk.  Thus the very affectatious Dr. "Bones" McCoy displays enough human familiarity with Kirk for both himself and Spock.  That there is good filmmaking.

 
The backdrop to this whole story is the rebirth that the Genesis torpedo represents, and literally creates.  By the end of the film, Kirk is developing a relationship with his son and is commanding a starship again.  And though Spock is dead, and he is dead at the end of the film, his own words of sacrifice are a comfort to Kirk, as much as Carton comforts the seamstress at the end of A Tale of Two Cities.  Kirk, a man who by his own words cheated death, tricked his way out of it, has come to learn how to face death, for he is forced to face the death of his dearest friend.  But in that death was meaning, a meaning that Spock understood, and a meaning that Kirk learns to appreciate by the end of the film.

Ah, remember that time we found those tommy guns and pinstripe suits in the cargo hold?

"We are assembled here today to pay final respects to our honored dead. And yet it should be noted that in the midst of our sorrow, this death takes place in the shadow of new life, the sunrise of a new world; a world that our beloved comrade gave his life to protect and nourish. He did not feel this sacrifice a vain or empty one, and we will not debate his profound wisdom at these proceedings. Of my friend, I can only say this: of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most... human."
 
The film ends right where it began.  At the very beginning of the film, Kirk said to McCoy, "Galloping around the cosmos is a game for the young, doctor."  It ends with McCoy asking how Kirk feels, to which Kirk responds, "Young.  I feel Young."   Significantly, this revelation only takes place after Spock's funeral, and is kicked off by Kirk sitting in his captain's chair on the bridge of the USS Enterprise, suddenly remembering the passage Spock was trying to quote.

McCoy: He's not really dead. As long as we remember him.

Kirk: It's a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done before. A far better resting place that I go to than I have ever known.

Carol Marcus: Is that a poem?

Kirk: No. Something Spock was trying to tell me. On my birthday.

McCoy: You okay, Jim? How do you feel?

Kirk: Young. I feel young.

You were wearing that the day you tried to stab me to death.

Kirk is metaphorically reborn as much as the Genesis torpedo creates new life.  He is revitalized.  He has learned something and grown as an individual.  The film was a journey of the soul as much as through the cosmos, and this is what makes The Wrath of Khan such an enduring film.  It has a solid and poignant story that viewers can relate to.  It is more than a visually interesting, exciting action flick.  The characters grow and develop.

Now, The Wrath of Khan has plenty of action, but the action serves the story, rather than the story serving the action. 

The original popped collar