Customer Reviews

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (Restored) [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'm relatively new to the whole Blu-ray thing; indeed, I resisted buying a Blu-ray player for a long time because I imagined that older movies (e.g., Wrath of Khan) would look grainy and dated in this format, which mercilessly exposes the flaws in older film prints.

So I was pleasantly surprised when "Wrath of Khan" ended up looking, to me, rather good on Blu-ray. It's by no means a perfect print; for example, there's usually some fuzz (or whatever the technical term is) visible on scenes with dark lighting, such as when the Enterprise bridge goes to red alert. But by and large, this print is much nicer than the previous DVD versions.

I compared some DVD scenes to Blu-ray ones to determine whether the upgrade was worth it, and I think it was. Check out the scene when Spock gives Kirk his birthday present; on Blu-ray, you can see all the fine details on that giant globe they're standing next to, whereas on the DVD print it just looks like some glass blob. Similarly, the nebula scenes look much clearer on the Blu-ray.

Some fans seem annoyed that "digital noise reduction" has been applied to the Star Trek movies. Again, I'm no technical expert, but I believe this means that the artifacting/fuzz/whatever-you-call-it has been digitally "painted out" to give the film a cleaner look. This has led some fans to complain that the ST films now look artificially painted over, or waxy, or whatever. I sympathize with this complaint, but I think there's a tough choice to be made here; either studios can digitally "paint out" flaws, resulting in a slightly artificial look, or they can leave the flaws in, resulting in a distracting grainy look. Based on my Blu-ray experiences so far, I favor the noise reduction; for example, the Star Trek Blu-rays look much nicer to me than Fargo, which looks like it was shot through a layer of gauze.

The only real disappointment is that "Wrath of Khan" is only available in its theatrical cut, not the (slightly) better extended cut. It's a shame that Paramount doesn't give you a choice between the two versions; for "Khan," I'd pick the extended cut, and for "Undiscovered Country" I'd go with the theatrical one, but so far Paramount has not released versions that offer the option of switching.

But still, I think "Khan" looks so much nicer as a Blu-ray that I'd rather watch this copy than the special edition DVD. I don't even have a problem with the much-loathed "Delta shield" menu, which may be basic, but has a certain elegance to it...

I love Wrath of Khan, it is my favorite Star Trek movie. This was the first movie I ever saw alone in the theater (my parents wanted to see Firefox instead), so there is a certain nostalgia for me when watching. Anyway, this is the best looking version of this movie I have seen. About 2 weeks before I bought this it was on HDNET movies and there is a night and day difference in the quality of the blu-ray. Picture is much sharper, colors are brighter, sound is crystal clear, overall I am very happy with this purchase. Considering the age of the movie I am amazed at how great it looks. I know some people were upset about this not being the extended cut with the extra 4 minutes, but in my opinion those 4 minutes don't really matter much (though I don't know why they were left out?). I suppose you can wait for the eventual release of the extended super duper restored, remastered, re-filmed with new actors edition, but I don't see the point. If you love Star Trek or just love sci-fi movies this is a movie to add to the collection.

I've loved this movie since seeing it in theaters as a teenager. Certainly one of my top ten favorites. I was genuinely excited to finally be able to buy this on blu-ray. Sadly, I was tragically disappointed when I finally saw it. The grain is abysmal. I don't understand how anyone can say this picture is great. I understand that the movie was made in the early 80s, but Bladerunner doesn't look nearly as bad. Not nearly.

I can only assume that the folks raving about the great picture on this disc are actually studio plants sent here to deceive people into buying this, or they're undiscerning viewers watching on some portable hand-held blu-ray player or a similar substandard playback device. Star Trek 2009 has a great picture. The Dark Knight has a great picture. Bladerunner has a good picture. The picture on this disc is poor in comparison.

If you love the Wrath of Khan, buy the movie. Despite my disappointment, I don't REGRET buying it as it is better looking (more detailed) than the DVD. But if you have a quality 1080P monitor, then you should temper your expectations, as this won't compare favorably to any of the truly high quality blu-ray releases out there. Hopefully, Paramount will give us a better, cleaner high-def transfer in the future.

UPDATE: Alright, I screwed up. I finally got a chance to return home for a three week vacation from my current overseas deployment. My previous review was based on viewing this blu-ray on my computer with a 30" (2560x1600) monitor. When I got home, I decided to give it a second chance on my plasma HDTV (768p) and PS3. The picture was beautiful, practically flawless. None of that ugly video noise I saw on my computer screen was visible here. If I hadn't seen it myself, I wouldn't have believed that there would be such a huge difference in picture quality between two setups. I can only assume that my computer was exposing shortcomings in the transfer that my PS3 and lower resolution HDTV are not capable of revealing. In any event, I can certainly see now why so many have been enthusiastic about this disc, and I apologize for accusing them of being plants. On the right theater setup, this disc looks sharp, colorful, and totally satisfying.

I didn't know this movie would look so good considering how old it is, however, since it was filmed in a format that has higher resolution than 1080, it only makes sense. All the action scenes looks really sharp. The whole movie looks great.

I thoroughly enjoy the extras, especially James Horner's explanation of his approach. It was basic, and to the point, but I'm glad I got to see him explain it from his artistic point of view.

I don't really understand why someone would give this product 1 star for it being what it is not, the directors cut. That's just stupid. It is what it is, and it's excellent.

The "Wrath of Khan" blue ray dvd is a very poor copy. The movie has a greenish/cycan tint to it. I am a professional film technician working for Disney. It appears the blu ray was copied from a second or third generation
internegative. The person doing the transfer did a very poor job correcting the grey scale from this internegative. The blue ray copy should have been done from the original negative. This copy was made from a second or third generation
internegative or possibly a release print. There is a strong greenish/cyan mask on this copy. The person doing the copy of this print did a very poor job with color correction. When copying a movie from an internegative it is important to correct
the gray scale. I saw the "Wrath of Khan" when it was released in the theatrs. In fact, I was working for a movie theatre when this movie was released. I remember the color balance, and it was perfect. The blue ray disk is not accurate in color balance, I would
not recommend buying it if you want an accurate copy of this motion picture.

The movie itself is an all time classic without doubt and deserves a full 5/5 stars.

My review is about the Blu-ray version of this movie. What happened? It truly looks more like a DVD (if not slightly upscaled even) than the Blu-ray sharpness I've come to know. Many of the scenes even appear almost out of focus. Something either went wrong during transfer or they did not use a proper, original source. And I've seen too many much older movies on Blu-ray that look like they were filmed yesterday for anyone to tell me that the problem here is the fact that it's an older movie. Hogwash.

If you don't own the DVD (I didn't), then at this price, it is worth grabbing on Blu-ray - but I would doubt that it is worth upgrading to if you already own the DVD.

My question is: What was restored?

This film looked so beautiful in the blu-ray transfer, I enjoyed it all over again as if I was seeing it for the first time in a theater. I'm amazed a film this old can look so good. I compared it to the DVD version and you can see SO MUCH more detail!

This film is a classic and the best Star Trek movie of all time. I'm not familiar with the "longer"/director's cut version some folks are wanting. This is the version I grew up with and the one I remember, and it's the one I wanted. I'm perfectly happy with it.

The movie itself, if you didn't already know, is far and away the best Trek film they ever made. Nuff said.

The blu ray is a mixed bag. Certain scenes are incredibly crisp and clear - you couldn't ask for much more from a 30 year old film. Other scenes are actually blurry. I think this has to do with how the film was originally shot. Where it is most noticeable are scenes with Ricardo Montalban or Shatner. They seem almost out of focus. This is evident in certain background elements in these shots as well. I read somewhere that certain actors were shot in very soft focus to mask their age. If this is so it's pretty ridiculous. Esp when you cut between Shatner (blurry) and Nimoy or Kelly (very clear). So there's a good chance the picture flaws have nothing to do with the transfer, and everything to do with the egos of a few aging actors.

The sound is not so great. Sound effects are booming and fill the room impressively, but dialogue can easily get lost, even with DAC cranked up. Some dialogue sounds clipped, and others (esp, again, Shatner) are mumbly and unclear.

Although I point out the flaws, this is still a very serviceable print of a great film. If you can pick it up on the cheap like I did, it is a definite upgrade over the DVD version.

Blu ray does this epic movie justice. Khan comes back to try and exact his revenge on Kirk after years of being marooned. Colors look great, picture looks fantastic. There are some scenes that look a little dated, but this movie is over 20 years old now, nearing 30!! I remember seeing this in the theater as a kid. Great sci-fi. Blast me if you want, I don't care!

Blue Ray adds another dimension to the movie. I would recommend the purchase of this item to anyone, including Star Trek enthusiasts.