Trait #5: Provocative
"KHAAAAAAAAAAN!" -James T. Kirk, "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan""KHAAAAAAAAAAN!" -Spock, "Star Trek Into Darkness" We all remember that infamous cry of rage from Captain Kirk as the Genesis device is beamed off of the surface of Regula I and into Khan's clutches aboard
Reliant. While that cry of rage has resonated throughout cinema history, and say what you will about its execution,
Star Trek Into Darkness took another route with it, while still remaining faithful to its premise. Kirk has succeeded in realigning the warp core as Spock had done in the original film, and the success came with the same fatal result as Kirk dies at Spock's feet, separated by a glass partition in the reactor core as Kirk makes his first and only Vulcan salute to his friend. The built up rage in Spock from the loss of his planet, the loss of both his captains and the near loss of his ship, the latter two caused directly by the madman Khan, explodes as he utters this cry of rage and in a fit of insanity beams down to a San Francisco torn apart by the crash of the
Vengeance and proceeds to deliver an epic beatdown of Khan that caused theatergoers in my screening to literally get on their feet and cheer. While Kirk ended up being revived (because... magic), Benedict's Khan, while much more gung-ho than the classic Khan and meant to appeal to an audience beyond just Trekkers, managed to make even Spock go overboard and lose his mind, which lead to one of the most exciting movie fight scenes I've ever seen, making him far more provocative than the original Montalban and earning Cumberbatch the victory as the better Khan. With all that said, the final tally is a very close, very tough to call...
Ricardo - 2; Benedict - 3 Comparing these two incredible actors and their interpretations of Khan is a very hot topic and there's bound to be discussion! If you would like to add any insight, feel free to sound off below!