6. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

Star Trek might be one of the most beloved sci-fi franchises of all time, but most of its cinematic installments have notably poor reputations, even among fans. The exception to this is 1982’s Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, which saw Captain Kirk and co. face off against one of their most formidable foes from the original series: Khan Noonien Singh.

Despite featuring a handful of iconic Star Trek moments, The Wrath of Khan simply isn’t that good a film.

When taking the film’s impact on pop culture out of the equation, it’s simply a by-the-numbers story hammed up by William Shatner’s unique style of “acting”. While Star Trek fans appreciate the film revisiting one of Kirk’s oldest and most dangerous adversaries, it’s still generally ludicrous. It’s hard to see past Shatner’s ineffectual delivery of 90% of his lines, and then his irrational snarling and screaming of the other 10%, but even beyond the bizarre behavior of Captain Kirk, The Wrath of Khan simply doesn’t deserve its stellar reputation.

On top of the bad writing and acting, the film’s shocking ending – Spock’s sacrifice – was then immediately undone by the next film in the series, meaning that The Wrath of Khan didn’t even have a lasting impact on its own franchise.

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