Star Trek: Section 31

I was so excited because this movie is based on two rich sources of Star Trek lore, Emperor Philippa Georgiou, and Section 31. What a let down. This movie is an insult to Star Trek fans everywhere. It fails at every level.

As a lifelong diehard “Star Trek” fan, I find it almost unfathomable to think that I would end up writing something negative about a franchise with which I have long been so deeply enamored – until now. The Paramount+ network’s first effort at creating a standalone “Trek” feature film is, to be honest, dreadful. “Section 31” is a picture with so many problems that it’s hard to know where to begin. For starters, the narrative is so convoluted that it’s difficult to follow without taking notes or constantly hitting the rewind button. In large part, that’s probably because the creators of this mess don’t appear to know what story – or what kind of story – they want to tell. There are allusions to so many different contributing influences that it’s hard to keep track of them all. The film is peppered with references to such properties as “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Mission: Impossible” and “The Fifth Element,” among others, with precious little actually having to do with “Star Trek” (unless, of course, you count the rampant, utterly annoying silliness of the Lower Decks animated series), almost as if the finished product were designed by committee. Perhaps the most egregious sin here, however, is the picture’s drastic change in the nature of what the Section 31 storyline is all about. As introduced in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and reintroduced in Star Trek: Discovery, Section 31 has traditionally been portrayed as an enigmatic, exceedingly dark, eminently sinister presence in the world of this franchise, far different from the significantly more visible, almost goofy depiction presented here. This is such a radical departure that, realistically speaking, it can hardly carry the “Section 31” moniker (or, some might even say, the “Star Trek” label itself). That’s regrettable, given that this storyline is one that, if it had been handled differently, could have been developed into a more fully fleshed out vehicle than it has been up to this point in its legacy (including as a series of its own). As it stands now, though, if this production is any indication of where it might be headed (if anywhere), it would seem that its creators are determined to take Section 31 in an entirely different direction from where it began (and not in a good way at that). To its credit, director Olatunde Osunsanmi’s fourth feature film incorporates some fine work yet again from its protagonist, smarmy, uber-sarcastic camp queen Michelle Yeoh, as well as some genuinely impressive, visually dazzling special effects. But, as a vehicle capable of maintaining viewer interest and giving Section 31 a viable future, I don’t see it. In all truthfulness, I’m not one of those nitpicking Trekkers who mercilessly criticizes every little detail that supposedly deviates from the mythology’s elusive canon (how annoying), but this offering represents such a marked divergence from where Section 31 originated that I can barely recognize it. If Section 31 is to have any kind of life going forward, it truly needs to get back to where it came from and forget that this monstrosity was ever created.

Decent sets and quality special effects, not to mention a capable actress, in the form of Michelle Yeoh, can't make up for the glaring shortcomings in this latest Trek offering. The core script of "Section 31" has been done a thousand times before, in one form or another, which is not, in and of of itself, unforgivable. Regrettably, though, on this occasion, the story lacks direction, a semblance of credibility and simple logic. Yes, sci fi is fantasy, you can go wild but the premise still needs to be believable, if the audience is to invest in it. In this instance, I found little to compel me to invest in the tale being told and the characterisations. The latter felt shallow, forcing the actors to over act, in an attempt to compensate, which only made matters worse. A dash of the usual woke nonsense, did nothing to further enamour me, to this already uninspiring production. More than that though, the dark, cynical overtones of "Section 31" didn't feel like Roddenberry's vision of "Star Trek". A vision of a technologically but also humanistic-ally enlightened future, filled with scientific and academic discovery, that overcomes all adversity In summary, I wont beat about the bush, "Section 31" is, in my estimation, "awful". It's not just the uninspiring story, populated by anaemic characterisations. No, more than that, it simply doesn't feel like "Star Trek". Enough said.

What a load of rubbish. I can't believe that someone at Paramount said, "yes, this is worth airing". What an embarrassment!

Well I think it’s hats off to all on-screen here who must have to stand around for ages in their CGI suits waiting for the computer to insert them, hologram-style, into the artificially created scenarios that dog this drivel from start to finish. And if the title of empress was good enough for Catherine the Great and Victoria, then why not for “Philippa Georgiou” (Michelle Yeoh)? Anyway, she’s been driven from her dimension and forced to join the elite division of “Starfleet” that’s been concocted to keep us all safe from problems that were usually initiated by that self same exploratory/interfering body in the first place. So quickly we encounter our first and biggest problem here, it has nothing whatsoever to do with the original or subsequent “Star Trek” philosophies. The adventure is straight out of a book of “Stargate” storyline rejects and Yeoh simply hasn’t enough to get her teeth into. The story, for what it’s worth, sees this supposedly top secret operation randomly hook up in the pub to discuss whatever problems they have in the timeline they had just arrived from, or gone to, or that they were expecting an invasion to come from, or that maybe the erstwhile captain of the “USS Discovery” was hiding after supposedly getting the chop on her imperial order in. They’ve also got to track down the epitome of doomsday weapons that makes the “Red Matter” seem as dangerous as the “Winnie the Pooh’s” pot of honey and all of this whilst under the gaze of an Irish fellow from Vulcan (Sven Ruygrok) who at least has some cheeky dialogue and the odd go at what passes for sarcasm from this woefully verbose script. There is also very little actual action to follow here, with almost all of the adventure coming in the last fifteen minutes and not really worth the wait at that. I like my sci-fi, but just because the machines can make it look good is no reason to make it if you don’t invest in the writing or the characters and just try to substitute that with oft-seen whizzy visuals and a score that like the film itself was desperate to get something of the original Alexander Courage onto screen, but never quite dared! Paramount+ has been something of a disappointment all along but this takes it more into the realms of Amazon Prime than Optimus.

Michelle Yeoh is a brilliant actor and I loved her character in Star Trek: Discovery so maybe I had too high expectations for this movie. The special effects were amazing but that is standard these days. The story was solid (sadly lacking in other movies these days) and it was funny. But having been blown away by the fast action, humor and well thought out plots of Discovery I was expecting more. But still a good movie!