Let’s get this out of the way first – transparency is important after all.
I am a big Star Trek fan. I’ve been to conventions, I’ve met some of the stars, I’ve got autographs and merch.. yeah, I’m that kind of fan. So when I heard that there was a series that was going to focus on Section 31, and that series was going to star Michelle Yeoh (Everything, Everywhere All At Once (2022), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Star Trek: Discovery (2017-2024)) well sign me up!
And then Yeoh won an Oscar so I figured that was the end of that.
Except it wasn’t!
Yeoh apparently loved her Star Trek: Discovery* character – Philippa Georgiou – so much that she still wanted the project to go ahead.
And then COVID happened so I figured that was the end of that.
Except it wasn’t!
Because of the time crunch, and then subsequent strikes what had been planned to be a series became a film, the first new Star Trek film since 2016’s Star Trek Beyond*.
We would have to wait until 2025, but still! We were getting a new film!
And so that brings us to now and… Well, read my review to find out my thoughts.
What’s It About?
Star Trek: Section 31* starts on stardate 1292.4 which puts it around April 2324. We’re taken to a massive Space Station that contains a bar that’s totally not attempting to be the cantina from Star Wars.
Here we meet Madame Veronique du Franc (Yeoh), owner of the station. Despite the name, she’s most definitely not French. She’s informed by her assistant Virgil (Augusto Bitter – EZRA (2022)) that someone wants to speak to her.
That someone, Alok Sahar (Omari Hardwick – Power (2014-2020), Kick-Ass (2010)), happens to know that Veronique du Franc is in fact Philippa Georgiou. His initial plan is to knock her out, have one of his team take her place and thwart an arms deal taking place on the station.
Georgiou, being the bad ass ex-Emperor and ex-Section 31 operative that she is, was on to Alok and his crew the minute they stepped foot on the station. She informs him that she’ll help him stop the arms deal and this is where she gets drawn into a plot that could see the destruction of the sector thanks to a weapon she thought she had ordered destroyed years ago.
The Good
As usual, Yeoh shines as Georgiou, her one-liners are as sharp and barbed as ever and she has some excellent action scenes where Yeoh can show off her martial arts background.
Visually, the show is wonderfully shot and has lost a lot of that annoying lens flair that plagued Star Trek thanks to J.J Abrahams* and appeared in the first couple of seasons of Discovery.
The sets are very intricate and convey the sense of filmic scale they were trying to get across . The nightclub set was exceptionally detailed considering its hardly on screen.
Although I will say that the visual effects department must have got a bulk discount on flamethrowers as they’re ridiculously overused towards the end of the movie, so much so I actually laughed out loud at one point when one suddenly went off in the background.
And that’s about it.
The rest of the cast are all fine (to a point).
Alok Sahar is the most fleshed out of the supporting cast as we get to know a little bit about his background and his motivations but the rest of them? No idea.
The Bad
I’m going to ignore the whole title sequence that reminds me of the introduction to a Call Of Duty game because we’d be here all day if I went into how terrible it is and how it could have been handled much better so let’s start with the cast.
As I mentioned, the acting is fine (if a little over-the-top at times) but we know nothing about them.
The Characters
There’s an entirely new species introduced, a Nanokin. This is a microscopic being that flies around in a little space ship thing that, due to it’s tiny nature, can get into biomechanical objects and control them. As a result of this the character in this film, Fuzz (Sven Ruygrok – One Piece (2023)), uses a mechanical suit disguised as a Vulcan to blend in.
And this is my first issue. Because this is not a “real” Vulcan, the character laughs and is really over the top. He also has an Irish accent which in itself isn’t a problem but as Star Trek: Picard has already established that Romulans have Irish accents, and that they laugh then why not have the character as a Romulan?
I told you I was one of those types of fans.
The show takes place outside of Federation controlled space so it would be totally possible for a Romulan to be part of the crew.
“But Katy!” I hear you say, “The Romulans have been at war with Starfleet for ages and things have only just settled down by this time!”
Yes, and that’s true but as far as we know only two characters are actually employed by Section 31, the rest a drafted in when their skills are needed.
And I am guessing at this BECAUSE NOTHING IS EXPLAINED.
There is no backstory for anyone.
Why is Zeph (Robert Kazinsky – Pacfic Rim (2013)) in a metal exoskeleton? Does he need it to live? How does he go to the toilet in it? We’re not told.
Quasi (Sam Richardson – Veep (2014-2019)) is a Chameloid, a species first introduced in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country*. But is he the same race? His morphing is different so we don’t know – again it’s glossed over.
Mellie (Humberly González – Utopia Falls (2020)) is a Deltan, but unless you’ve seen Star Trek: The Motion Picture* you won’t know of the sexual allure they possess because it’s glossed over.
And then we have Rachel Garrett (Kacey Rohl – Arrow (2017-2019)) and unless you’ve watched the Star Trek: The Next Generation season 3* episode Yesterday’s Enterprise you will have no idea of her importance in the Star Trek universe because, say it with me, they gloss over it.
I very much get the impression that they had ideas for the series that would explore each of the characters in depth in their own episode but because everything got compressed into a movie there just wasn’t time to explore who anyone was.
This even includes the lead character, Georgiou!
The Writing
If you’re coming in to this film as a Star Trek newbie, maybe as a fan of Yeoh from Everything Everywhere All At Once* or The Brothers Sun and without watching Star Trek: Discovery* you’ll have no idea of who the heck she is. It was so bad that I had to write an explainer so I could figure it out myself!
Read “Who Is Phillipa Georgiou Of Star Trek Section 31?” to get a full background on the character.
Is this is sloppy writing?
Maybe.
The main writer and also a producer, Craig Sweeney (The 4400 (2006-2007), Medium (2005-2011)) has just TV writing credits and it’s the same with Bo Yeon Kim (Reign (2015-2017), Star Trek: Discovery (2017-2020)) and Erika Lippoldt (Reign (2015-2017), Star Trek: Discovery (2017-2020)).
This suggests to me that while they are suited to the pacing of storylines through the continuing arc of multiple episodes, they are unable to pace exposition and the story through the shorter length of a film.
The Ugly
And let’s stick with the story.
It’s just not Star Trek.
I’m sorry but I had to say it.
It’s not because it’s set outside the Federation. It’s not because they don’t have any shiny white starships. It’s not because it doesn’t have a recognisable character – because it does.
It’s because it lacks the heart and soul of a Star Trek production.
Lack Of Depth
With Section 31 you have it set in a dark place in space. The main character, Georgiou, is a former genocidal maniac who may or may not be reformed. The secondary character, Alok, is similarly tarred with a dark background.
The main protagonist, San (James Hiroyuki Liao – Unforgettable (2013-2016))? He’s on screen for all of 5 minutes and we don’t really know about him or his motivations and so he cannot be redeemed. He doesn’t even come across as filled with pure hatred for Georgiou like Khan has for Kirk in Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan* because we don’t know enough about him to care.
Unlike other entries in the Trek franchise there is no hope and no character growth to show that they are trying to atone for their previous actions. They are just characters that happen to exist in the Star Trek universe.
If it were a standalone film outside of the Star Trek* franchise I think it would be a fun heist-style movie and work much better. We wouldn’t be expecting fleshed out backstories, character growth or the hope that was sorely lacking. We could have just grabbed the popcorn and had an enjoyable 90 minutes.
This is a real shame because it could have been a good film but I feel like because they adapted the TV series premise into a movie it just feels flat and rushed – I mean I shouldn’t have to spend hours researching the main character to figure out her back story because it’s been FIVE YEARS since she’s been on screen.
I’d like to say this is no shade towards any of the actors (except Sven Ruygrok who plays Fuzz in a way that reminds me of Jar Jar Binks and we all know how well that character was received), this is entirely levelled at the producers and writers who mishandled the transition from TV to film massively.
Directing
And that’s not to say that the director, Olatunde Osunsanmi (Star Trek: Discovery (2017-2024), Falling Skies (2014-2015)), gets off scot free either.
As with the writing team, Osunsanmi is mainly a TV director and as a result he doesn’t use the larger sets as effectively as a more experienced director would.
When it comes to the fight sequences, while we can see some of Yeoh’s fantastic skills, some very strange directorial choices along with odd cuts and effects in the edit really take away from the action and it makes it difficult to see what’s going on.
VFX
I don’t have much to say about the visual effects (apart from my flamethrower-happy comment earlier). While there’s a bit of action in space it’s nothing special and what you’d expect from a show like Discovery or, more recently Picard.
Music
And as for the music?
Jeff Russo’s (Star Trek: Discovery, The Umbrella Academy) traditional score is lovely and fits in with the tone of Star Trek completely thanks to his work on Discovery. The problem is that it keeps on going off the rails and really doesn’t know what genre it should be – presumably because the movie also struggles with its genre too.
When we’re first introduced to Georgiou we get some random rock guitar music that’s overlaid with an opera singer. The music is clearly meant to evoke heist movies except with the mash of the opera singer on top it just sounds like a racket and then you get a random pop song chucked in to the mix which completely takes you out of the fillm.
The song is “My Domain” by Emily Mei (feat. Sorn & Amber Liu) from 2021.
The weirdest part?
They chop the song up so we get the song’s outro lyrics first:
Desperate, I can tell
all that begging
suits you well
And why the following lyrics are relevant to a Star Trek film set in the 2300s I have no idea – would they even know what a phone is? And why is it even there when we get maybe 10 seconds of it?
Blowing up my phone now
going up, you bow down
look at who needs who
It’s so random it just really dragged me out of what the setup for the rest of the movie is. I’d love to know why they thought that an actual real pop song needed to be used – perhaps contractual obligations – but as the rest of the music is orchestral in nature it makes no sense and is another ridiculous thing this film does.
And bizarrely it’s not even in the credits as far as I can see so I don’t know what the heck was going on.
Final Thoughts
You might think that after all this I hated Star Trek: Section 31 and that’s not true.
As a film it’s a fun watch.
As a piece that’s part of the growing Star Trek universe it was quite the let down.
It’s clear that it was rushed, that some form of existing TV series scripts were hacked up into an unsatisfying Frankenstein of a movie and that’s a real shame.
Yeoh was wasted in this and with it sitting at a Popcorn (audience) score of just 17% on Rotten Tomatoes, even though the film tees up a sequel I can’t see it happening.
Bear in mind that the (previously) most poorly received entry in the Trek franchise, 1989’s Star Trek V: The Final Frontier* has a Popcorn score of 25% so I think that tells you everything you need to know.
Watch this if you want to spend a fun 90 minutes with a science fiction film, but do not watch this expecting it to be a Star Trek film.
