Star Trek: Section 31

3 outta 5

Star Trek: Section 31 is the latest entry in the Star Trek film franchise that comes about 9 years after Star Trek Beyond, which is the longest gap between Star Trek movies ever since 1979. And this isn’t even a theatrical release, it’s a streaming film that is a spin off from the Star Trek: Discovery TV series. Section 31 feels a lot more like a pilot episode, which does kinda fit as A) it was in development as a spin-off show and B) Star Trek has multiple double-sized pilot episodes. There have been unkind comparisons of Section 31 to The Final Frontier film (often usually called the “worst” Trek movie) but Section 31 and Final Frontier are similar inasmuch that both are a tad goofy, corny, and excessively jokey, but they are also zippy and have moments of drama and action. This is clearly not the worst Star Trek thing ever, watch Voyager “Threshold” or the Original Series “Spock’s Brain”. There are nifty moments in here, even if it tries hard to be tonally different from previous Trek’s, but the lead performance by Michelle Yeoh is entertainingly bombastic. Trek bounces around tones and genres so even with Section 31 tilting more x-treme, it can work in Star Trek because freakin’ everything works in Star Trek.

Former Teran Emperor Philippa Georgiou (Yeoh) is visited by agents from the mysterious organization Section 31. There’s the boss Sahar (Omari Hardwick), the shapeshifting Quasi (Sam Richardson), mech enhanced man Zeph (Robert Kazinsky), the laughing “Vulcan” Fuzz (Sven Ruygrok), the alluring Deltan Melle (Humberly González) and Starfleet officer Rachel Garret (Kacey Rohl). They are looking for a device called the Godsend that could bring about wide scale devastation across the galaxy and the man with his finger on the button is San (James Hiroyuki Liao), who has a dark history with Georgiou. Fighting against San may save the galaxy, but he knows everything about Philippa and her murderous past that is coming through a portal to confront her.

Yeoh’s Georgiou is mostly camp excess, which is very enjoyable but the film does give Yeoh some dramatic moments. Her backstory is shown to be particularly monstrous even though the last season she was on Discovery tried to whitewash over that. The movie opens with a striking flashback to Georgiou becoming the Teran Emperor by doing something incredibly evil (she is from an evil universe after all). Ultimately, the audience likes Georgiou because she is cool and played by Michelle Yeoh, instead of her character’s journey. But even she gets to show some regret for her actions when she interacts with San and there is a moment where she looks like she might pay for her sins. That is all relatively minor, the best stuff is Georgiou being snarky, nasty, and punching people in the face.

The Godsend object is a cliché end of the universe gadget although there is a funny bit where two characters banter back and forth if the name is “God’s End” or “God Send”. Also, it is utilized at the finale that fixes a potential continuity hole with the Trek universe and a really big explosion involving a talking doll. There are invaders from the evil mirror universe where Georgiou originated and she was the one who created the Godsend in the first place, is literally past bad decisions coming back to haunt her. Liao as San is one of those bad decisions. They get in a brutal fight at the end which has some dramatic payoffs.

Another way Section 31 feels like a TV pilot is the quirky supporting team, although a few of them die before the movie is over which usually doesn’t happen when introducing a supporting cast. Richardson’s Quasi has fun quips although he doesn’t use his shapeshifting power a lot, but he does use his ability in an interesting way like to catch someone when they’re falling. Zeph the mech guy has an unexpected plot development, and the sultry Deltan lady is unceremoniously disposed of early on. Rohl as Rachel Garret is a stick in the mud by the book officer that Trek fans would notice because she is later a Captain of the Enterprise. Sahar gets a convoluted Trek history backstory that doesn’t matter for this single film but would probably be used more if there was a series. The most interesting supporting character is Ruygrok as Futz the “Vulcan” who is a synthetic body for an incredibly tiny alien driving him, cool idea even if they sorta ripped it off from Men in Black but he has a lot of funny and weird moments. Even at the end of the movie when it looks like he has been dispatched they bring back a different version of him for future installments.

Star Trek: Section 31 never quite overcomes it’s “made for TV” feel, and sometimes it pushes a bit too hard for tonally different Star Trek. But there are some fun moments with some good banter, with cool action scenes or plot twists throughout, as the movie flies along. Seeing Yeoh as Georgiou is always a blast because she plays it so entertainingly campy. There is a lot better Star Trek than this, and sometimes this is a bit too wacky to fit into the universe neatly, but it is entertaining if one feels the different style.