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.