When you get enough Star Trek fans in a room, the conversation inevitably turns to which movie in the series is the worst. The consensus is that The Final Frontier, Insurrection, and Nemesis are fighting over the unwanted trophy. Each film has a small group of fans who champion the extremes, boldness, and tone of each film. (I like to watch The Final Frontier every five years, mostly to luxuriate in Jerry Goldsmith’s music.) Thankfully, all such discussions are over with Star Trek: Section 31 It will end once and for all on January 24, 2024, when it is released. Debuted on Paramount+.
The worst thing you can do is have a memorable Star Trek name.
Spoilers for Star Trek: Section 31 follow.
Star Trek: Section 31 is a streaming TV movie that focuses on Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh), who left Star Trek: Discovery. The series was originally greenlit in 2019, but for various reasons it was stuck in development hell until 2022. Meanwhile, showrunners Bo-young Kim and Erica Lippoldt, as well as credited writer Craig Sweeney, sweated the idea. Director Olatunde Osunsanmi told SFX Magazine (via Trek Movies) that Sweeney would ultimately write (and re-write) the project seven times, first as a TV series and then as a movie. Trek boss Alex Kurtzman was eager to capitalize on the 2022 Academy Award win for Yeo’s Everything Everywhere All at Once to begin production.
The result is a movie that feels like a hastily cut series into a feature length, even without knowing its pre-production backstory. It’s not disjointed, but it suffers from the same problem that ruined Discovery: you’re looking at an adapted synopsis rather than a script. There are thematic beats and plot beats that rhyme with each other, but there’s no essence there that ties them all together. It just happens.
It’s no wonder the plot (credited to Kim and Lippold) is very close to the kind of “and then this happens” you’d be warned about in Film School 202. Many of the key moments in this movie were made without you knowing at all, and you’ll be left asking. To care about a character you just met and don’t really like. There’s a terrifying scene at the end in which the two, who never gave the impression they’re into each other, are forced to hold hands and stare into impending doom. While the pair in question share a backstory with each other, there is no hint that they are anything more than friends or even just people who work together at work.
Michael Gibson/Paramount+
Weak material doesn’t really matter when you have a cast that can elevate what they’re given, but it hurts to say this, but that’s not Michelle Yeoh. Yeoh is a phenomenal performer who has delivered many underrated performances during his long and distinguished career. However, she made a name for herself by playing characters with deep interiority, rather than high-altitude villains who chew up the scenery. It’s hard to believe that Yoh is the kind of monster Giorgio needs in Star Trek, even if she’s in a redemption phase. Rather than shrinking the scenes and stakes to accommodate her talent, the film widens the canvas and expects Yeo to fill in spaces that weren’t needed.
The rest of the gang is similarly underserved due to the film’s content and sheer amount of confusion, giving them little time to get over it. Having six members of the Section 31 team before we meet Giorgio means that the characters other than her are thumbnail sketches at best. Some are brooding, some are “funny,” some are formal, some are robotic, some are hot, and some have terrible Oirish accents.
If Section 31 were a series, I might forgive the off-topic introduction, knowing that I might end up playing and growing attached to these characters over the next few weeks. That doesn’t work because in the cinematic space, shocking developments like early character deaths or sudden heel turns at moments of crisis to raise the stakes don’t work. Worse, the dialogue is often indecipherable crosstalk that feels more like disastrous improvisation than useful characterization. Or just the characters who keep reminding the audience of the basic points of the story, such as the fact that Georgiou was once a villain.
Olatunde Osunsanmi’s productions have always strived to grab attention, using flashy pans, tilts, moves, and Dutch angles. Annoyingly, all his talent leaves him only when he has to film people talking in a room. Those scenes always default to standard TV media. Worse, his action direction completely loses any sense of the space we’re looking at or the story being told. There is a final punch fight, and the audience has to realize who has the MacGuffin at various points. But everything is so disjointed that you’ll have a hard time understanding what’s going on where. So why bother getting involved in it?
And that’s before you get to the fact that Osunanmi chose to film all of Michelle Yeoh’s fight scenes in close-up. When Yeoh is in action, we want to maximize her talent and give her and her fellow performers a chance to showcase it as well. Still, it’s these moments that the camera pulls in firmly. It’s what looks like a digital crop with digital motion blur thrown in. All of this serves to obscure Yaw’s talent and drain the energy from the action.
Jan Tis/Paramount+
Before watching Section 31, I rewatched related Deep Space Nine stories and questioned their ethics. In that series, I asked again and again how far someone would, can, or should go to protect their ideals and worldview. The Federation is often portrayed as a paradise of sorts, but does paradise need its own extrajudicial killing squad? It’s not a sinister-cool plot, it’s Starfleet and its employees whose very existence is at stake. It was a thought experiment to ask what it means when you’re on the brink. If there’s one thing Section 31 doesn’t do, it’s great. And if you think so, then your values are at least half in conflict with Star Trek’s founding principles.
Unfortunately for us, Alex Kurtzman, the head of Trek, is extremely uncool that Starfleet has its own space murder squad, given that they repeatedly appear under his watch. I think so. Kurtzman makes no secret of his love for stories set in the War on Terror, which remains as unwelcome here as it did with Star Trek: Into Darkness. Sadly, Section 31 is a mindless, dark Star Trek with punches in the face, forced interrogations, cheek stabs, and eye gouges. Basically, aside from a number of flaws as a work of cinema, it’s not fun to sit down and watch.
What was most telling that Section 31 wasn’t going to be a winner was when Rob Kasinski, who plays Section 31’s Zeff, started making excuses early on. He said (via ScreenRant) that he was worried that the film would be poorly received, given that all fans want is “just 1,000 more episodes of TNG.” To be honest, there are a lot of fans who just want to be fed a conveyor belt of “member berries.” These are the people who thought season 3 of Picard was good and are eagerly awaiting Star Trek: Legacy. I, and many others, want something halfway thoughtful, funny, and well-written, and this is none of those things.
I keep checking my notes for positives, but the best I can say is that the costumes co-created with Balenciaga are really nice. It’s a little too Star Wars-y, but I like how Trek focuses on texture and tailoring in a way that’s better than the current athleisure trend. Oh, and the CGI is competent and doesn’t fall below the standards set by Strange New Worlds. There are two good things about Section 31.
Basically, I don’t know who this is meant for. It’s just too crazy for people who want to put Star Trek in any kind of thoughtful position. There’s none of the fan-service onanism that Star Trek: Legacy panders to the crowd. Not shamelessly brutal for a gang that wants Star Trek to be 24 years old. And for those who want to pet Michelle Yeoh in a variety of gorgeous outfits, it’s not high camp enough. Remember how Warner Bros. junked some movies for tax breaks? I wish Paramount’s accountants had been just as ruthless here.
