Star Trek Section 31: Phasers to Shun

The anvil of justice is planted firm, and fate who makes the sword does the forging in advance.

–Aeschylus

Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh, the former emperor of the Star Trek Mirror Universe Terran empire, worked for Section 31 for a time being before changing her identity and disappearing. Section 31 is a secret “black ops” division of Starfleet whose mission is to protect the United Federation of Planets through unsanctioned means. When an unknown weapon appears on the black market, Alok (Omari Hardwick) and his team are tasked with finding Georgiou and asking her for help on one last mission. Alok’s team consists of Lt. Rachel Garrett (Kacey Rohl) who is the Starfleet representative with a strong moral compass; Quasi (Sam Richardson), a Chameloid who has the ability to shapeshift; Fuzz (Sven Ruygrok), a micro sized alien that inhabits the mechanical Vulcan body which he can leave to infiltrate other mechanical apparatuses; Zeph (Robert Kazinsky) a human who lives and works in a mechanical exoskeleton; Melle (Humberly Gonzalez), a Deltan who has an irresistible magnetism that she uses to her advantage. Georgiou is now the owner of a space-station nightclub / resort and through flashbacks we learn everything she had to do to become emperor which included killing her own family and disfiguring the man she loved, San (James Hiroyuki Liao) who then had to swear a lifelong oath to be her.  Georgiou agrees to help Alok, and their plan works until a mysterious masked figure interrupts their mission and steals the weapon, but not before Georgiou learns what it is and her past and present collides.  Now stranded on a planet the team discovers that one amongst them is a mole with everyone being a suspect.  As the story unfolds, they begin to trust each other and work as a team which allows them to achieve their final goal, but at what price? In the end, the existing members form a new team willing to work for Section 31 and take their missions from Control (Jamie Lee Curtis).

Star Trek: Section 31 is the fourteenth film in the Star Trek Universe and takes place in the “lost era” between the time-period of the Original Series and Star Trek: The Next Generation.  It is the first film to not feature any incarnation of the U.S.S. Enterprise, although Rachel Garrett will become Captain of the Enterprise – C so there is still a loose tie into the franchise’s main vessel. Section 31 is a direct spinoff of Star Trek: Discovery and began streaming on Paramount+ on January 24, 2025.  It was directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi with a script by Craig Sweeny.  Originally it was meant to be a series but was later changed to a film format.  So far, the movie has received generally unfavorable reviews with Rotten Tomatoes giving it an average rating of 4.4/10 and Metacritic a 36/100.  Daniel Cooper of Engadget called the film “unwatchably bad” and James Whitbrook of Gizmodo’s called it a poor action movie with awkward and jarring pacing.

I found the film to be 50/50 good and bad, I am split right down the middle. The movie opens with a paraphrasing or an edited literary quote from ancient Greek writings with the original quote by Aeschylus quoted at the top of the article. The meaning of which as it relates to this story is up for interpretation, but could mean that fate puts people where they need to be for a purpose, so The Guardian does not send Philippa back to this period by accident, but because she is needed to stop the Godsend weapon from being used or to just be a part of Section 31 during this era in order for the rest of history as we know it to unfold. The pacing of the film is off, and the overall rhythm is clumsy and awkward.  It is visually stunning with some amazing special effects and fight sequences which both Michelle Yeoh and Omari Hardwick excel at. The music is a bit too contemporary with some of the lyrics referencing things that a 24^th century inhabitant wouldn’t know about or even care about. The characters themselves are such a mixed bag and the dialogue in the beginning is forced and unnatural and used contemporary slang that I wouldn’t necessarily imagine these characters spewing.

Michelle Yeoh is a treat to watch, and her lavish character matches her wonderful outfits.  Omari’s Alok is a likeable leader (or co-leader since Philippa begins to take over that position) with Kacey Rohl and Sam Richardson also being able to connect with the audience even through the rough dialogue.  I wish we would have gotten more of Zeph played by the gorgeous Robert Kazinsky and Melle who we barely get to see anything of.  What I could have done with a lot less of is Fuzz played with an Irish accent by Sven Ruygrok who was just plain annoying.  The actor isn’t bad, but his characterization in this film just doesn’t resonate with me or most people I have talked to who have watched the movie.  The other thing that just sort of gnaws at the back of your brain, is this just doesn’t feel like Gene Roddenberry’s universe that he created and there is little reference to it in general.  We have a single Starfleet character, but she never wears the uniform, and the general vibe just doesn’t mesh with what we know. I get wanting to distance yourself from what has been done before, but if you are going to include “Star Trek” in the title, it should at least feel like it could exist in that universe.  Overall, this is supposed to be a movie, but it felt much more like a pilot episode of a series and I am not sure, with what the critics are saying, if it should be picked up, but on the flip side, I enjoyed it for the most part and wouldn’t mind seeing these characters again.