Movie Review: Star Trek: Section 31 (2025)

Star Trek: Section 31 (2025) directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi

Emperor Phillipa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) is running an out-of-the-way nightclub where some more or less illegal activity happens. She is happy to accommodate such customers, so naturally she is suspicious when a group from Section 31, a black-ops group in the United Federation of Planets, shows up. They are there to intercept a weapon deal between some customers. The weapon in question is from Phillipa's alternate universe where she was a ruthless dictator bent on preserving her own station and power. She knows how awful the weapon is and reluctantly teams up with Section 31 to stop the deal from happening. The situation spins out of control, requiring a lot of improvising and compromising as they work to keep the weapon out of the wrong hands. 

This stand-alone movie suffers from a lot of problems. The cast has a lot of underdeveloped characters who are subsequently unconvincing in their behavior. Georgiou is supposed to be tortured by her history but that does not come off convincingly. As a star vehicle for Yeoh, she does not get a lot of dynamic acting to do and her fight scenes are pretty tame by Michelle Yeoh standards. The plot is not very convincing either, with the introduction of a mole in the team. This development should be interesting but comes of more like they were padding out the run time of the movie (which is an hour and thirty-five minutes, so not long). I struggled to care about the characters and about what was going on. Also, the tone and look are not very Star Trek--it is much darker and pessimistic, which I understand is the new fashion for the shows going now. I just have no interest in this grittier, "more realistic" Star Trek storytelling.

Not recommended.