Warning: This post contains spoilers for Section 31, the Paramount+ movie streaming now.
Let me start by saying I never like writing negative reviews. I always try to find something positive about a movie or a series or even a particularly bad episode. And I started watching Section 31, the new Paramount+ movie starring Michelle Yeoh, with that intention. I had high hopes for the movie based upon everything I'd read from the director, from Alex Kurtzman, and even the actors. Unfortunately, I struggled to find the positives in this almost one and a half hour film.
Michelle Yeoh is back as Emperor Philippa Georgiou, and yet, she isn't. She bears little resemblance to the Georgiou we met in the Terran Empire during Star Trek: Discovery. Physically, of course, she still looks the same, but, in all other ways, she is a shell of the fearsome character that made everyone shake in their boots.
We're supposed to believe that after reigning as an Emperor of the Terran Empire, she chooses to open a nightclub when she leaves Discovery instead of finding another way to utilize her incomparable battle skills and intelligence. Though she'd softened somewhat aboard the Discovery, Georgiou was never one to back down from a fight, and no one can really believe she would be content usking her skillset to entertain.
The movie introduces us to characters we know nothing about, who try a little too hard to be funny. But the humor falls flat, especially when everyone is talking over one another. It's like a children's playground where everyone is trying to be the loudest. And, unfortunately, they were quite one-dimensional so no one was ever strong enough to stand out.
The plot is one we've seen before, and, unfortunately, Section 31 doesn't do it better. A weapon of mass destruction falls into the wrong hands, and it's up to the Section 31 team to stop it from obliterating everything and everyone. But, in the meantime, they have to find the mole in their midst first. There's a red herring as always, and when we find out who the actual mole is, it's hard to be surprised because we don't know enough about the characters. We don't get a chance to develop any kind of feelings for them.
This movie was supposed to be a redemption arc for Georgiou, but battling a character from her past and shedding a few tears over his death doesn't really equate to redemption. Yes, we get to see how Georgiou got her start as the Emperor, but not in any way that makes sense. There's no explanation for her actions other than she's fighting to become the Emperor at the beginning of the movie. So we don't really see her origins, and I was hoping to see what led her from a child to the Emperor she became.
Overall, there's not much to make this movie stand out from any other B or C-rated sciene fiction movies on the market. This one doesn't feel or look like Star Trek, and without the title, it could simply be a movie about an intelligence agency in the galaxy who recruit mismatched characters to stop a disaster. Unfortunately, Section 31 isn't a movie I'd recommend.