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Now it’s 14 Star Trek movies over the past 50 years and still the franchise has always had a reputation for a bit of a cinematic struggle on the big screen. From the film sequels of the original show to the Kelvin Timeline reboot, Star Trek The question of how you adapt a series that has always prided itself on conversational diplomacy and meetings of scientific minds into a blockbuster setting warrants a sci-fi spectacle. can Star Trek still be Star Trek in such an environment? With the arrival of this week Section 31 on Paramount+instead, another question is boldly asked: if a Star Trek the movie was not interesting either Star Trek movie or even a particularly interesting action?
Section 31 has come a long way from being one the first annoying TV spinoffs of Star Trekthen flow period DiscoveryIts first season before disappearing into the shadows and re-emerging years later as a film medium. now-Oscar winner Michelle Yeohthe bumpy ride was palpable throughout the nearly two-hour runtime. Yeoh in his role Discovery character Philipa Georgiou – ex-Emperor Trackof alternate mirror universere-examined and partially redeemed during his time on the show before being sent off to times unknown to live a new life – the film follows Georgiou as he is forced to cross paths with the agents of the title. a black ops spy organization presented first Deep Space Nineand offered a place on a dangerous mission on the edge of Federation space with ties to his bloody past.
This team is made up of an eclectic mix of characters – straight-laced Alok (Omari Hardwick); his right-hand man and strong arm, the mechsuit-wearing Zef (Rob Kazinsky); Quasi (Sam Richardson), the genius of the shape-shifting team; Deltan operative Melle (Humberly Gonzalez); wild card Fuzz (Sven Ruygrok); and Rachel Garrett (Kacey Rohl, playing a younger version of Tricia O’Neill’s captain) who oversees their Starfleet. Enterprise-From C The Next Generation“Yesterday’s Enterprise”), with Yeoh spending the next few hours running, shooting and snarking in a galaxy-threatening plot. And it really does the vibe Section 31: a little less James Bond and a little more Guardians of the Galaxy, if the latter series forgets to retain the sense of sincerity that underpins its quirky humor. That might be fine, if not Star Trek movie called Section 31– that’s not good, and we’ll explore why later. But as Star Trek movie called Section 31trading in any curiosity about his world and his world is an organization named after Instead surrounding itself with a slick but ultimately empty sci-fi aesthetic.
Section 31 wants to make its audience realize that its heroes are cool, that what they do is beautiful, and that they are even unusual for what we expect. Star Trek heroes are cooler because they are. Garrett, as the only official Starfleet officer among them, has to walk that line of the team stuck in the mud – “Starfleet is here to make sure no one else does. murder“,” he snaps during the opening scene – is also obnoxious enough to be one of the gang, emblematic of one of the film’s major flaws. He’s so interested, even desperate, in conveying his offbeat tone that he forgets to even remotely care about Section 31 and its place in the film, or the loaded intent behind its title. Star Trekuniverse of
Not once does the film communicate disputed inheritance Article 31 Star Trek history, nor does it ever show its heroes walking some kind of moral line that would make them anything but shameless heroes: what is presented to the audience most to hint at is that it is an existence unsanctioned by design. the team’s mission appears to be set outside the boundaries of Federation space Star Trek previously, countless of its ordinary heroes have not crossed the border. Section 31 as if it’s all bold and new for the franchise, while ignoring the reality of what might make it at least interesting: exploring what the people who live and breathe Section 31 actually think about the organization and its place within it. The cost of defending the Federation and utopia from destruction may be at any cost to anyone willing to bend those ideals.
If Star Trek is a series that prides itself on thinking about big ideas and asking big questions, Section 31 tends toward pettiness because it’s easier to crack an abrasive joke than to come to terms with the complex ideas behind the namesake that the series has explored in the past. All this may sound ridiculous Section 31 it is not, and perhaps never will be, a film, but it reflects the disinterest felt throughout the film. His characters are more nuanced than presented as quirky and fun on the surface – as good as the supporting cast is, it’s built around Michelle Yeoh’s entertaining but equally lackluster performance as Georgiou gets the bulk of the film’s character work. . It celebrates a number of spy-fi genre tropes, from betrayals to deception and interrogation, but in this way it does less than actually play with those tropes. Star Trek‘s setting and more is simply to mark them as you mark them. Its pacing is clumsy and jarring, moving from one moment to the next rather quickly, never allowing the film’s characters or plot to have anything meaningful. deliver.
This lack of interest is at least a little more forgivable Section 31 at least it was a good action movie, but unfortunately it drags there too. A few of the action sequences have some interesting ideas, and yes, Yeoh enjoys all of them – high kicks abound, even if some of them drag on a little longer than they’re necessarily meant to be. But these interesting ideas are often marred by sloppy cinematography and editing, which often obscures the action’s impact and leaves them empty.
All this is to say that this is not the case Section 31 is different than expected Star Trekand therefore bad. Instead, it’s just a film that struggles to convey any kind of meaningful identity for itself, ignoring what it might be building more broadly. Star Trek franchise, whether or not it ultimately contradicts or resembles it. A movie that clocks in at under two hours probably shouldn’t feel like a drag, but Section 31 neither with spectacle that distracts the audience from bloodless character work, nor with thematic meat on its bones to sit and chew on. Instead, beneath the skin-deep weirdness, the only thing lurking in the shadows here isn’t a clandestine, morally compromised spy ring: it’s just a pretty boring movie about it.
Star Trek: Episode 31 It begins streaming Friday, January 24 on Paramount+.
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