Star Trek: Section 31
Have to say that I was appropriately entertained by the latest movie in the Star Trek Universe, Section 31. It was not the dark drama sci-fi thriller I was hoping it would be – but entertaining. It held our attention until the end. In my opinion, Section 31 is to Star Trek what Skeleton Crew is to Star Wars. Not really the same thing, but enjoyable in its own right.
If you don’t want any spoilers, I suggest you stop reading now. You have been warned.
It had a little bit of everything built into it. If you have enjoyed the recent additions in the vein of Discovery, Strange New Worlds, and Picard, you probably liked this one too.
Jeff Russo’s score brought the ominous sounds reminiscent of Picard, Discovery, and Legion while seemingly borrowing from Goldsmith’s First Contact. I give it a 5/5.
Starship battles rate a bit lower though. 1/5. There was a small one at the end. There wasn’t an inkling of our traditional Starfleet vessels. One could argue that since the action occurred outside of Federation space, we shouldn’t expect any of the traditional ships we are accustomed to.
Fights/action sequences were pretty good. 4/5. Plenty of fighting from beginning to end but inconsistent. Having a device that puts the wearer of said device out of phase with everyone else was pretty cool. This way others couldn’t land a punch, kick, or phaser blast on target because target was out of phase. But how did Georgiou manage to dodge said attacks effortlessly and with the ability to walk through walls with same agility not manage to fall through the floor? When she dropped the Godsend weapon (which was wearing its own out-of-phase device) why did it not fall through the floor but it could get kicked into the next room and pass through those walls without any issues?
Section 31 features a young LT Garrett who will eventually become Captain of the Enterprise C, plus a nod to the original series inhabitants of the planet Cheron.
There was no real Section 31 darkness going on, but there was the origin story of Georgiou that was revealed where she ended up poisoning her family as teen in a final test to become emperor. You also see her betray her teen main crush at the time who will later be revealed as her nemesis for the movie. Very dark, so I give it a 3/4 for darkness.
As I stated earlier, I enjoyed it. Not what I thought it would be, but enjoyable nonetheless. The ending, while giving us closure, provided an opening to a continuing saga of Section 31’s origin story. I look forward to see what comes next out of this.