Episode 31 Is the Least Action Movie, and the Worst of Star Trek One

Now there are 14 Star Trek films over the past 50 years but the franchise has always had a history of struggling with films on the big screen. From the animations of the original show to the Kelvin Timeline reboot, Star Trek has always been focused on the question of how you turn TV shows that boast of speeches and meetings of scientific ideas into a blockbuster channel that creates interest in scientific events. You can Star Trek yet Star Trek in such a place? This week is the arrival of Section 31 on Paramount+another question is boldly asked instead: what if a Star Trek the film was no longer interested in being a Star Trek movie or be something more interesting?

Section 31 he took a long way to become one of them the first TV comedy about Star Trek‘s Streaming era after DiscoveryThe first season, before disappearing into the shadows and re-emerging a few years later as a movie vehicle now-Oscar winner Michelle Yeohthe difficult journey was the most difficult for the duration of his two-hour journey. He sang Yeo as him Discovery Philipa Georgio – former King of A journey‘s alternate mirror universehe was re-examined and gradually redeemed during his time in the show before being sent to unknown times to live a new life—the film follows Georgiou as he is forced to cross paths with the titular agents. black spy agency entered first Deep Space Nineand gave way to a dangerous journey beyond the borders of Federation space and the bonds of its bloody past.

That group is made up of a unique mix of characters—led by the upright Alok (Omari Hardwick); his right-hand man is the powerful, mechsuit-wearing Zeph (Rob Kazinsky); shapeshifting team member Quasi (Sam Richardson); Deltan operative Melle (Humberly Gonzalez); monster card Fuzz (Sven Ruygrok); and their Starfleet commander Rachel Garrett (Kacey Rohl, playing Tricia O’Neill’s captain of the Companies-C from Next Generation‘s “Yesterday’s Enterprise”) who, along with Yeoh, spend the next several hours running, shooting, and leaping through the dangerous terrain of the galaxy. And that’s the vibe of Section 31: it’s a little bit about James Bond, etc Guardians of the Galaxy, if the latter series has forgotten to retain any sense of the sincerity that underlies its oddball humor. This would be great, if it weren’t for a Star Trek a movie called Section 31-which it is, so it’s not good, and we’ll find out why later. But if a Star Trek a movie called Section 31deals with all inquiries about its country and the specified organization that instead they will confine themselves to the artful, but ultimately beautiful sci-fi.

Section 31 it wants to awaken to the audience that its heroes are good, what they are doing is good, and how they all live up to our expectations. Star Trek heroes, they are all too cool to be so. Garrett, as the Starfleet commander in chief among them, has to navigate the line of the team stuck in the mud – “Starfleet is here to make sure no one does anything. kill,” he says in his opening scene—where he’s just too stupid to be part of a gang, which seems to mark one of the film’s biggest flaws. He is so excited, desperate even, speaking in such a strange tone that he forgets to ask anything interesting about his thoughts, or the purpose of filling his head like a video about Section 31 and its location. Star Trekthe world.

The film doesn’t deal with them all at once conflicting inheritance of Section 31 in Star Trek history, nor does it show that its heroes are treading the kind of morality that would make them anything but shameless heroes: that is presented to the audience to ensure that this is an unsanctioned and man-made group. that the work of the group is placed outside the boundaries of the space Federation, if Star Trek he hasn’t sent his regular heroes through countless journeys in the past. Section 31 they act as if all this is bold and new for the franchise, while at the same time ignoring the reality that would have made it more interesting: exploring what the people who live and breathe Episode 31 really think about the organization and its place inside. Federation, and what the price of protecting utopia from destruction can cost someone who is willing to twist those ideas.

If Star Trek is a series that prides itself on thinking big ideas and asking big questions, Section 31 he gets carried away with the little things, because it’s easier to tell dirty jokes than to think about the complex ideas behind his names that the series has already explored. All of this may sound like arrogance Section 31 for being a film it isn’t, and probably won’t be, but it shows the lack of interest that is felt throughout the film. The characters are so obscure that they can’t seem strange and interesting on the surface – no matter how good the director is, they are interestingly grounded, but so is the performance of Michelle Yeoh, as Georgiou gets a lot of the character of the film. . It sets up a series of spy-fi genres, from deception to deception and interrogation, but in a way that doesn’t really play with those tropes. Star Trekstability and more just to point them out where it bothers them The pacing is awkward and weird, moving from one moment to the next so quickly that the film doesn’t have its characters or the scenes of the plot to have any meaning. to give.

This indifference can be somewhat forgiven if Section 31 it was a great movie, but unfortunately it’s also available there. Few sequels always have an interesting twist, and yes, Yeoh enjoys all of them – there are many twists and turns, as some drag on longer than they deserve. But these exciting ideas are often marred by poor cinematography and editing that often obscures the action, leaving it empty.

All this I say that this is not the case Section 31 being different from what is expected Star Trekand therefore evil. Instead, it’s just a film that struggles to convey any kind of familiarity, always ignoring what it might establish with the masses. Star Trek license, regardless of whether it was different or similar. A movie that clocks in at just under two hours probably shouldn’t feel like a slog, but Section 31 it does not, without a guide surprising the listeners away from his work of anemia, or the meat that is in his bones for them to have and chew. In fact, beneath its skin-deep quirkiness, the only thing lurking in the shadows here isn’t a secretive, unethical espionage group: it’s a brilliant fantasy movie instead.

Star Trek: Episode 31 premieres on Paramount+ on Friday, January 24.

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