Star Trek is one of the greatest pop culture franchises on the planet. It has been running for nearly 60 years, spanning more than 700 television episodes across ten series and thirteen—now fourteen—movies. It is a ubiquitous cultural touchstone that many people hold dear, this critic included. The beauty of the franchise is that it works as a framework for nearly any kind of story in any genre. We have seen Westerns, courtroom dramas, fantasy adventures, horror stories, musicals, and action movies, and they all work within the framework of a crew on a ship, exploring the galaxy and the furthest reaches of human potential. Now, in Star Trek: Section 31, the franchise returns to a genre it has had mixed success with: action.
Michelle Yeoh stars as the former Mirror Universe empress Phillipa Georgiou, who has settled into life as a space station night club owner. The space station in question, the Baraam, is located well outside of federation space and is—to borrow a phrase from a different franchise—a hive of scum and villainy. As the story opens, a team of covert misfit operatives working for Section 31, Star Fleet’s black ops organization, have arrived at the station to make contact with Georgiou. They want to enlist her help to find a bad guy and recover the item that will become the film’s MacGuffin. Things, of course, go wrong, and then she and the team have to find a way to work together to overcome the odds and save the galaxy from said bad guy.

If it sounds like it’s laden with cliches and tropes, that’s because it is. That isn’t necessarily a problem if you have a compelling story, a few solid performances, and a film directed and edited for maximum impact. But friends, I am here to tell you that Star Trek: Section 31 is, at best, an incredibly mixed bag and mostly a mess.
To explain it might be easier to divide the film into sections, which is what the film itself does anyway. Each of its three acts is presented with its discreet title and plays out like a separate episode of a series. This might be the biggest problem with the film. Section 31 was originally conceived as a series but was then squashed down to fit a single, 100-minute runtime, which means that the plot and characters have precious little time to breathe. The first act features flashbacks, exposition dumps, and editing so frantic that when the action kicks off it becomes difficult to follow. Michelle Yeoh is a legendary physical performer, but the filmmakers have no interest in letting us see what she can do, opting for close-in shooting and fast cuts to make things feel urgent.
The good news is that after the first act, the film gets substantially better. The second act has our heroes figuring out how to work together to save themselves and the universe, and the personality clashes give the plot some flavour and give us a chance to get to know the characters. Yeoh is in fun full vamp mode again as Georgiou, and Omari Hardwick does a good job as the team leader who shares her “good guy with a checkered past” origin story. Kacey Rohl has perhaps the most memorable and complete arc as Rachel Garrett (future captain of the Enterprise-C!), who starts as a by-the-book Star Fleet liaison and slowly learns when and how to break the rules. She’s fun, and she also has the most fun with the costuming.

The real standouts though are Sam Richardson and Robert Kazinsky as Quasi and Zeph, the brains and the muscle of the team, respectively. The former is a fast-talking chameloid (the shapeshifters introduced in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country) and the latter is a dim-witted brute enhanced to the gills with cybernetics. They each have the best timing and the best lines, and they steal every scene they are in, both together and apart.
Another great aspect is the production design. The costumes all feel unique and interesting and well suited to the characters that are wearing them. The makeup department is having a blast creating many alien species, and the ships and technology are absolutely stunning. This is especially true of the Baraam space station, which appears to be a mechanical pinwheel in space, and the Bad Guys ship, which looks like a souped-up, futuristic, cherry red hot rod.
Is this enough to save the film? The third act sees the team confronting the bad guys and though there are plenty of twists and turns, many you may see coming if you’ve ever watched a movie before. It’s tough, because by this time you will certainly care about the characters you’re on this ride with, but it may be hard to fully invest in a story that you have almost certainly seen before.

Mixed bag though it is, it’s difficult to not respect what the film is trying to do. In many ways, Section 31 has more in common with Star Wars and Guardians of the Galaxy than it does with Star Trek itself. There are no starships, no admirals or captains to direct the rag-tag heroes on their quest. They just have to figure it out for themselves and fly by the seat of their pants on a garbage scow of a ship while they do it. It’s a fun concept, but the rushed story and crammed-together structure let the whole production down.
The film also opens up any number of questions about Section 31 itself. The super secret organization was first introduced in Deep Space 9 as a shadowy cabal, but spends much of the run time of this film operating overtly and in the light, far closer to something like Mission: Impossible’s IMF than the manipulative spy outfit that no one is supposed to know exists.
All of this together means that unfortunately, while there are things to like in Section 31, it ultimately doesn’t work. There are a couple of great performances, some great lines, and some cool-looking tech, but that is not enough to overcome the rushed story or uneven structure. It’s a shame, too, as these characters deserve to be seen again, but in a story that does them far more justice.
Star Trek: Section 31 premieres January 24 on Paramount+.