Shadows on the Wall | Star Trek: Section 31

Star Trek: Section 31

dir Olatunde Osunsanmi
scr Craig Sweeny
prd Ted Miller, Olatunde Osunsanmi
with Michelle Yeoh, Omari Hardwick, Sam Richardson, Kacey Rohl, Robert Kazinsky, Sven Ruygrok, James Hiroyuki Liao, Humberly Gonzalez, Joe Pingue, Miku Martineau, James Huang, Nikita Kim, Jamie Lee Curtis
release US/UK 24.Jan.25
25/US Paramount

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ruygrok, rohl, yeoh, kazinsky and hardwick

It's admirable to see the Star Trek franchise taken in an ambitious new direction here, combining comedy banter with frenetic action. On the other hand, what's missing will be surprising to fans, as the movie sidesteps thoughtful larger themes, character nuance and narrative momentum. Instead, this is a rather nutty Guardians of the Galaxy style romp with choppy action and very little in the way of a plot.

In a lawless corner of the galaxy, a team from the Federation's black ops unit Section 31 is searching for a mysterious weapon. For help, they recruit former ruthless emperor Philippa (Yeoh), who now runs a fabulous nightclub like a mafia boss. Realising that she has a history with this destructive device, Philippa heads off with Alok (Hardwick), Quasi (Richardson), Rachel (Rohl), Zeph (Kazinsky) and Fuzz (Ruygrok) to a garbage planet, where they confront a masked villain in a series of messy, twisty encounters that force Philippa to grapple with decisions from her grisly past.

Veering from the usual Star Trek complexity, snarky humour sets the tone, relying on action mayhem rather than character moments. So while the cast members bring personality to their roles, the generally frenzied pace makes it difficult to engage with them. And while the fight sequences look like they are sharply well choreographed to capture a sense of desperation, they are shot and edited into oblivion, becoming little more than incoherent visual noise.

Yeoh is clearly having a ball reprising the confident Philippa from Discovery while adding a whiff of outlaw cockiness. A brief prologue glimpses her harsh back-story, leading somewhat predictably to a confrontation with a close friend she left behind. Her likeable Section 31 cohorts are a mixed bag: Hardwick and Rohl offer steelier moments in between the nuttiness. Richardson and Kazinsky never get a chance to register as a shapeshifter and mecha-suited cohort, respectively. And Ruygrok's Fuzz is intriguingly conceived but given two wildly inexplicable accents.

As a story about a group of oddballs teaming up on a mission, there is plenty of potential here. And it's nice to see Star Trek try something in the action comedy genre for a change. Whether fans get on board with this is another question, because the story feels so oddly underdeveloped and the action set-pieces are so difficult to follow. A more compelling narrative, with some depth beneath the humour, might make us look forward to some future adventures for this ragtag bunch.

themes, language, violence 15.Jan.25

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