Harry's Movie Check : Star Trek: Section 31 (2025)

Harry's Movie Review

Section 31 drops us into a secret Starfleet division tasked with protecting the Federation, with Michelle Yeoh's Emperor Philippa Georgiou leading the charge. The premise has potential. A character wrestling with her imperial past while operating in the moral gray areas of espionage could be interesting. Instead, the film settles into familiar spy thriller rhythms without the edge or conviction to make them sing.

Yeoh carries most of the weight here, and she does not disappoint in what amounts to a straightforward action role. She moves through scenes with the efficiency you expect from her, but the script does not give her much to work with beyond competence. The supporting cast, including Omari Hardwick and Sam Richardson, fills space without leaving much impression. Richardson gets moments of levity that land better than the film's attempted humor elsewhere. No one embarrasses themselves. No one surprises either.

Director Olatunde Osunsanmi keeps things moving at a brisk clip across 96 minutes, which is smart. The pacing never drags. What suffers is any sense of stakes or real consequence. The action sequences feel functional rather than inventive, and the film never lingers long enough on character choices to make them matter. The tone stays middle of the road throughout, never leaning into the darker spy angles the premise suggests.

Walking out, I felt less disappointed than deflated. The film does what it sets out to do without breaking anything, but it also does not do much that sticks with you. For a character with as much baggage as Georgiou, you expect the script to dig deeper into the contradictions. Instead, Section 31 treats her story as background noise to the plot mechanics. It is fine. Sometimes fine is enough, but not here.