Star Trek: Section 31

This turned out to be a fun movie that has some good continuity with Discovery's season 3 and the whole story of Georgiou making good. It's going to take more than this, but the tragedy of her life informs her dark past, and in finding Alok, a kindred spirit she finds fit to lead her, she's on her path to doing it. There are many more adventures here that could come. This is a big win for P+

Well, by now you've seen the split reviews, they are right down the middle (even here they are at 50%). I think a lot of it is preconception, some is knee jerk and certain percentage are the small handful of negative trekkies who have 8 years of new trek where everything has been critically praised and liked by fans, to now when there's finally one thing that's so DIFFERENT, and not as well received that they bandwagon jump on the negativity. ITS NOT THAT BAD!!

What does it do? It's squarely in the Star Trek universe, lots of things are familiar in the setting: aliens, background, easter eggs, etc.

Does it have an ethos? Sure, we have a third part to Georgiou's ever-growing redemption story. In this movie we SEE that she not only grew up in a parallel universe with a built-in proclivity for evil, she also is brainwashed in a contest to become ruler, with dire consequences if she doesn't participate. She didn't stand a chance in this context. She became a brutal ruler.

Her change comes as she leaves the influence of that universe in Discovery season 1, then again in Season 3, where she changes and regrets her past self, and in Section 31, she removes herself from taking part in the universe in her casino...no temptation to rule, etc. But events transpire, she sees another way to redeem herself and has a commander in Alok of Section 31 that has a similar past that she can relate to. Then she finds a connection to her past, no longer is it psychological and internal, it's her very material ex-love she so cruelly wronged and thought was dead. This part with San is a Greek tragedy. We sympathize with San, but know Georgiou is changing we want it to work out...it simply can't and doesn't.

To be sure, Georgiou has a long way to go...the audience and universe needs a lot more to forgive her, but now understanding more about her past, we might have a shot at it. In Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry said that no individual or alien is totally evil or unredeemable, and absolutes are not a useful way of determining that. This is her ongoing story.

Finnaly, they broke out of the old mold, refreshing, great action and a tiny bit of the always rumored section 31 secrets revealed after so many years

This was Star Trek as I always wanted it to be. Just the coolness and fun without the morally, political correct BS. Fuzz and the emotionally imbalanced Vulcan alone would be worth a series. I loved seasons 1+2 of Discovery for that reason before it got fully retard and went down the woke-train. Please more of this!

They made it. A Star Trek that doesn't feel like fanfiction. No token Klingon, no famous retiree being dragged in front of the camera, no plot-elements that are just callbacks to other, better things, no forced relationships that make you think the Federation is secretly a monarchy, no things that exist solely to pander to "fans" who think everything should be TNG; this is - in a way - the anti-Picard, and it's great the way it is. (actually, it's still a revenge plot... we need to work on that)

Don't get me wrong, the Mirror Universe was an interesting one-off thing for the classic series and should have stayed there. The characters are zany, the plot is a little stupid, it reminds me of that one RPG session nobody took seriously, but it's its own thing, and it does it well.

More of that please.

I liked it. Is it classic Star Trek? No, it isn't. And it's also no new story, it just set up in the Star Trek universe. I'm open to more of it.

This was great fun... a funny mix of mission impossible and oceans 8, star trek spy heist action. And done well.

I'd be sad if this turns out to be the send off final time we see Philipa Georgiou because it's not worthy of that but it's very fun in it's own right. 

not bad film seemed bit fast could of been longer but ok

This is a 7-Star movie, as long as you don't watch it and expect it to feel like anything from the Star Trek universe.

Well, once again fans have struck with their dislike of the movie, just because it does not strictly adhere to the canon of the TV Shows,

So, first of all, what you have to get is that this movie is not _stricto sensu_ canon, it was intended from the start and the planned series, was supposed to be explaining why section 31 was so different of the rest of the Federation goody two-shoes attitude, and put its evolution in context, but Covid happened, production delays happened, merging and rebranding happened and _CBS all access_ became _Paramount+_, with more Star trek shows in their catalogue, and the corporate gods, slashed the planned TV show, but so that the investments already in place wouldn't be a total loss, gave us instead this 'compact' version.

So yes, the character developments are reduced to nothing, (the movie would have been an entire season) the script takes shortcuts, and the whole thing seems a little hurried and missing flesh, there's no question about that.

But on it own merits, if you put it out of the larger Federation context, the film itself is not bad at all, It's a great action movie, with plenty of combat, fun, and space battles, I personally enjoyed it.

I do regret however that the TV show it could have been never saw the light of day. As it is, it's more a promising pilot than a real movie .

Still I would advise the prospective viewer to just try and disconnect it from the rest of the star Trek universe and try to enjoy it on its own, as the UFO it is :)