Everybody Was Mok'Bara Fighting [Review: Star Trek Section 31]

A team of Section 31 special agents on the hunt for a rumoured superweapon must persuade space pub landlord, ex-Section 31 agent and even-more-ex-Mirror Universe evil dictator Phillipa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) to ally with them. It turns out this is not the only thing linking Georgiou and the weapon.

In Star Trek history, Section 31 is the Federation's secret service, sent to carry out covert, deniable missions that might be seen as clashing with the Federation's ideology or laws - a lot like Special Circumstances in Iain M. Banks' Culture novels, or perhaps the secret services of our own world. Section 31 first appeared in Deep Space 9 episodes. They have cropped up in Enterprise, Picard, Lower Decks and some of the recent films, and were central to the plot of Discovery, which also introduced Emperor Georgiou.

The Section 31 movie was in many ways not what I had expected. The films and episodes above give an impression of a sinister and super-efficient spy agency, possibly with a mild black leather fetish. It's a little surprising that the team of special agents in this movie, supposedly Section 31's elite, are actually a bunch of comical, clumsy, arguing misfits. How do they ever actually get anything done? And how did powered-armour-obsessive Zeph and work experience girl Rachel, in particular, qualify for the Star Trek equivalent of 00 status?

However this description misses the point of Section 31, which is really all about Georgiou - and about Michelle Yeoh. I first saw Yeoh in action in the mind-blowing martial arts film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Yeoh is a talented actor who has appeared in a wide range of roles, not least Everything Everywhere All At Once, but Section 31 is designed to put her martial arts talents centre stage. This is an action-heavy movie in which no opportunity is missed for fantastic, joyous hand to hand combat - unusual in the phaser-heavy world of Star Trek.

Section 31 may not be the best Star Trek movie (obviously that's Galaxy Quest) but it's certainly the best Star Trek martial arts movie.

Score: Three stars out of five.

All movies reviewed on The Sci-Fi Gene blog are awarded three stars out of five.

Hot Chip [Review: Upgrade]

Score: 3 out of 5 stars

All movies reviewed on the Sci-Fi Gene blog are given a score of 3 out of 5 stars

Grey Trace (played by Logan Marshall-Green, and yes Grey Trace is a name) is a car mechanic in the near future. This is something of a rarity when most people seem to be digital workers, but he fills a niche repairing and upgrading retro cars belonging to rich collectors. He and his wife Asha (Melanie Vallejo) return one such car to reclusive billionaire programmer Eron Keen (Harrison Gilbertson). Eron, Eron… where have I heard a name sounding like that belonging to a rich and eccentric tech mogul? No, I musk be mistaken. Anyway, on their way home Grey and Asha's self-driving car is hacked and diverted to a deserted scrapyard where they are attacked by a gang of thugs, leaving Asha dead and Grey paralysed and left for dead. He is mysteriously rescued by Eron who offers him a  cure for paralysis in the form of STEM, an experimental AI chip implanted into his spine. When the chip wakes up and starts talking to him things get a bit weird.

With it's near-future setting and speculation about human-computer interfaces and our dependence on technology, Upgrade may look like an indie science-fiction movie. Don't be fooled. This is actually a well-developed setting and backstory for what is really a violent martial arts thriller about Grey's quest for revenge. When taking on the gangsters Grey gives STEM temporary consent to take over his body and execute impossibly deadly moves - the result is a more lethal and messy version of Jackie Chan's The Tuxedo.

Upgrade is a great example of a movie that is deliberately not a blockbuster. The CGI effects are content to set the scene, add to the darkness of the atmosphere, and then sit back and appreciate the nicely choreographed action with everyone else rather than trying to hog the limelight. The fighting and action scenes do hot up as the plot progresses and Grey comes up against tougher and tougher opponents, but there's no CGI-laden boss battles, everything stays small scale and human, and it's this perfect balancing act that earns Upgrade the ultimate accolade of three Sci-Fi Gene stars.