
Wow--Star Trek has gotten very strange! Thankfully, I did see Star Trek: Picard, which was exactly what it should have been. But this TV movie is crazy. Any Trek vibe is very fleeting.
Section 31 is sloppily constructed with strange video game-style exposition and inexplicable chapter names. The feeling is more Doctor Who or maybe Farscape--a lot of concepts (and money) flying around everywhere.
Thankfully, there is Michelle Yeoh, who must carry the whole unwieldy jumble. And make not mistake: Michelle nails it. The first half is much better than the second, because she is given control of the spotlight as an other-dimensional despot "emperor". For a while, she gets to wear the clothes and throw the attitude and own her black market brothel with sheer presence.
Then, there's a plot. An ad hoc crew of colorful characters from various sci-fi traditions: a shapeshifter, a time traveler, a robot, a guy in a mech suit, a microscopic lifeform, an erotic empath... It's just way too much tied ever-so-loosely together. What universe are we in?
But through it all, Ms. Yeoh abides, even if she does become pretty one-note by the end. Still and all, this baffling mad-lib sci-fi is worth watching just for her. (And, really, what other reason would you possibly have for watching?)