I just watched the teaser trailer for the new Section 31 movie coming out next year, and I have to say it was just awful. Truly awful.
[ Possibly Some Spoilers Ahead ]
There were just so many jump cuts, one liners, and musical stings that it made the teaser nothing more than a confusing mish mash of sequences. I mean, I get that a teaser trailer is supposed to tease, but this honestly didn’t tease me so much as mock me, and then shit on my glasses.
It is a repellent trailer to me, because the concept is generally repellent to me. In the Star Trek Discovery mirror universe, Emperor Georgiou was a genocidal ruler, who ate sentient beings, slaughtered millions, and ruled with an iron fist. Then she was transferred back to the prime Discovery universe, where we got to enjoy Michelle Yeoh being fun and engaging.
This, for some reason, let to the notion that she would be good in a Section 31 series, which ended up becoming a streaming movie on Paramount Plus, and is set for release in 2025.
Who is this movie made for? I love Michelle Yeoh, but the character of Emperor Georgiou is an irredeemable one because of the very nature of who and what she was and is in the Star Trek universe. Some might feel that she should be given a pass because, for example, Major Kira was a terrorist and she was portrayed in a positive light, but there’s a power dynamic here that must be understood.
Kira was a terrorist, yes. She was a terrorist against an oppressive occupation, just like the underground that fought against the Nazis were technically terrorists. Georgiou, on the other hand, is space Hitler. Michelle Yeoh is an amazing actress and charismatic as hell, and that’s why people like her, but the truth is they’re trying to build a popular movie off of the idea of Space Hitler working for the equivalent of the CIA.
I just don’t see it working, and if the trailer is any indication, I honestly find the whole idea of turning her into a bad girl / bad bitch with an ultra “girl boss” vibe to be horrific and off-putting. Who wants to back a girl boss with a rap sheet of mass slaughter?
Some villains turned heroes do share some of their old traits, but generally want to change to become better people, but we saw in Discovery that Georgiou loves being who she is, is not at all repentant of her past, and only has a soft spot for Michael because she thinks of her as a daughter.
No, just no. I think they’re going about this all the wrong way, and this teaser trailer just hits all of the wrong beats for me, all of the wrong vibes, the wrong message, the wrong everything. It doesn’t feel like a group of good hearted people doing what is necessary to protect lives, it doesn’t give that feeling at all.
Hell, there are movies where the stars of the film are the bad guys, and even as the bad guys they have a level of nuance where they show there is goodness in them, too, but I don’t see it here. I see choppy action sequences with a guy in a power suit, some catty dialogue of people who seem to not give a shit about much of anything, and some jump cuts to keep the odd mix moving along to an unsatisfying conclusion.
Who is this movie for? For people who love Section 31? For people who love Space Hitler? For women who want a cannibalistic, sociopathic girl boss? Fuck me.
.Red
