Starship Troopers 3 Movie Review

*repost from 07/22/2008*

Directed by Edward Neumeier

Starring: Casper Van Dien, Jolene Blalock, Stephen Hogan, Boris Kodjoe and Marnette Patterson

Availability: on dvd 08/05/2008

Well I can say right off the bat this is a whole lot better than the second one. First time director Edward Neumeier who is a writer of the first two installments and Robocop series seems to have a good grasp on Verhoeven's style and mythos he created in the first movie. While not nearly as good as the first movie I still found it to be enjoyable. And yes Johnny Rico aka Casper Van Dien the fine thespian, is back to save the day.

The movie starts on a Federation outpost on some remote planet surrounded by the bugs. This time they finally got smart enough to make electric fences that zaps them and makes them crispy critters. The base is being run by Johnny Rico and he receives a visit from the leader of the Federation, the Sky Marshall himself. During the visit, Rico reunites with a couple of old war buddies and then all hell breaks loose when the electric fence power get cut and the bugs invade. The Sky Marshall, his tough pilot Lola and crew escape in a pod to a different remote planet. Meanwhile Rico and his squad get overrun and destroyed by the bugs and the new "grenade" bug, and only Rico and the Sky Marshalls right hand man Dix Hauzer survive. From the half point on the movie focuses on the Sky Marshall, Lola, a Christian stewardess and other crew trying to survive on the desert planet of OM-1. Little do they know that the Sky Marshall has plans on his own. In the meantime Rico becomes in charge of a new secret program call the Marauders. Which it is basically mech suits that are designed to withstand an attack by a swarm of bugs while also having high caliber machine guns and flame throwers in the arms. Of course at the end Rico and crew arrive at the right time and save the day.

Yes some of the acting was wooden and the dialogue cheesy at times but I think thats part of the point. I think overall the cgi was pretty solid and it had a few good kills. I can easily see how this movie would highly divide people, especially the second half. On the surface it looks like a Christian propaganda film but if you look at it closely its more of a religious satire. I personally think it has a double meaning and its up to your own interpretation. Regardless the scene where they are praying and the ship makes a halo above the stewardess' head was funny and classic. Even though there were too many tv recruit commercials throughout the film I still thought they were well done and entertaining. I thought it was also cool that it had ties to the first film with Rico and the Big Brain that was captured. While not a great movie I still would recommend it to any Starship Troopers fan. On a scale of 1-10 I give it a cheesy Sky Marshall singing anthem 6.4 out of 10.

Trailer




Starring hotties Jolene Blalock and Marnette Patterson