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Starship Troopers 2 (2004)
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Movie Review by The Gravedigger
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06.03.04
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Hero of the Federation - I loved the first STARSHIP TROOPERS movie-it was over-the-top, had great special visuals and an effective cast. But whereas everything in the first movie seemed 'new', from the gleam of the spaceships to the plastic looking faces of the lead actors-this much lower budgeted sequel opts for the grit as well as presenting a more intimate war. And as a result I have some decidedly mixed feelings about this installment.It's five years after the events in the first movie and a battalion of soldiers are stuck on a barren planet. Their only hope of survival from the giant arachnids is to hide in an old human outpost, which has previously been overrun, and is now abandoned. They manage to fix the electricity and run the force-field, which keeps the hordes of insects away, but are now trapped inside the castle-like building until they are rescued. Several of the soldiers who came to the outpost last act a bit peculiar-and the reason for this is that they are infected with these much smaller versions of the bug. These insects crawl in through the mouth and take over the body until they incubate and spread more spider-like hatchlings.The effect is very similar to the evil body-hopping alien in THE HIDDEN. Of course this whole scenario is extremely reminiscent of THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD and John Carpenter's THE THING, with the soldiers slowly being taken over by the aliens. In fact, at the beginning of the film, one of the guards is investigating a noise and says 'Who goes there?', which, of course, is the name of the short story both THING movies are based upon. Director Phil Tippett knows the genre very well-and does the best he can with the budget he was given. It's the tried and true 'NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD' scenario, with a group of people trapped inside a building.We're shown shots of the computer-animated bugs at the beginning and end of the movie, which are on par with the original, and nearly everything in between deals with the smaller but no less dangerous threat. Some of the characters introduced at the beginning, such as the psychic lieutenant, are really unlikable and it's only after they're disposed of that the movie picks up. The gore effects also increase, so by the end there is plenty of blood, brains and alien guts flying around. If you're looking for a movie to rival the action and excitement of the first film you will be disappointed....this is as different as a sequel can get. Yet, if you can stick with it past the first half-hour you won't be disappointed.Hopefully they'll be making more STARSHIP TROOPER movies-there's a lot that can be done.
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Rating: 3.3 out of 10.0 - 4 votes cast total
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