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Starship Troopers 2 (2004)
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Movie Review by The Cryptkeeper
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08.28.08
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Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation - The Starship Troopers (played by Bill Brown, Colleen Porch, Cy Carter, Drew Powell and Ed Lauter) are back (sort of) to take action against the Bugs in this fast-paced film directed by Academy Award winner Phil Tippett. Unfortunately, their enemies are ready for them, and they end up stranded, unable to fight their way out unless they team up with those who betrayed them. -netflix
The Troopers find themselves on a remote bug planet, having to seek refuge in an old abandoned military outpost. They have to try to fight off the bugs long enough to wait for a pickup that seems unlikely to show. They also find themselves under siege from some of their own, who have had their minds and bodies taken over by a new type of mind controlling bug. To top it off, they are must rely on being saved by the unlikeliest of heroes, a former decorated soldier turned criminal.
I am a big fan of the original Starship Troopers, but this sequel doesn't even come close to living up to those standards. Aside from the bugs and the few intermittent brainwashing "join the fight" commercials... it really isn't a sequel at all. It really has nothing to do with the original film. None of the characters from the original film appear, however one of the actors does... but she plays a different role. Captain Deladier played by Brenda Strong in the original film, is now Sgt. Dede Rake. I don't know if the filmmakers didn't notice this or if they were just hoping that we wouldn't. At any rate, I would have liked to have seen some of the original characters from the first film and have this be a direct sequel. Instead, what we got was a direct to video, sequel only in name, run of the mill sci-fi movie.
Now, as much as I would have liked this to be a direct sequel of the original, it was not that bad of a movie. Though a large part of the acting was subpar, some of it was decent... most of it much better than Jake Busey (not that I would put that on my resume). Most of the movie takes place in one place, the outpost... so it would have been nice to see better actors in these roles to help move the film along. The effects were pretty good, most on par with the original. The soldier bugs looked just as good, and the new mind-control bugs came in a variety of creepy looking forms. Again, not alot of different sets were needed... but the inside and outside of the compound looked pretty good. I was pleased to see that they kept this movie fairly gory and bloody even if it didn't look as good as the original. I was also glad that they threw in a little frontal nudity as well.
All in all, it was a decent effort, but falls well short of the original Starship Troopers. I haven't seen Starship Troopers 3 yet, but I hope it is better than this one. Fans of the original still should see this one, if for no other reason than to remind you how good the first one was.
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Rating: 5.5 out of 10.0 - 6 votes cast total
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