And back again. Sorry for the delay
as that last video review for Rotten Reelz Reviews via vid.me was a
lot to work on. Not complaining just was a bit of work that I hadn't
done before.
Now then I think we can squeeze in a
write up about bugs today. So back to the Federation and the
on-going war in Starship Troopers III: Marauder
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| Mechs and bugs!!!! |
Okay first off, let me be clear. Given
I grew up reading the Robert A. Heinlein novel and 1997 rolled around
I was thrilled to see the mobile infantry take on the bugs.
Directed by Robocop and Total Recall master of Sci-Fi/Action splatter
Paul Verhoeven, I knew we
were in for a treat. Granted CGI was still in its infancy and so the
green screens were able to bring us the bugs bUuuUuUuuut...no
Marauders. The heavily armed and armored mecha of at least one
rifleman (7 men or women)
squad. Instead we got introduced to Jake Busey, Dina
Meyers, Denise Richards, Casper Van Dien and reintroduced
to Neil Patrick Harris. Also
character actor Dean Norris and former Highlander villains Clancy
Brown and Michael
Ironside. Some snappy lines,
some silly lines and all in all, a fun film to be had for the fleet
and ground pounders.
Starship
Troopers 2, devolved into a survival horror movie with bugs, less
budget and a massive downer ending with an abandoned outpost, talent
like Richard Burgi, Brian Tee, Brenda Strong, Ed Quinn,
Colleen Porch and character
actor Ed Lauter.
With only a 7 million dollar budget compared to the $100 million
dollar budget of the original it fell on its ass. I do not fault the
talent, writer and director for this. Lack of budget meant less
effects to be had and they needed to treat it like a practical
effects gore gags, ghost story and horror scenario. Not a great film
but it wasn't give a chance to shine with the solid writing it had.
So after that flaming pile, I was skeptical to get anywhere near the
levels we got from the original. And yet...hope prevailed.
 |
| Heavy Mutilating Metal!!! |
Johnny
Rico (Casper Van Dien) returns to the frontlines as a Colonel in the
Federation's mobile infantry. Assigned a base and troops protecting
a local farming colony, Rico has to endure keeping the brass happy,
his troops in top form and keeping the peace. With one of the brass
being a former Mobile moved into rank and relocated to Intelligence,
General Diggs (Boris Kodjoe of Soul Food, Surrogates,
Resident Evil: Afterlife, Resident Evil: Retribution, Capetown and
Code Black) and an ex-lover
Fleet Captain Lola Beck (Jolene Blalock of Enterprise,
Stargate SG-1, Jason and the Argonauts, Sex Tape and Killing Frisco).
As
their Commander-in-Chief, Sky Marshal Omar Anoke (Stephen
Hogan of Earthbound, Dracula: The Dark Prince, Doctors, Jubilee Nurse
and Trial of the Century)
comes for a surprise inspection, all hell goes loose when the power
to the outer fences drops and the troopers and farmers are savaged,
in spite of the Roughnecks valiant combat. Deemed a failure, Rico is
arrested awaiting a court martial and treason conspiracies piling up.
They apparently hang traitors for public broadcasting. Slow ratings
I guess.
The sky marshal,
some of the ship's crew, its mobile infantry and Lola have crashed in
the outer regions or restricted zones. A bug planet. With lead
Admiral no longer trusting the Sky Marshal due to him exhibiting
radical behavior, a rescue mission is scrubbed.
 |
| Attention!!! |
Diggs wanting to
get back his boss and his girl Lola, fakes Rico's death and assigns
him to the Marauders, fresh out of R & D. Now keep in mind, we
are on film #3 and dammit I want some Mechs mowing down bugs with
caseless ammo, explosions and some motherhumpin' flamethrowers!!!
With
a subplot of God saving his true believers, Athetists converting and
mind altering mental bugs, I was feeling a bit off. That being
said, MECHS!!! Yes I would have loved more screen time with them.
Hell I would have loved seeing about 3 platoons of them planetside
rocking and rollin' every bug in sight and a few mini-nukes for good
measure but the CGI creations vs practical effects and CGI bugs was
outstanding. The story is solid enough, sadly only Dien is of the
original cast. Really would have loved to see Harris or Busey back
but overall a decent bug hunt.
I did
laugh realizing the Admiral was Amanda Donohue who
has an amazing body of work but of course my first voyage into her
acting was Lair of the White Worm as Lady Silvia.
Now I have heard
of another animated film for Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars but
haven't seen it. Who knows. I may take a look at it.
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| Hope no one noticed I beefed. |
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