Starship Troopers 3: Marauder

I don't know why I kept watching to the end, but I did anyway and it really wasn't worth my (or anyone else's for that matter) time.

you don't need a big budget to make a good film, but it's impossible to hide a bad one with a small budget and this one must have had a REALLY small budget.

I was surprised to see Jolene Blalock's name attached to this being a star trek fan I thought she might bring something to the movie, but I'm starting to understand why she was cast as an emotionally void Vulcan in Enterprise. I'd also read comments about the state of her lips and thought it was just internet geeks going overboard, but they are really big now, significantly moreso than in her trek role, I think she needs to ease off on the collagen before they take over her face, they're starting to look like she was beaten up.

the SFX would have embarrassed the Red Dwarf crew at times they were so bad. For an example of how bad it gets check out the scene on the ship at warp where the view out the window isn't even CGI but some space scene on a long roller rolled past the window really quickly with the same repeating pattern over and over. I honestly don't think I've seen that done since the 70's! even the bug CGI is barely up to video game standards and not a patch on the original (which is 11 years old (1997) now and still looking much better than anything in ST3).

seriously guys, if you don't have the budget to make it properly, just don't make it at all, for your own sakes as professionals as well as for the sake of your fans. didn't you learn anything from ST2?

The first Starship Troopers was one of the best sci-fi movies around since Robocop and remains one of the top of its genre. The disappointing sequel 'Hero of the Federation' did not do it justice and was a low- point in the series. Starship Troopers 3: Marauder has brought the series back to the quality of the first.

The acting is spot on with Casper Van Dien fitting back into the role of Johnny Rico perfectly and showing a change in the character. Jolene Blalock & Stephen Hogan are perfectly cast in their respective roles.

The plot follows Johnny Rico who ones again tries to stop the Bug invasion. At points the CGI is quite poor but this does not really affect the quality or viewers enjoyment of the film.

Ed Neumeier's direction is perfect for the film and he takes the series in the direction that it should be going. Also featured is the series satirical humour of the first and is surprisingly good for a direct-to- video venture.

I'd be all for a Starship Troopers 4 providing we get the return of Casper Van Dien as Johnny Rico.

This movie could have been so good, to bad they screwed it up.

I like the idea of the Marauder Project but the CGI animating it is very weak. So is the bug animation. Even the first movie looked better than this one and that was made in '97. I would say the CGI in this movie is on the same level as Robocop 2 which was made 18 years ago.

The story is consistent and entertaining except for the last few minutes. I liked the heavy combats, the mysteries and the political twists. It was interesting to see how a few men in power can manipulate the "truth" if you give up democracy. For the most part the movie kept the tone and the intensity of the first one but then they had to ruin it with the religious crap and cheesy love scenes at the end.

My opinion is that they took it too far with the bugs. For example with the exploding grenade bugs that you see in the first few minutes. Also the bugs' strength is their short lifespan hence their ability to evolve quickly. So, in my opinion this is in direct contradiction with the big bugs that lives for a really long time. But I'm no biologist and this is not a documentary movie.

You can notice that I did not mention Starship Troopers 2. I don't know why people embarrass themselves with movies like ST2 (or even ST3) if they don't have the budget to make a decent movie. ST2 showed just a bunch of amateur actors reading script from the autocue.

So to sum it up I don't regret the 100 minutes spent watching the movie but it will definitely not go into my personal collection.

I tell ya I was dying to see this movie when I heard it was going to be released and it is a mixed bag. The Starship Troopers universe is explored in more detail - we see more of the Federation and their behind the scenes antics plus we also get to see what Rico is up to nowadays. You can tell Casper Van Dien has aged from the first movie, but he does such a good job in his role. You can tell his character has been amongst ongoing struggles and has such a commanding presence. And yes he gets his gear off once again (phew, I was hoping). The supporting cast is OK - the Admiral is excellently bitchy and authoritative and the Pilot was very tough and yet feminine, but the rest were merely bodies to fill the screen, in my opinion. The film does touch on a bit of this and a bit of that, but just falls short of feeling substantial, what the first film achieved so successfully. The special effects are adequate for the budget and often look quite OK - there are also a few gory moments for those into exploding heads and such. Probably the most disappointing aspect was not the fact that the ending was awfully soppy, clichéd and predictably going to lend itself for a sequel, but that the Marauder element was so miniscule that if you blinked you'd miss it (relative to the remaining bulk of the film). Hopefully in the next film they push the marauders more and don't get bogged down in too much unnecessary dialogue. But overall Starship Troopers 3 is a worthy watch and a decent followup to the other films. Thankyou for coming back to the series Casper, that's all I can say :)

In the front-line of the Second Bug War in planet Roku San, the charismatic Sky Marshal Omar Anoke (Stephen Hogan) arrives with his assistant General Dix Hauser (Boris Kodjoe) in an starship piloted by his fiancée Captain Lola Beck (Jolene Blalock) and they are welcomed by their friend and hero of Planet P Colonel Johnny Rico (Casper Van Dien). While Anoke inspects the facility protected by fences, Dix, Lola and Rico go to a bar to celebrate their reunion. However, Dix has an incident with the local farmers and arrests Rico for insubordination; meanwhile, there is a shut down in the defense fences and the bugs break into the facility. Lola and Anoke escape in the starship, but it crashes in Planet OM-1 and Lola, Anoke, Chief Bull Brittles (Stelio Savante), Jingo Ryan (Cokey Falkow), Dr. Wiggs (Danny Keogh) and the religious flight attendant Holly Little (Marnette Patterson) save themselves in a rescue pod. When Dix discovers that Admiral Enolo Phid (Amanda Donohoe) has no intention to rescue the survivors in the Arachnid Quarantine Zone, he assigns Rico in the Marauder Program to lead a squad with six other troopers to rescue Lola and Anoke.

"Starship Troopers 3: Marauder" is a reasonable entertaining, with good and also awful points. The good ones are the ironic Federal Network, with manipulative messages and brainwash of the citizens; Jolene "T'Pol" Blalock; and the story as a whole that is not bad. However, there are many stupid lines and dialogs; annoying characters and situations (the attitudes and behavior of the flawed Dix is totally incoherent, Holly Little and Jingo are irritating and Anoke is silly); and this exaggerated subplot of religion is never funny and does not work. The special effects are only reasonable and the set decoration is good. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Tropas Estelares 3" ("Starship Troopers 3")