Sci-Fi Starship Troopers 3: Marauder (2008)

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Title: Starship Troopers 3: Marauder

Tagline: Do you have what it takes to be a Citizen?

Genre: Adventure, Science Fiction, Action

Director: Edward Neumeier

Cast: Casper Van Dien, Jolene Blalock, Stephen Hogan, Boris Kodjoe, Amanda Donohoe, Marnette Patterson, Danny Keogh, Stelio Savante, Cécile Breccia, Garth Breytenbach, Graeme Richards, Tanya van Graan, Antonio Summerton, Nicole Salandra, Cokey Falkow, Stephen Jennings, Tyrone Keogh, Anthony Bishop, Rob Vega, Grant Swanby, Damon Berry, Joe Vaz, Jenny Stead, Kevin Otto, Peter Krummeck, Lauren McGregor, Catherine Oxenberg, Craig Swanepoel, Robyn Olivia Heaney

Release: 2008-07-19

Runtime: 105

Plot: The war against the Bugs continues! A Federation Starship crash-lands on the distant Alien planet OM-1, stranding beloved leader Sky Marshal Anoke and several others, including comely but tough pilot Lola Beck. It's up to Colonel/General Johnny Rico, reluctant hero of the original Bug Invasion on Planet P, to lead a team of Troopers on a daring rescue mission.
Starship Troopers 3: Marauder (2008)

 
Trailer : Starship Troopers 3 Trailer Shows Superbugs In Action


Starship Troopers III Actually Based On Heinlein Novel This Time

The writer of Robocop and the original Starship Troopers is bringing his bizarro brand of political satire to Starship Troopers III, his directorial debut. We'd been lukewarm about yet another direct-to-DVD sequel of Paul Verhoeven's classic actioner, but the clips and Q&A with Ed Neumeier, plus stars Jolene Blalock and Casper Van Dien, went a long way toward changing our minds. Details and pics after the jump.

Van Dien is back, after skipping Troopers II, as Johnny Rico. And Blalock plays Capt. Lola Beck, a pilot. Here's how Blalock describes her character: "She's a no-nonsense straight shooter, who shoots from the hip but also has a heart of gold." Neumeier, who also wrote the script for Troopers II, says Sony realized it skimped on the budget for the (fairly successful) second movie, so there's more money this time around.

Starship Troopers III
is much truer to the original Heinlein book than the first two movies, Van Dien and Neumeier both stressed. We might actually get to see the power suits that Heinlein talks about in the book. "I feel a great debt to the fans of the novel," said Neumeier. "I adore the novel. I read it when i was 13."

Neumeier sees the Troopers trilogy as a sort of history of war movies. The first Starship Troopers is sort of a riff on World War II movies, partly motivated by Verhoeven's desire to deal with the experience of Germans in the mid-1930s, when the Nazis were rising to power. The second Troopers is more of a Korean war movie. And the third one is much more of a Vietnam war film, dealing with issues of religion and politics. It's also about "how the state can use religion both badly, and for good."

This time around, it's eleven years later and the war is not going so well. There's much less public support for the war effort than there was in the first movie, said Van Dien.

Also, there are three new types of bugs, two of which appeared in the clips we saw at Wondercon. One new bug is called a Bombadier, and it's a sort of ball that lands among a group of human soldiers and then explodes (one human throws himself onto it and sacrifices himself for the others), then grows into a big eyestalk that shoots white fire.

Another clip showcased Neumeier's trademark zany fake TV coverage, with a fake news segment about the new Q-bomb, which can destroy an entire planet. Some religious fanatics say humans shouldn't have the right to choose which planets live and which ones die, but others say the Q-bomb may finally help destroy the bugs once and for all. And then there's a recruiting segment for the Fleet, which parodies all those "Army of One" spots for the U.S. Army and emphasizes that 16-year-olds can join. It ends with someone saying, "See you in the Cockpit!"

Both Van Dien and Neumeier said they would like to make a Troopers TV series.

Neumeier said he got lots of advice from Verhoeven, who read the script and told him, "You look frightened, and you should be." He talks often to "Uncle Paul."

Someone asked Blalock why she gravitates toward so many science fiction roles. She said: The reason I've done a lot of science fiction is because my first big job was Star Trek, [so] a lot of the offers i get are science fiction. The universe shines down on me, in a psychobabble way. That's what's inside me, and so that's what the universe offers me.

So there you go.
 
Interesting.

In regards to a series, wasn't there already an animated Troopers series? If they are planning on a live-action series then they better do something quick because once the Star Wars live-action series hits TV then that'll be dominating the ratings.



{The 30-something-year-old part of me makes note to watch for this when it comes out on DVD while the 16-year-old part of me wonders if Blalock will be in any scenes similar to the first movie.}
 
Starship Troopers: Marauders

Starring:
Casper Van Dien, Jolene Blalock, Catherine Oxenberg, Marnette Patterson, Amanda Donohoe
Directed by: Edward Neumeier
Rated: Unrated
U.S. Opening Date: TBA 2008[/FONT]

The war against the Bugs continues! A Federation starship crash-lands on the distant alien planet OM-1, stranding beloved leader Sky Marshal Anoke and several others, including comely but tough pilot Lola Beck. It's up to Colonel Johnny Rico, reluctant hero of the original Bug Invasion on Planet P, to lead a team of Troopers on a daring rescue mission.

Looks like everybody creatively involved in the underappreciated 1997 big screen version of Robert Heinlein’s novel, Starship Troopers, will get their shot at directing a straight-to-DVD sequel. The previous sequel (the 2004 Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation) was directed by the first movie’s special effects supervisor, the legendary Phil Tippet. This sequel is directed by Ed Neumeier whose script entitled Bug Hunt got retrofitted onto the controversial Heinlein novel to make the screenplay for Paul Verhoeven’s movie.
Notable this time round is the return of Casper Van Dien to the franchise, who’ll be reprising his role of a scarred Johnny Rico, and the presence of actress Jolene Blalock, better known to genre fans as Sub-Commander T'Pol in the now defunct Starship: Enterprise TV series.
As far as straight-to-DVD Alien clones went, the last sequel wasn’t that bad even though it ditched Verhoeven’s satire for straightforward action movie conventions. If you don’t expect too much of Starship Troopers 3 either then we suspect that you might have a good time in front of your TV late one night.
No DVD release date has been announced as yet.
 
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Been viewing the trailer and getting excited at this one. Bringing Johnny Rico back is the best thing they could do, even with the mortality rate of the fighting soldiers!

Can see why it can't be called Starship Troopers 3 as such. Would absolutely confuse people asking where Starship Troopers 2 went, since that one sank like a stone!
 
Starship Troopers: Marauder Still Makes Me Want To Join The Federation [Review]

Ten years have come and gone since the original Starship Troopers, and it's high time for the return of gratuitous violence and political satire, Heinlein-style. The third in the Troopers series, Marauder, was released on DVD today. Johnny Rico is back to doing what he does best, killing bugs and yelling catch phrases. While there was ample decapitations and futuristic nonchalant nudity, a lot of the charm of the original Troopers was missing. The "zany" in-your-face political satire has been toned down a notch and lost in an over-crowded agenda of things to make fun of. But we've still got Rico, new bugs, and plenty of actually-funny propaganda to make up for what Marauder is missing.

First off: Casper Van Dien should only play Johnny Rico for the rest of his life. He totally and completely sells the Rico facade so well that, if I ever got the chance to hang out with Casper, I would demand that he be addressed only as Rico, and that the conversation topic would remain strictly on killing bugs. But although he's great in Marauder, the rest of the movie - like the Federation - has both its good and its terribly awful sides.

New faces in Marauder include big-lipped lady pilot Lola Beck (Jolene Blalock) and Dix Hauser (Boris Kodje), who both served with Rico at one time and, like him, have moved up the military food chain. Lola is an ex-girlfriend of Rico who is now shaking it up with Dix, who is a real...well you get the joke. But more important than the new troopers are the new bugs: Marauder gives us a few new battle-ready insects including an exploding pill bug (similar to a grenade), scorpions that shoot hot blue goo out of their asses and, best of all, the biggest brain bug of them all... which just happens to be as large as a planet. And if you thought the first brain bug looked like lady bits, wait until you get a load of its master. If this bug was ever shown on television it's going to have to be pixelated tremendously.

The story takes off with the reuniting of old friends Rico, Lola and Dix on a once-peaceful farming planet in the "outer colonies" (hello Firefly reference). Dix and Lola fly about with the famous pop star Sky Marshall, who can't take three steps with out a fan asking for an autograph and also happens to be the most powerful man in the universe. When the planet comes under bug attack, Lola gets stranded on a desert island with the Marshall and - one ego-fueled back and forth later - Dix sends Rico out to save the love of his life (That would be Lola, in case you're wondering). Cue Rico getting naked (including quickie frontal shot) and putting on the infamous Power Suits.

The storyline is hastily strung together based around what seemed more like what the movie could afford and less what the writers wanted to do. There were quite a few moments when ******* moves made by major characters were quickly forgotten because, really: who has the money for character development?, and a lot of plot troubles were swept under the rug in favor of more explosions and decapitations. Which normally is fine by me, but the important thing about the original Starship Troopers is even though it was cheestastic, it made me care about the characters. True, watching Dina Merer gasp her way through what could be considered the world's worst death scene was excruciating, but I was still sad to see Diz go because I fell in love with that character and her stereotypical actions. Unfortunately for Marauder, the only characters I cared about were the Sky Marshall and Rico, because I already loved the rough neck and SM was the only character they cared to give a back story that wasn't just "she's religious."

While the original movie's director Paul Verhoeven took a producer's chair on Marauder, a lot of the best parts of the original Troopers were missing. Sure, the Sky Marshall schtick is pretty funny (and his anthem "It's A Good Day To Die" will be stuck in your head forever) but the whole, "sign up and die for your government" takes a back seat to religious spoofing which makes little to no sense. So while you'll be getting plenty of new recruiting commercials, be prepared for the religious humor which doesn't commit enough to actually be funny. It's actually quite disappointing that director and writer of Robocop fame, Ed Neumeier, would make a commercial aimed at recruiting gays into the Federation's Fleet with the hilarious tag line: "People say boys don't give good H.E.D. but I do," from an incredibly effeminate soldier, and yet he glosses over the religion jokes with a simple, people who have faith can be silly. If you're not going to tackle the issue with some sort of poignant moment (be it serious or funny) then why bring it up?

That being said, it's worth the rental just to hear the announcer ask "would you like to know more?" Plenty of Marauder is squash-the-bug good fun; don't look for the spot-on humor, but, hey - it's a DVD, so there had to be sacrifices somewhere. Personally, I would have loved a Neil Patrick Harris cameo in his hilarious Nazi uniform (there was no NPH to speak of sadly), but I did like the addition of giant crosses to the front of the Federation suits. Rico had to carry the brunt of acting with a deadly serious face while delivering ridiculous dialog on his own shoulders. If only Neurmeier had taken to time to work out the religious humor, we would have had a movie that would have adults everywhere screaming for Power Suit toys.


(Via io9)
 
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Re: Starship Troopers: Marauder Still Makes Me Want To Join The Federation [Review]

Has anybody watched ST2 yet? I'm wondering if I should just put ST2 & ST3 back-to-back in my Netflix queue.
 
Re: Starship Troopers: Marauder Still Makes Me Want To Join The Federation [Review]

Nothing to rave about in ST2
A bit of an Alien rip, with interior gestations, evil in charges (the root of all doom), betrayed, abandoned, out of communication, surrounded, outnumbered, hopeless, breaking down mentally....Yawn....and flashlight guns.
The joy of ST1 was the mini-14's spitting casings and running out. At least they took on the appearance of weight while being wielded (smell of smoke/kick)(you know), all irretrievable lost in ST2.
A must (probably should) miss.
I'll probably buy ST3, what a hypocrite I am. :smiley:
 
Re: Starship Troopers: Marauder Still Makes Me Want To Join The Federation [Review]

I watched ST3 and it is a definate improvement over #2.

51B4GTHp4XL._SS500_.jpg


info Starship Troopers 3: Marauder (Video 2008) - IMDb


http://6.cn/watch/6056759.html
 
Re: Starship Troopers: Marauder Still Makes Me Want To Join The Federation [Review]

Nothing to rave about in ST2
A bit of an Alien rip, with interior gestations, evil in charges (the root of all doom), betrayed, abandoned, out of communication, surrounded, outnumbered, hopeless, breaking down mentally....Yawn....and flashlight guns.
The joy of ST1 was the mini-14's spitting casings and running out. At least they took on the appearance of weight while being wielded (smell of smoke/kick)(you know), all irretrievable lost in ST2.
A must (probably should) miss.
I'll probably buy ST3, what a hypocrite I am. :smiley:
In most of the reviews I've been reading for ST3 they make mention of that it is closer to the feel of ST1 versus ST2 and that fans who did not care for ST2 should give ST3 a chance. It sounds like I should watch ST2 just to fill in the gap but not expect much out of it.

I watched ST3 and it is a definate improvement over #2.
I did not realize it was already released. I've seen the promos for it but thought the DVD release was still a few weeks away.


Thanks for the info, guys. I think I will indeed put ST2 & ST3 back-to-back in my queue. I've got FF2 next in line and the wifey wants to watch the two National Treasure movies back-to-back so I figure about two weeks before I will get to see ST2 & ST3.
 
Re: Starship Troopers: Marauder Still Makes Me Want To Join The Federation [Review]

Have you seen that movie The Counterfeiters. Its up there with schindler's list in my opinion. Its gives an amazing depiction of what life was like in concentration camps.The unique part is the perspective of someone being used by the nazis for their own gain.

I loved Starship Troopers when I was a kid. Its was definitely one of my favorite films and was very disappointed when they didn't continue the series. Especially because it was suppose to be a trilogy. While I wasn't a huge fan of the second film, Starship Troopers 3: Marauder looks good. To bad they couldn't get Neil Patrick Harris and Denise Richards back again.

 
Re: Starship Troopers: Marauder Still Makes Me Want To Join The Federation [Review]

I have ST3 now, and really enjoyed it. It was better the second time around (as with many shows), because you have to weed through the "eye-candy" and listen up.
I believe as well done as probably possible, without going hog wild on a budget there's not much chance of getting back.
The cheesy lines are bearable, most characters were refreshing, and the politics of a totalitarian war world are reminiscent of the first.....in a cute but crazy.........absurd yet possible......... way.
All hale Behemecoytal !
 
Re: Starship Troopers: Marauder Still Makes Me Want To Join The Federation [Review]

ST3 had good bits like the original and then lots of so-so bits. Not theatre material obviously as it goes STV. ST2 was just bad. More like an episode of the Twilight Zone than a true sequel. A filler of sorts.
 
Hate to bump an old thread but...

I finally caught Starship Troopers 3. Based upon the special affects, if they make a ST4 then I am willing to bet that they end up using paper cutouts for the bugs.

I am surprised that nobody had mentioned the religious aspect of ST3, especially in the way that it ends up being embraced by the Federation as a way of attracting followers. That part of the story line was actually more intriguing the than anything else in it.
 
Hate to bump an old thread but...

Why? Isnt that what discussion is all about. This community is too stagnate to develop any real discussions. Bumping what you want to talk about from an existing thread helps reduce the number of repeating topics. I say BUMPING is a good thing. It helps new members see what is already being discussed, give example of the types of subjects we want to discuss, reduces moderator ques and helps to reintroduce old topics for new discussion.
I belong to a community that actually encourages bumping. Once you have achieved a certain number of posts you get access to a bump button. Spurs lots of activity.
 

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