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2010 SLF Tag Champ Joined: Jun 07 2006 Posts: 12294

did anyone see these? I didn't even know they made a third one until recently.

honestly they both kind of sucked, especially when compared to the first one.

Posted: Aug 19 2008 07:53 am

The first one is fantastic. Heinlein fanboys were furious, but I love its humor. And Michael Ironside is awesome.

The second one was crap though. None of the familiar characters, and an annoying "make-the-bugs-look-like-humans-so-we-can-save-money-on-special-effects" plot.

I thought the third one was actually not bad. It lacked some of the tongue-in-cheek humor of the first one, but it was much closer in spirit than the second. The special effects weren't on par with the original either, but still not bad for a direct-to-DVD movie. Plus it had Jolene Blalock. Except for the ending, which was stupid, I quite enjoyed it.

If they make a fourth one I'll see it.

Joined: Feb 24 2006 Posts: 2578

Well, the third one only just came out. The second one could have been a nice little sci-fi/horror flick if Neumeier did more than just trot out a bunch of tired cliches. Three was better, but the cliche problem was still there. It's like he forgot how to make his characters compelling.

Points for Casper Van Dien coming back for the third one, though.

Joined: Aug 26 2007 Posts: 2752

Joined: May 22 2008 Location: Goshen, VA Posts: 6544

I don't consider myself a "Heinlein Fanboy" but the first movie was fucking terrible. I was like 14 when it came out, and after reading the book I went and saw it at the drive-in. It seriously almost has nothing to do with the book. They should have just named it "High School Kids Fight Bugs" because the book's main focus was on mechanized armor with massive science fiction undertones. Booooo.

Joined: Feb 24 2006 Posts: 2578

Josh, I agree that it really shouldn't have been called "Starship Troopers." A different title and a credit reading "Inspired by the novel 'Starship Troopers'" would have been more appropriate. That being said, I thought the movie was great in its own right, very much in the same vein as Neumeier & Verhoeven's other sci-fi flick, RoboCop.

Incidentally, I suspect that the armored suits seen [briefly] in Starship Troopers 3 are inspired by those in the original novel. But having not read it, I couldn't say for sure.

2010 SLF Tag Champ Joined: Jun 07 2006 Posts: 12294

I was kinda being harsh in my opening statement.

I haven't read the book, but I liked the first alot on it's own. I suppose it's in the same vein on how I'd like the resident evil movies more if they weren't resident evil though.

I liked the first one for the same reason I liked robocop. It kinda poked fun at society and the way we could have been heading, but it did it in a goofy feel good kinda way. I also loved how they had little dudes with nothing but rifles and grenades fighting overwhelming swarms of man eating bug monsters. I also like playing earth defense force on the 360 because it had that feel to it.

the second one probably would have been better for me if it wasn't a starship troopers movie. like if they made it just a regular old sci fi horror flick.

the third one was better than the second to me, but it still felt lacking. What happened between rico and carmen after ST1? give me some closure! don't just throw an old character back in the mix and barely use him for the hell of it! also, don't go on and on about the marauders all over the back of hte DVD case and then only include them for the ending scene! I didn't really think all that god stuff was needed.

I originally just assumed that the secodn and third movies were cheap direct to dvd knockoffs and didnt' care much for them, until learning that the same guy wrote all three of them. now I just want to know how the hell he managed to make two terrible sequels to his first awesome flick. this irks me more now knowing that ST1 didnt' share much with the book, so he doesn't even get away with saying he just adaped someone else's work to a screenplay.

I also kinda felt that ST2 and 3 just made the federation look like a bunch of evil assholes, as opposed to the "look what we're slowly becoming, but it's all in good fun" tone the first had.

I actually had no idea there were supposed to be robot suits and was very confused by the fact that the old anime had robots. I chalked it up to japanese people being responsible (hell, they gave spiderman and the ninja turtles a giant robot). The third one (briefly) featuring the marauders kind of had me curious, and you just confirmed that the book had them too.

I really want to read the book now.

Posted: Aug 21 2008 07:25 am

joshwoodzell wrote:

They should have just named it "High School Kids Fight Bugs"

That's not far off from what the movie was originally called: Bug Hunt at Outpost Nine. They only decided to make it a Starship Troopers "adaptation" when pre-production had already started, probably because they assumed the name would boost box-office results. Verhoeven didn't like the novel though and never actually finished reading it.

Joined: Feb 24 2006 Posts: 2578

JEW wrote:

I originally just assumed that the secodn and third movies were cheap direct to dvd knockoffs and didnt' care much for them, until learning that the same guy wrote all three of them. now I just want to know how the hell he managed to make two terrible sequels to his first awesome flick.

I think the missing element was Verhoeven. Together they make an awesome team, but alone it feels like Neumeier just goes for the paycheck with cliched characters and hackneyed dialogue.

Well, also, the first movie had some solid actors that could really elevate the silliness. Michael Ironside uttering the line "They sucked his brains out!"? Brilliance.